|
Evangelicals Rally to Romney to Stop Giuliani
One evangelical, pro-life activist and
attorney James Bopp Jr., last week sent a letter to hundreds of social
conservatives warning that they must unite behind Romney or risk a Giuliani
victory.
“While several of the other candidates are
certainly fine social conservatives, none has established his viability as a
serious presidential contender – only Mitt Romney has the resources to
compete with Rudy Giuliani for the nomination,” Bopp wrote.
“Other evangelical leaders have weighed in
on the acceptability of the leading Republican candidates. [Focus on the
Family founder] Dr. James Dobson, America’s most influential evangelical
leader, has expressed his opinion that Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Fred
Thompson are not acceptable, based on their positions on various important
conservative issues.”
Bopp points out that Tony Perkins of the
Family Research Council and Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist
Convention has also declared that Romney is an acceptable presidential
choice for social conservatives.
“So it does come down to two things,” Bopp
concludes in his letter, which was excerpted in The Atlantic.
“One, the viability of the candidate,
which only Mitt Romney has demonstrated among the socially conservative
candidates, and two, whether social conservatives will have the courage to
rally around the only viable conservative alternative to Rudy Giuliani. A
divided field means that Giuliani is likely to win the nomination.”
Influential evangelical public relations
executive Mark DeMoss has expressed similar views regarding Romney and
Giuliani.
In a letter to some 150 top conservative
Christian leaders, DeMoss – whose clients include Rev. Franklin Graham –
asked the leaders to “galvanize support around Mitt Romney, so Mr. Giuliani
isn’t the unintended beneficiary of our divided support among several
candidates.”
He said Giuliani “clearly does not share
our values on so many issues.” Dr. Bob Jones III, chancellor and former president of Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C., has also come out in support of Romney.
“I just believe that this man has the
credentials both personally and ideologically in terms of his view about
what American government should be to best represent the rank and file of
conservative Americans,” he said in a statement reported by the Greenville
News.
“If it turns out to be Giuliani and
Hillary, we’ve got two pro-choice candidates, and that would be a disaster.”
Romney, Jones added, “has, as far as I can
tell, no scandal connected with his life. I can’t say that about all of the
candidates, unfortunately.”
Commenting on the importance of Jones’
endorsement, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary, said in an interview:
“This is like a lighthouse going on, the
light shining its beam on Mitt Romney. Not only that, but the argument made
by Bob Jones III basically means that not only is he supporting Mitt Romney,
he’s basically saying he is the only option so far as he sees it on the
Republican side.” Evangelicals supporting Romney are evidently not troubled by his Mormon faith. DeMoss, for one, stated: “I am more concerned that a candidate shares my values than he shares my theology.”
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Romney_evangelicals/2007/10/22/42853.html |