Sunday, October 28, 2007

Pull Quotes

Today's NYT mag piece by David Kirkpatrick on Christian conservatism offers this pull quote:

"If Giuliani captures the nomination despite the threat of an evangelical revolt, it will be a long time before Republican strategists pay attention to the deamnds of conservative Christian leaders again."

May I from my bench in the cheap seats (disclaimer etc.) retort: this seems to me absurdly untrue. If Giuliani captures the Republican nomination, it will be precisely because Christian conservatives will have come to the same realization as economic conservatives,  national security conservatives, etc.: the guy who cleaned up Times Square, and broke the Mafia, and saved the lives of 1,500 New Yorkers per year, most of them minorities, can do the most to implement a conservative agenda nationwide after 2009.

Some social conservatives have qualms about Giuliani, I know that well. But it's very wrong to suggest that there is some kind of reciprocated feud on the other side. I think it's rather more accurate to describe the relationship in the old slogan of the Irish tourist board, as one of friends who haven't met yet.

10/28 04:42 PM