GOP Courts Christian Right

None of the GOP Presdidential candidates would appear at the Human Rights Campaign/LOGO forum to discuss gay issues, but they did climb all over themselves to appear at the ant-gay Family Research Councils' Values Voters Summit" this weekend. Most of the candidates tried to reinforce conservative doubts about Rudy Guiliani, who in the past has had moderate views and positions on abortion and gay rights. "Multiple-Mitt" Romney, a former supporter of gay rights who claimed he would be more supportive of gay rights than Edward Kennedy when he ran for the Senate, is now championing the radical right's anti-gay agenda. In fact, all of the GOP candidates seem to be competing for the most ant-gay award. The Christian Right is not too happy with the leading GOP candidates, especially Giuliani, and their favorite candiate, Sam Brownback, has dropped out of the race because of his extreme positions. However, all of the remaining candidates (except libertarian Ron Paul) have been pandering to the Christian Right because they cannot win without the support of the base of the Republican Party. Some may see the predicament off the Christian Right as good for gays ("Values Voters" Anarchy Good News for Gays">, but even Giuliani is promising to support the Christian Right's agenda, including appointment of federal judges like Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts, and has distanced himself from gay rights and now tells the Family Research Center that he would support a constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriages. The danger of Giuliani is that he can appeal to the anti-gay Christian Right and "moderate" voters, making him the GOP's best chance of winning in 2008. The bad news is that he can probably beat Hillary Clinton, who appears to be the Democratic candidate for 2008.