8 October 2011
http://colonel6.com/2011/10/04/colonel-sixxs-sure-fire-way-to-beat-rick-perry/
The divisiveness that is the lifeblood of many evangelical Christians made another appearance in American politics yesterday.
Dallas evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress introduced Rick Perry at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., and shortly afterwards told reporters, “Rick Perry’s a Christian. He’s an evangelical Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ. Mitt Romney’s a good moral person, but he’s not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. It has always been considered a cult by the mainstream of Christianity.”
This provides Rick Perry with his Reverend Wright moment – i.e., does Perry continue to associate with an intolerant, controversial supporter or does he cut the supporter loose? Obama initially stood by Wright (“I could no more disavow Reverend Wright than I could disavow my own grandmother.”), but when Wright declined to tone down his comments, Obama and Wright eventually became estranged. I guess Wright wasn’t quite as close to Obama as the grandmother who raised him.
Perry’s situation is every bit as precarious, and his campaign’s handling of the brouhaha has been first-rate – Perry’s camp immediately said that it disagreed with Jeffress’s accusation (“The governor does not believe Mormonism is a cult.”) and that the summit organizers, not Perry, had selected Jeffress for the introduction.
But defusing the situation won’t be that simple because the summit organizers have refused to provide cover to the Perry campaign. According to an article in the NY Times, Tony Perkins was a leading summit organizer and he said, “Pastor Jeffress was suggested as a possible introductory speaker because he serves as pastor of one of the largest churches in Texas. We sent the request to the Perry campaign which then signed off on the request.” Thus, the matter will not fade until Perry disavows the guy.
Perry clearly would prefer for this issue to remain out of the public radar because that would enable him to reap the votes of thousands, if not millions of intolerant evangelical Christians. As Pastor Jeffress acknowledged about Romney’s Mormonism:
- “I think it is going to be a major factor among evangelical voters. The thing is, they won’t be honest and tell you that it is going to be a major factor. Most people don’t want to admit — even evangelical Christians — that they have a problem with Mormonism. They think it is bigoted to say so. But what voters say to a pollster sometimes is different than what they do when they go into the privacy of a voting booth.”
But because the issue is on the radar, there are two countervailing developments:
- Some evangelical Christians will recognize their bigotry and then do the right thing – i.e., vote for Romney.
- Some moderate Republicans will vote for Romney because they will sympathize with the person being subjected to bigotry.
Notice that two highly-charged words are a part of this discussion – cult and bigotry. By characterizing Mormonism as a cult, the evangelical Christians are coming across as bigots. That is the last thing that Rick Perry wants to be associated with.
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