Rove says religious conservatives might swing toward staying home

[Omaha Steve]

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rove-says-religious-conservatives-might-swing-toward-staying-home-2007-11-16.html

By The Hill Staff
November 16, 2007

Former presidential adviser Karl Rove said Thursday that the Republican Party is at risk of religious conservatives staying home from the polls in 2008.

Responding to questions in C-SPAN’s Distance Learning classroom, Rove said “evangelicals, fundamentalists and Pentecostals” represent a form of swing vote, because they might not show up at the polls, even though they vote overwhelmingly Republican when they do. He said they are much more “up for grabs” than people think they are.

But he also suggested that evangelical leader Pat Robertson’s support for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) is a sign of growing pragmatism in the movement. Rove described evangelicals as going through a process common to newly active political groups, in which they gradually learn to concede certain issues in favor of bigger ones.

Questions have been raised about the GOP field’s ability to attract religious conservatives, and Democrats including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) have played up their faith on the campaign trail in hopes of wooing religious voters.

Robertson’s endorsement of Giuliani surprised many, since the mayor isn’t socially conservative on issues like abortion. Rove suggested Giuliani’s strength on national security took precedence over social issues.

FULL story at link.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Even reading second had what Rove thinks pollutes your mind.

It's better to ignore that evil manipulator.:puke:

[Gman]

9. Never ignore Karl Rove

the guy's a political genius. Little nuggets of insight are invaluable to not only the GOP, used correctly, the Democrats too.

[msongs]

2. right wing religious people - their primary virtue seems to be hypocrisy relating to republicans nt

[Xipe Totec]

3. Pray, Karl.

Pray that people haven't woken up to the smell of six years of disastrous policies.

Pray they would rather stay home than come to the polls to flush the neocons from power.

Pray they are too stupid to realize that the real Christians are the Democrats.

[HardWorkingDem]

4. Oh, a huge BS...

These folks are not going to stay home on election day. Rove is just trying to scare them into action. Pure BS. These people want the Dems to think this is true, therefore, there will not be a concern on our part.

Remember - these people vote more than any other bloc of voters.

[Capn Sunshine]

6. Disagree

I'm a county election officer. In the past election , I made a point to speak to many of these good folk. A significant percentage inquired about changing their registration from R to "no preference". many more indicated they were done with the whole process. Many many more did not show up at the polls, giving the Dems the victories they had been working for.

[Capn Sunshine]

5. They feel betrayed & lied to

and they were. NOTHING They were promised came to fruition, and they feel they are laughingstocks now, which they are.

Gee, I wonder what could possibly give them a reason to come out and vote w Hen they would prefer not to vote, feeling ill about their prospects a nd othe r wise sta y at home?

[CyberPieHole]

13. You could be right. But they sure ain't gonna vote for Obama...

no matter how many Ex-Gays preachers he puts on-stage. Those religious crazies are usually bigots when it comes to race (to say nothing of what they may think of Obama's middle name). Republican religio-conservatives may deny racism and bigotry in public, but when that curtain is pulled on election day, I doubt you'd find many voting for Obama.

[Reno.Muse]

7. good. I hope they stay home and get down on their knees and pray

for forgiveness for the hell they've taken America into.

[Disturbed]

8. This is typical Rove reverse psych.

He only says things that will help Repugs.

[CyberPieHole]

14. exactly. Rove knows what he is doing.

He was WRONG on the results for the 2006 election...but he is rarely wrong. He knows he needs to fire up the religious conservatives and get them to the polls. The bush legacy is dependent on it. We cannot, sit back and assume that they will stay home. They won't. Be it Clinton/Obama/Edwards or any other one of our candidates who runs for the White House, they will attack and bring out the bible huggers to the polls.

[MichiganVote]

10. He's right.

[ldf]

11. does that mean huckabee

has been ordained to be the only one acceptable?

he's got god just oozing out every orifice. and i mean EVERY orifice.

[alfredo]

12. I think they should come out and vote....... Democratic.

Our party will not put the Ten Commandments into schools, but we will live and govern by principals in the Beatitudes.

We are our brother's keeper. We don't just talk compassion.

We believe the Golden Rule applies to us too.

We won't ban abortion, but we will endeavor to make a world where every child is wanted.

[mmonk]

15. If they did, that would fulfill my fantasy.