McCAIN, DESPERATE NOT TO LOSE THE EVANGELICAL VOTE, TURNS TO HOMOPHOBIA AND BIGOTRY

Last week, the Christian Post ran a feature predicting that Obama could attract a sizable evangelical vote.

The fascination with the charismatic Illinois senator combined with evangelicals’ effort to not be seen as an appendage of the Republican Party could swing evangelical voters in Obama’s favor, predicted Mark DeMoss – a prominent public relations executive whose clients include Focus on the Family, Franklin Graham, and Campus Crusade for Christ-- to Beliefnet.com.

“I will not be surprised if he gets one-third of the evangelical vote,” DeMoss said in the interview. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it was 40 percent.”

...In terms of Republican presidential nominee John McCain, DeMoss spoke about the lack of enthusiasm within the evangelical circle for the candidate. He said that for months now he hasn’t received an e-mail, letter, or phone call from fellow evangelicals urging that they unite behind McCain and “put aside whatever differences we have.”

“It’s just very quiet. It could mean there’s a real sense of apathy or it could mean they’re waiting for the general election to begin,” he said. “But it’s a surprise, given the way e-mail networks work now.”

On McCain’s part, he hasn’t done much to reach out to DeMoss either. DeMoss said he has received one phone call from a McCain staffer about a month ago asking if he would like to help campaign for McCain. But the evangelical leader, who had enthusiastically campaigned for former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, turned down the invitation.

“I told him that I’m a conservative first and a Republican second,” he said. “I was inclined to vote for Senator McCain but not to get involved beyond that.”

DeMoss briefly mentioned the 2000 incident when McCain lashed out at his former boss, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson. He later commented that McCain’s recent rejection of the endorsements of Pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley was a “mistake.”

Although the two pastors have some controversial views on theology, both, in terms of values, support what many evangelicals hold dear, DeMoss contends.

“Here were two conservative religious pastors who were probably out on a limb supporting him,” he said. “And he responds to criticism over comments they made and rejects them. That was a slap in the face to evangelicals who are already somewhat suspect of Senator McCain.”

USAToday went down the same road, predicting the white evangelical vote is in play this year. "In the aftermath of Obama's nomination, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, who helped lead the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., after Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in 1955, invoked divine inspiration. Lowery, who co-founded and led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told CNN he believed Obama was 'called' to the nomination and that 'God does call men and women forth to be his spokesperson.'"

Bush, being a moron, believed this stuff when they told it to him; Obama won't... I think (see campaign brochure above). Today's NY Times looks at it from another angle-- the predictable lack of enthusiasm for McCain among the faithful. "[O]ne of Mr. McCain’s biggest challenges as he faces a general election contest with Senator Barack Obama: a continued wariness toward him among evangelicals and other Christian conservatives, a critical voting bloc for Republicans that could stay home in the fall or at least be decidedly unenthusiastic in their efforts to get out the vote." McCain has decided to address this by targeting gay families and ginning up fear, hatred and divisiveness, proving once again, that his would be even worse than a third George Bush term.

The campaign has been peppering over 600 socially conservative grass-roots and national leaders with regular e-mail messages — highlighting, for example, Mr. McCain’s statement criticizing a May 15 decision by the California Supreme Court overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, or his recent speech on his judicial philosophy. It has also held briefings for small groups of conservative leaders before key speeches. Charlie Black, one of Mr. McCain’s senior advisers, recently sat down with a dozen prominent evangelical leaders in Washington, where he emphasized, among other things, Mr. McCain’s consistent anti-abortion voting record.

Mr. McCain’s outreach to Christian conservatives has been a quiet courting, reflecting a balancing act: his election hopes rely on drawing in the political middle and Democrats who might be turned off should he woo the religious right too heavily by, for instance, highlighting his anti-abortion position more on the campaign trail.

And his inherently duplicitous strategy is already paying off-- for Democrats. A Bush operative in Ohio summed up how social conservatives feel about McCain in today's L>A. Times: "He doesn't want to associate with us and we don't want to associate with him."

That meeting and other run-ins with conservatives, some Republicans say, have revealed the depth of the challenge facing McCain: mollifying Republican constituencies that have distrusted many of his policy positions, in order to build the machinery needed to push voters to the polls in November.

If McCain tried to gather his volunteers in Ohio, "you could meet in a phone booth," said radio host Bill Cunningham, who attacks the Arizona senator regularly on his talk show. "There's no sense in this part of Ohio that John McCain is a conservative or that his election would have a material benefit to conservatism."

UPDATE: McCAIN DOESN'T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEGITIMATE PASTOR LIKE BILLY GRAHAM AND A BIGOTED HUCKSTER LIKE JOHN HAGEE-- AND HE MADE THE WRONG CHOICE

I don't know Billy Graham's politics; he doesn't preach about politics. He preaches about Jesus. He is respected and admired throughout the U.S. and around the world. I believe all American presidents since Eisenhower, Democrats as well as Republicans, have been eager for his counsel and spiritual guidance. But while McCain has been running around the country paying homage to radical and extremist preachers like John Hagee, Rod Parsley and all kinds of crazy snakehandlers and GOP operatives claiming divine inspiration, he has refused to even meet with Billy Graham. Graham has sent out overtures to McCain for a meeting. Startlingly, McCain has rebuffed them.

McCain's director of scheduling sent Wead and Jacobs an emailing saying, "Senator McCain appreciates your invitation and the valuable opportunity it represents. Unfortunately, I must pass along our regrets and do not foresee an opportunity to add this event to the calendar."

And the campaign wonders why people of faith are turning away from the GOP in droves? Someone needs to explain the difference to him between the lunatic fringe and real spiritual and religious figures. Billy Graham is as American as apple pie. McCain's cadre of kook reverends are absolutely toxic.


UPDATE: PASTOR DAN CLUES US IN ON SOME BAD NEWS FOR THE BAD GUYS

Do you know what the Barna Group is? Pastor Dan is willing to share exactly what kind of a polling firm they are with you-- and why they're showing that McCain has virtually no chance of setting foot in the White House unless Presdient Obama decides to invite him some time.

The Barna research indicates that the Christian community in the U.S. has largely shifted its loyalty to the Democratic nominee in this year's race. In the 2004 election, 81% of evangelicals voted for the Republican incumbent George W. Bush. Currently, 78% of the likely voters who are evangelical expect to vote for Sen. McCain. Evangelicals represent 8% of the adult population and just 9% of all likely voters.

But the big news in the faith realm is the sizeable defection from Republican circles of the much larger non-evangelical born again and the notional Christian segments. The non-evangelical born again adults constitute 37% of the likely voters in November, and the notional Christians are expected to be 39% of the likely voters. Among the non-evangelical born again adults, 52% supported President Bush in 2004; yet, only 38% are currently supporting Sen. McCain, while 48% are siding with Sen. Obama. Although notional Christians voted for John Kerry in 2004 by an 11-point margin, that gap has more than doubled to 26 points in this year's election. Protestants and Catholics have moved toward the Democratic challenger in equal proportions since 2004.