Bryan Fischer
Why social conservatives may want Perry to hang in there
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
With Michele Bachmann's announcement today that she is dropping out of the campaign, the conservative alternatives to Mitt Romney have narrowed to Santorum, Gingrich and Perry.
Perry is home in Texas, reassessing his campaign, and of course reassessing often leads to dropping out altogether. Despite his disappointing finish in Iowa, there may be reasons why social conservatives will want him to hang on a little longer.
The urgent need that social conservatives rightly feel is a need to derail Romney, as most pro-family leaders will acknowledge privately that a Romney presidency will be a disaster for the values they cherish.
When Gov. Romney attacked me from the platform at the Values Voter Summit, accusing me of using "poisonous language," he was giving a shout-out to homosexual activists all across the fruited plain, since they were the ones pressing him to attack me. The fact that Gov. Romney would allow them, along with the Boston Globe and New York Times, to dictate the content of his remarks at a gathering of engaged pro-family leaders is telling. He was sending them a clear message: when push comes to shove, I'm with you, not with the defenders of the natural family.
Romney was signalling that he will not be a fighter for socially conservative ideals, and will in fact likely collaborate with the enemies of the pro-family movement in order to promote special rights based on homosexual behavior.
Efforts will be made, perhaps even this weekend in Texas, to persuade pro-family leaders to coalesce around one solid conservative not-Romney. This will not be as easy as it sounds.
Santorum has obvious momentum coming out of Iowa, but he has no money and no organization. He campaigned across Iowa in a borrowed truck. He was successful in Iowa because he spend over 100 days in the state and had well over 350 town hall meetings, a campaign effort impossible to duplicate anywhere else because of the sheer limitations of the calendar. Unless significant funding magically appears, he is liable to run out of gas alongside the road somewhere between South Carolina and Florida.
In my estimation, Newt is probably suffering from fatal self-inflicted wounds. I've heard from a number of ordinary voters who were big-time Newt supporters until they heard he took $1.8 million from Freddie Mac, at which point they dropped him like a hot rock. Newt is unlikely to recover from the damage he has done to himself, which includes his support for the individual mandate and global warming initiatives. In fact, a good case can be made that the last conservative thing Newt did was in 1996.
Here's where Perry enters the picture. If Santorum cannot inflate his balloon, and Newt can't get up off the gurney, and Perry drops out, there will be no alternative to Romney left standing. Romney will win the nomination by default.
Social conservatives may want Perry to hang in as long as he can. If Santorum's vehicle runs out of gas, and they're left by the side of the road with their thumbs out, they may be happy to know that Perry will be along in his Texas-sized pick up to give them the ride they're looking for.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
January 4, 2012
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
With Michele Bachmann's announcement today that she is dropping out of the campaign, the conservative alternatives to Mitt Romney have narrowed to Santorum, Gingrich and Perry.
Perry is home in Texas, reassessing his campaign, and of course reassessing often leads to dropping out altogether. Despite his disappointing finish in Iowa, there may be reasons why social conservatives will want him to hang on a little longer.
The urgent need that social conservatives rightly feel is a need to derail Romney, as most pro-family leaders will acknowledge privately that a Romney presidency will be a disaster for the values they cherish.
When Gov. Romney attacked me from the platform at the Values Voter Summit, accusing me of using "poisonous language," he was giving a shout-out to homosexual activists all across the fruited plain, since they were the ones pressing him to attack me. The fact that Gov. Romney would allow them, along with the Boston Globe and New York Times, to dictate the content of his remarks at a gathering of engaged pro-family leaders is telling. He was sending them a clear message: when push comes to shove, I'm with you, not with the defenders of the natural family.
Romney was signalling that he will not be a fighter for socially conservative ideals, and will in fact likely collaborate with the enemies of the pro-family movement in order to promote special rights based on homosexual behavior.
Efforts will be made, perhaps even this weekend in Texas, to persuade pro-family leaders to coalesce around one solid conservative not-Romney. This will not be as easy as it sounds.
Santorum has obvious momentum coming out of Iowa, but he has no money and no organization. He campaigned across Iowa in a borrowed truck. He was successful in Iowa because he spend over 100 days in the state and had well over 350 town hall meetings, a campaign effort impossible to duplicate anywhere else because of the sheer limitations of the calendar. Unless significant funding magically appears, he is liable to run out of gas alongside the road somewhere between South Carolina and Florida.
In my estimation, Newt is probably suffering from fatal self-inflicted wounds. I've heard from a number of ordinary voters who were big-time Newt supporters until they heard he took $1.8 million from Freddie Mac, at which point they dropped him like a hot rock. Newt is unlikely to recover from the damage he has done to himself, which includes his support for the individual mandate and global warming initiatives. In fact, a good case can be made that the last conservative thing Newt did was in 1996.
Here's where Perry enters the picture. If Santorum cannot inflate his balloon, and Newt can't get up off the gurney, and Perry drops out, there will be no alternative to Romney left standing. Romney will win the nomination by default.
Social conservatives may want Perry to hang in as long as he can. If Santorum's vehicle runs out of gas, and they're left by the side of the road with their thumbs out, they may be happy to know that Perry will be along in his Texas-sized pick up to give them the ride they're looking for.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
