Political Nanny : Christian conservatives

And Then There Were 5: Another Candidate Waves Bye-Bye

Madeline Holler — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:35:00 GMT

[UPDATE BELOW] Another candidate has thrown in his teddy bear bath towel and will withdraw from the rugrat election race.

He hasn't made it official yet, but advisers to the once very likely GOP nominee are confirming that former Massachussetts governor Mitt Romney will announce Thursday that he is ending his presidential election campaign. He's expected to make the announcement when he address conservatives at a convention Thursday afternoon.

Romney takes with him his five sons, loads of grandkids, his lovely wife and a much lighter personal fortune. Leading up to the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, he had spent more than $35 of his own money to keep his campaign afloat.

More details as we get them. In the meantime, Political Nanny will pack up his change of clothes and favorite playthings and prepare for another good-bye. We suppose Huckabee was correct Tuesday night when he said it's now a two-man race over on the GOP side (sorry, Ron Paul).

It's now John McCain's nomination to lose. With more room in the sandbox, the rest of them win!

[UPDATE] Romney told a shocked audience of conservatives his reasons for abandoning his presidential dreams. In summary, Iraq:

“in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

“Barack and Hillary have made their intentions clear regarding Iraq and the war on terror. They would retreat and declare defeat,” said Romney.

“And the consequence of that would be devastating. It would mean attacks on America, launched from safe havens that make Afghanistan under the Taliban look like child’s play. About this, I have no doubt.”

Others, like Brian at DailyScanner, see it as a postponement of the Apocolypse.

What's your take? Good news? Bad news? If Mitt was your guy, who will you support now?

via Politico

Election Milestone: Candidates Take First Steps In Iowa (Quick, Get the Camera!)

Madeline Holler — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:38:00 GMT

Political Nanny is sitting on pins and needles, at once excited, deliriously proud of and terrified for her candidates. Today, the 15 reach such an important milestone: the Iowa caucuses. They look so grown up! It seems like just yesterday ...! It's all happening so fast (well, not really.)

As the unruly group of them toddles around on stages, grabbing at microphones, saying "cheese" for the camera, and slobbering all over Iowans one last time in hopes of charming each and every one of these Midwesterners to go out tonight and be counted at the caucus (and chances are, they won't), Political Nanny is watching and trying to remember Iowa is not the final word. It's the first, only the first. We caregivers -- those of us experienced with cadidate-children -- know that the early walker in Iowa will not acurrately predict who gets to sit in the White House highchair. (Remember little guy Dick Gephardt?) See, there's time to catch up.

In the meantime, Political Nanny will be watching her babes today as they smile and shake hands and talk pretty and learn their numbers (polls and precinct percentages are the new flashcards!). She'll be watching tonight as the reports come in. Tomorrow, she'll usher the remaining ones over to New Hampshire for primaries there next week.

Those little buggers never could sit still.

Speaking of Sunday School Teachers ...

Madeline Holler — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:40:00 GMT

In case the U.S. has strayed too far from the meaning of Christmas, what with all of our respect and honoring of all the citizens, regardless of religion, Mike Huckabee, God's favorite candidate, has spent some of his precious (but increasing) piles of campaign money on this season's greeting for Iowans (well, certain Iowans.)

Giuliani Gets an Amen!

Madeline Holler — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 20:56:00 GMT

We didn’t see this coming! Pro-gay rights, pro-choice, pro-broken marriages, pro-pre-marital everything Giuliani received a rather stunning endorsement from a rather anti-anything-fun kind of guy.

Pat Robertson, of the 700 Club and founder of the Christian Coalition, announced he’d be backing Giuliani for president. While Robertson called for this unexpected “Amen!” I’m sure more than one of his followers responded with “what the …?”

Giuliani gladly accepted the endorsement. But why? How? Some say this shows that the former NYC mayor’s tough talk on terrorism is important enough to outweigh the 700 Club and Christian Coalition members’ concerns about abortion and finding a pro-life candidate to support.

A New York Times reporter on the campaign trail in Iowa analyzed the unexpected partnership this way:

“The endorsement helps them quiet talk the talk that had bubbled up among Christian conservative leaders about supporting a third-party candidate if Mr. Giuliani, a supporter of abortion rights is the nominee, and bolstering his advisers’ contention that he can compete among Christian conservative voters who are dominant in early voting states like South Carolina and Iowa.”

Still. Of course nobody expected Robertson to back Satan, right?

Satan Burnin' Down the (White) House

Madeline Holler — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:44:00 GMT

Tele-evangelist Bill Keller, who has a TV broadcast in central Florida and whose website LivePrayer.com blasts out a daily devotional to about 2.4 million people, warns conservative Christian voters not to fall for just any ol' man of faith when deciding who should move into the White House. He says one candidate in particular hops along the campaign trail, a clean-cut, smiling devil in disguise.

Keller wrote in an email back in May, that a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Satan. You know, because Romney is a Mormon.

He reasoned that Romney in office would be like a big advertisement for Mormonism, which Keller says is a fake-Christian religion that is luring the flock away from the teachings of Jesus. All those new Mormons he would recruit as POTUS would get sucked into the unchristian lies. Upon death, they would go straight to hell.

I don’t know about recruitment efforts of the world’s major religions or the validity of Keller’s theological analysis. But I am suspicious of equating presidential hopefuls with the more prominant players in the Holy Bible. Wasn’t voting for Bush practically equated with voting for Jesus Christ himself? Are followers of Christ (or Bush for that matter) happy with how THAT turned out?