Frank Schaeffer is a Christian conservative columnist writing in the Dallas Morning News. And as of yesterday, he is a former Republican.
What drove him from the GOP is the tsunami of sleaze that the Republicans are heaping upon the nation in their desperate bid to hold onto power.
The last straw, he says in his column, was an email he got from the George Allen campaign.
I'm a Christian, a writer, a military parent and a registered Republican.
On all those counts, I was disgusted by an e-mail I just received that's being circulated by campaign supporters of Republican George Allen, who's trying to retain his Senate seat in Virginia.
The message goes like this: "First, it was the Catholic priests, then it was Mark Foley, and now Jim Webb, whose sleazy novels discuss sex between very young teenagers. ... Hmmm, sounds like a perverted pedophile to me! Pass the word that we do not need any more pedophiles in office."
Democrat James Webb is a war hero and former Marine, wounded in Vietnam and winner of the Navy Cross. He was writing about class and military issues long before me and has articulated the issue of how the elites have dropped the ball on military service in his classic novel Fields of Fire. By the way, that's a book Tom Wolfe calls "the greatest of the Vietnam novels."
So, Schaeffer and his wife plan to change their registration from GOP to independent, despite his longstanding ties to the GOP.
My late father - Dr. Francis Schaeffer - was an evangelical theologian, friend to Jerry Falwell and White House guest of Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and the first President Bush.
I have nice handwritten letters from various members of the Bush family, including Barbara, thanking me for my books on military service. So I have every reason to stay in the Republicans' good graces. (It's nice to be complimented on television by the First Lady.)
But enough is enough. I've had it with Republican smears.
Schaeffer then says that if Webb's novel is terrible, then the Bible must be just as bad since it describes masturbation, rape, pedophilia and King David indulging his various lusts.
I don't care anymore what party someone is in. These days, what I care about is what they're made of.
Wartime demands leaders with character and moral authority. The political party smearing Mr. Webb proves it has neither.
Amazing.
Does anyone still think the Republican base is going to turn out in force next week?
Update to clarify: Schaeffer also writes for other papers as well as Dallas. He has had columns in the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, USA Today, etc.