Conventional wisdom suggests that the teabaggers and the religious right would fit right in with each other. After all, the most prominent teabagger of them all, Sarah Palin, is a fundicostal. And WorldNutDaily, one of the teabaggers' favorite "news" sites, is officially fundie Christian in orientation. However, if this story from Politico is to be believed, some of the teabaggers' tactics are giving the religious right pause.
A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout and stimulus plan were the triggers for a resurgence in support for the Republican Party and the rise of the tea party movement. But they’ve also banished the social issues that are the focus of many evangelical Christians to the background.
For instance, a coalition of teabag outfits are in the midst of drafting a "Contract from America" based on input from teabaggers nationwide. However, of the 21 issues to choose from, abortion and gay marriage are nowhere to be found.
The teabaggers' response? They want to build as broad a coalition as possible.
an in-depth study of 49 tea party leaders by the free-market oriented Sam Adams Alliance suggested that the leadership consciously avoids social issues and plans to continue doing so.
"None of them chose social issues as the sole direction for the movement," said the group’s marketing director, Anne Sorock, who oversaw the study.
She said that while many of the leaders held conservative views on social issues, "they were completely adamant that [the issues] were not a part of their agenda for the long term."
"Across the board everyone had the same answer: It’s so important that they achieve their goals that social issues cannot distract them, because they need to cast the widest net of consensus with the widest group possible," she said.
That sentiment probably explains the presence of GOProud at CPAC.
Additionally, a large segment of born-agains don't like the teabaggers' vitriol against Obama. Remember last week, when Mark DeMoss closed his checkbook in response to the infamous "Joker" fundraising pitch from the RNC? Well, you'd expect many younger evangelicals to be just as repelled. But surprisingly, his sentiments are shared by many old-time religious right leaders. Take Richard Land, for instance.
Land said liberals can be equally faulted for demonizing Sarah Palin, but said that if he were an RNC donor, he’d stop giving.
"What [liberal blogs] do with Sarah is just really unacceptable and dastardly, but that doesn’t mean we should respond in kind," he said. Obama, he said "provides a tremendously positive role model for tens of millions of African-American men" and "seems demonstrably fond of his wife and children, which is a positive role model for people of all ethnicities."
"I would want to be free to attack the character of President Clinton — but this guy, he gives every indication of being a decent guy," Land said.
I've long thought that eventually, the Repubs will be torn apart by a spat between the neo-libertarians that seem to dominate the tea parties and the fundies. If this article is at all accurate, the civil war in the GOP might be closer to getting underway.