One of Karl Rove’s toughest assignments was to juggle the elements of the so-called Bush Republican coalition by catering to the religious right at election time. Operatives needed to walk this potentially fatal minefield softly.
While seeking not to upset the vital religious right constituency, other more moderate conservative types needed to be kept within the Republican fold. Their support also needed to be retained to stand any chance of triumphing on the national scene.
A student of history, Rove certainly correlated this challenge alongside that perennially faced by his idol Richard Nixon when he sought the presidency. As the saying then went, Nixon would "fly right for money and fly left for votes."
This was the game Nixon needed to successfully play given the existence at that time of a more progressive Eastern Republican wing that had to be placated alongside more conservative element in the Midwest and west, along with the then opening opportunities in the south.
After the comprehensive Civil Rights Bill was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 the south began to sharply rebel against the Democratic Party.
During that previous period conservatives such as Barry Goldwater of Arizona, Everett Dirksen of Illinois and William Jenner of Indiana existed within a party framework that also included moderate to liberal progressives of the east such as Margaret Chase Smith of Maine, George Aiken of Vermont and Clifford Case of New Jersey.
The rival forces engaged in open warfare at the 1952 Republican Convention in Chicago. A battle erupted over the seating of competing Texas delegations pledged to General Dwight Eisenhower and Senator Robert Taft.
The Eisenhower forces led by Governor Thomas Dewey of New York, leader of the eastern wing and the party’s standard bearer for the last two elections, favored the popular war hero over the conservative Ohio senator known as "Mr. Republican."
The eastern wing won that battle after Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts inflamed the party’s conservative wing by shouting from the podium, "Thou shalt not steal!" in an accusation against the Taft conservatives that sounds more reflective of the kind of language used now by the religious right.
Senator Everett Dirksen of Illinois had his moment as well for the conservatives. The Illinoisan, an excellent orator and presumed by some delegates and party faithful to be the likely running mate for Senator Taft should he secure the nomination, gestured dramatically toward Dewey.
The New York delegation was seated near the podium, a fortuity that put the naturally dramatic Dirksen, who possessed the flair of a Shakespearean actor, at an advantage as he gestured toward Dewey and exclaimed as he made the point for a conservative presidential choice:
"I followed you. I followed you twice and you led us down to defeat."
The Dirksen dramatic presentation led to scuffling and flying fists on the convention floor, but this was only a prelude to the bloodletting at the party’s 1964 convention in San Francisco.
This was the convention where the Republican right asserted itself and took charge, burying the party’s eastern wing and thoroughly enjoying it. Matters became so contentious that the enraged right, detesting what they termed an enemy eastern liberal media in the manner of Bill O’Reilly today, treated the network reporters on the floor as natural and hated enemies.
At one point John Chancellor, the respected NBC commentator, was led from the floor and placed under temporary arrest, prompting him to wittily sign off with one of the most unforgettable lines in television history: "This is John Chancellor somewhere in custody."
What with ardent southern racists signing onto the Goldwater right following the passage of the milestone Civil Rights Act of 1964, they flexed their muscle in more ways than booing liberal Republicans such as party keynoter Governor Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Goldwater’s main rival for the nomination, Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York.
African American delegates who had joined the party to uphold the old Lincoln tradition were openly harassed on the convention floor. One delegate was set afire by angry southern racists who saw no room for African Americans in the new Republican Party.
The convention antics coupled with Goldwater’s acceptance speech, in which he declared, "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue," played into the hands of incumbent Johnson. His campaign vigorously sought to embrace estranged moderate to liberal Republicans as well as independents.
The Johnson effort was successful as Goldwater and the Republicans suffered one of the most massive defeats in American history. Shrewdly elements of the Republican right were able to reshape conservative Republicanism through a soft sell image articulated by Ronald Reagan. As a trained professional Reagan fell into his "Doctor Feelgood" role naturally.
So now we fast forward to the Republicans in 2007. Two top tier candidates for the party’s 2008 presidential election, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, in order to carve out successful niches in New York City and Massachusetts politics, being elected mayor and governor respectively, had to make themselves palatable to voters.
Now we see Guiliani, who favored gun control as a successful New York City mayoral candidate and in office, going before the National Rifle Association. Guiliani sought to demonstrate that he possesses common ground with an organization that stood solidly against so much of what he then represented as New York City’s mayor.
Romney, called "Multiple Choice Mitt" for good reason, declared that he had experienced the same kind of conversion on abortion that Ronald Reagan had during an earlier period.
Romney had been pro choice as Massachusetts governor while Reagan had as California’s chief executive signed the most liberal abortion law in the country. When each candidate saw the Republican arithmetic for nomination and support in the crucial November elections, conversions suddenly occurred.
Given not only Guiliani’s position on abortion but his free swinging lifestyle in Manhattan, which will never be confused politically with rural Mississippi, South Carolina or Alabama, it appeared to be only a question of when a right wing posse formed to inform the faithful that candidate Rudy was unacceptable.
None other than James Dobson led the charge, assisted by Richard Viguerie and Tony Perkins. Dobson let stalwarts of the religious right know that Guiliani was not one of their kind and as such was clearly unacceptable as a potential Republican president.
The group went even further than a declaration that Rudy was unacceptable. If he were to be nominated, they warned that they might form a third party. No candidate was mentioned, but the intent was clear – run Rudy and the Republican Party risks losing its vital religious right base.
Progressives should step aside and watch the ensuing battle with keen interest. If ever a party deserved such disruptive and potentially damaging fireworks it is the Republicans.
Behind the scenes more pragmatic party loyalists have made fun of the religious right and privately verified the beliefs of progressives concerning their extremism, but as long as the numbers properly crunched they did all in their power to see that a potentially fragile boat was not rocked.
If you want to listen to a candidate who resonates to the kind of dangerous message that Dobson and his followers preach, just tune in to Allen Keyes. In the recent Republican candidates debate in Concord, New Hampshire Keyes extolled his belief in what sounded more like a theocratic state rather than the one carved out by the likes of the eminent Virginians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
When you hear the message constantly repeated about America as a "Christian nation" the question that arises is: What happens to plurality?
That is the very point. It does not exist in those circles.