Bush’s campaign to court Evangelicals split US says advisor
-12/11/04
Bush’s campaign to court Evangelicals split US says advisor
-12/11/04
Echoing warnings from Christians on both sides of the Atlantic, Arthur Finkelstein, a Republican consultant known for hard-edged campaigns that helped conservatives in the United States and Israel, has said that President Bush’s campaign strategy to court evangelical Christians has divided the US as never before.
His comments came in an interview published in Maariv, an Israeli daily newspaper.
“From now on, anyone who belongs to the Republican Party will automatically find himself in the same group as the opponents of abortion, and anyone who supports abortion will automatically be labelled a Democrat,” Mr. Finkelstein told Maariv.
Both during and after the election Jim Wallis from the Sojourners Community in Washington DC, and Joel Edwards, director of the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, warned of equating Republicanism with fundamentalism.
Mr Finkelstein however seems to suggest that things have already gone too far.
“The political centre has disappeared, and the Republican Party has become the party of the Christian right more so than in any other period in modern history” he said.
Mr. Finkelstein, whose clients have included former Senators Alfonse M. D’Amato of New York and Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, suggested that Mr. Bush’s strategy could ultimately stunt the presidential aspirations of moderate Republicans like one of his close allies, Gov. George E. Pataki of New York.
“Bush’s strategy secures the power of the American Christian right not only for this term,” Mr. Finkelstein said. “In fact, it secures its ability to choose the next Republican president.”
Arthur Finkelstein’s thoughts on Mr. Bush’s victory – or any victory, for that matter – are notable because of his reclusiveness. He rarely talks to reporters. But Boaz Gaon, a reporter for Maariv based in Tel Aviv, said he spoke with Mr. Finkelstein, who is based in New York, for two and a half hours by telephone to review the American elections and discuss the opening of Mr. Finkelstein’s consulting office in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Finkelstein told Mr. Gaon that he was troubled by the strategy of dividing the country by “values of religion and culture.”
“Bush courted the evangelical vote,” he said, “and turned these elections, in fact, into a referendum on the religious and cultural nature of America. This is my problem.”
Since the election, evangelical fundamentalist Jerry Falwell has announced the formation of the ‘Faith and Values Coalition’, a national organisation designed to capitalise on the “values voters”. Calling it a resurrection of the ‘Moral Majority’, it will address the three areas of abortion, homosexuality and getting another Republican elected President in four years time.
“Bush’s victory strengthens the ability of the Christian right to nominate the next Republican nominee as much as the last one,” Mr. Finkelstein said.
Bush’s campaign to court Evangelicals split US says advisor
-12/11/04
Echoing warnings from Christians on both sides of the Atlantic, Arthur Finkelstein, a Republican consultant known for hard-edged campaigns that helped conservatives in the United States and Israel, has said that President Bush’s campaign strategy to court evangelical Christians has divided the US as never before.
His comments came in an interview published in Maariv, an Israeli daily newspaper.
“From now on, anyone who belongs to the Republican Party will automatically find himself in the same group as the opponents of abortion, and anyone who supports abortion will automatically be labelled a Democrat,” Mr. Finkelstein told Maariv.
Both during and after the election Jim Wallis from the Sojourners Community in Washington DC, and Joel Edwards, director of the Evangelical Alliance in the UK, warned of equating Republicanism with fundamentalism.
Mr Finkelstein however seems to suggest that things have already gone too far.
“The political centre has disappeared, and the Republican Party has become the party of the Christian right more so than in any other period in modern history” he said.
Mr. Finkelstein, whose clients have included former Senators Alfonse M. D’Amato of New York and Jesse Helms of North Carolina and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel, suggested that Mr. Bush’s strategy could ultimately stunt the presidential aspirations of moderate Republicans like one of his close allies, Gov. George E. Pataki of New York.
“Bush’s strategy secures the power of the American Christian right not only for this term,” Mr. Finkelstein said. “In fact, it secures its ability to choose the next Republican president.”
Arthur Finkelstein’s thoughts on Mr. Bush’s victory – or any victory, for that matter – are notable because of his reclusiveness. He rarely talks to reporters. But Boaz Gaon, a reporter for Maariv based in Tel Aviv, said he spoke with Mr. Finkelstein, who is based in New York, for two and a half hours by telephone to review the American elections and discuss the opening of Mr. Finkelstein’s consulting office in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Finkelstein told Mr. Gaon that he was troubled by the strategy of dividing the country by “values of religion and culture.”
“Bush courted the evangelical vote,” he said, “and turned these elections, in fact, into a referendum on the religious and cultural nature of America. This is my problem.”
Since the election, evangelical fundamentalist Jerry Falwell has announced the formation of the ‘Faith and Values Coalition’, a national organisation designed to capitalise on the “values voters”. Calling it a resurrection of the ‘Moral Majority’, it will address the three areas of abortion, homosexuality and getting another Republican elected President in four years time.
“Bush’s victory strengthens the ability of the Christian right to nominate the next Republican nominee as much as the last one,” Mr. Finkelstein said.