By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources, (www.originalsources.com)
March 6, 2000
The New York times observed yesterday: "Even some of Mr. McCain's advisers said they were having trouble winning over loyal Republicans. The problem, they said, is that the recent discourse has been dominated by charges and counter-charges over advertising tactics -- and Mr. McCain's condemnation of two religious conservative leaders -- that have prevented the senator from hammering at his message that he is a conservative in the Reagan mold."
McCain discovered the hard way that the political clout of the so-called Religious Right still exists when he denounced the "evil influence" of the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson in hopes that the attack on the Religious Right would help him in the Northeastern states. "We are the party of Ronald Reagan, not Pat Robertson," McCain said in a 20-minute address in Virginia Beach, Va., a few miles from the headquarters of Robertson's Christian Coalition.
McCain’s harsh criticism of the Christian Right wing of the Republican Party actually was doing the exact opposite of what Ronald Reagan did in 1980. In the words of Edwin Meese, who was in the Ronald Reagan administration when he was governor of California and during his eight years in the White House, "In terms of party unity, candidate Reagan took special pains to heal division in the GOP, both prior to and during the Detroit convention, and did so quite successfully." ("With Reagan - The Inside Story"- by Edwin Meese)
And, of course, picking a fight with Ronald Reagan’s son, Michael, on his nationwide talk show last week didn’t do a lot to convince the Republican base that he was the heir to the Ronald Reagan mantle either. Reagan, who has appeared for several weeks to lean towards John McCain, was so annoyed at McCain’s insistence on continuing to pick at the open sore he’d created by insisting on talking about Pat Robertson on Reagan’s Talk Show, that Reagan symbolically tore up his "vote for John McCain" ballot on Air.
However, John McCain probably will win tomorrow in Massachusetts, a strongly Catholic state, where McCain’s efforts to inject religion has seemingly hit paydirt. In fact, according to my e-mail, it isn’t only George Bush who may lose votes in Massachusetts because he spoke at Bob Jones University. Alan Keyes, who represents all three of the areas that Bob Jones University appears to have some problems accepting - interracial dating, Catholicism and a black skin - also spoke to the students at Bob Jones University. One reader, who identified herself as a resident of Massachusetts and an Italian-American, wrote:
"I live in MA, where our primary will be Tues. I had planned to vote for Ambassador Keyes since the beginning of the season, but I am no longer sure I will. His appearance at Bob Jones University is part of the cause of my reconsideration. I have followed this controversy closely, but I have yet to hear anyone express a view that matches my own. I don't want presidential candidates, of either party, associating with bigots from any extreme. I no more endorse Keyes at Bob Jones than I endorse Al Gore with Al Sharpton. I find it ironic that John McCain, who is not a Catholic, was the prime motivating factor behind a discussion of the anti-Catholicism of Bob Jones University. After all, as we've heard from Gov. Bush, Ronald Reagan spoke there, Bob Dole spoke there, George Bush spoke there, Pat Buchanan spoke there... Well, I think they were all wrong to speak there. Would Ambassador Keyes speak at a Planned Parenthood gathering? They assail his most cherished beliefs in much the same way as Bob Jones University. Perhaps you can enlighten me as to just what is so attractive about this institution that so many Republicans run to its podium. For the life of me, I don't know what they think they're gaining."
I can’t speak for Keyes, but I would be surprised and disappointed if he turned down an opportunity to speak to the Planned Parenthood organization. I can’t think of anyone who needs to get their thinking straightened out any more than that group and Alan Keyes would be just the man to do it. As for why politicians go there to speak - there are 6000 potential votes there.
As is often the case, the commentary on other side of this issue also came in my e-mail over the week-end when another reader, Chris Lawrence, sent me a commentary about the same issue. The Salt Lake Tribune asked Senator Bob Bennett of Utah if George W. Bush should follow up his apology to the Catholics with another apology to the Mormons. As I pointed out in a previous analysis, the sentence written by Bob Jones III about the Catholics being a "cult" also contained the same statement about Mormons. In Southern California, the Catholics are the largest religious denomination and the second largest is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Of course, this entire situation is a media driven story. It was never an issue before for politicians, both Republicans and Democrats, to speak to the students at Bob Jones University because it had never occurred to a member of the media to make an issue out of it. This year, someone thought of it.
However, Senator Bennett didn’t bite. In fact, he said "No." For the Mormons it’s pretty much a non-issue. Lee Benson, a columnist for the Deseret News, in commenting on the issue Sunday, made light of what has become a bitter issue among some, especially in the East: What’s the Doctrinal basis for labeling Catholics and Mormons "cults?"
Benson, a Mormon, gave a light-hearted explanation:
Bob Jones University is not high on Brigham Young University, or Notre Dame for that matter, because, as it says in the Bob Jones college creed, their guide is "whatever the Bible says is so," and as they read it, the Bible doesn't say what the Catholics say, or the Mormons.At debate is the same thing that's been dividing Christians for centuries — namely, what is it that gets you into heaven? Works, faith or rites?
At Bob Jones, they say faith and only faith.
Catholics go with all three, heavy on the rites.
Mormons also come down strongly on the side of all three.
Old news, of course. Very old news. Until the presidential campaign revved it back up.
Presidential contender Bush quickly apologized for not distancing himself from any anti-Catholic sentiments, which brought up the "What about the Mormons?" question. Should George W. Bush be an equal opportunity apologizer?
The answer: What Bob Bennett said.
"Don't bother."
No apology necessary.
What sleight?
Hey, I'm a Mormon, and the only rise it would get out of me is if somebody told me it got a rise out of me.
I don't think it will affect the Mormon vote, if that's what anybody's thinking. …If Bush doesn't win here Friday it won't be because he visited Bob Jones University and members of Utah's majority religious denomination are upset.
So, what appears to be a big emotional issue in Massachusetts, is simply boring to Utah, and is fighting words in California. In effect what we now have, as a major issue in tomorrow’s Super Tuesday Presidential Primary is the following: Is it worse for George W. Bush to speak to young people at Bob Jones College or for John McCain to make his speaking there a political issue, thereby pitting various religions against each other?
Why are we talking about Bob Jones University, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell in the Presidential Primaries anyway? Simple. Somewhere someone made the editorial decision that the American electorate is more concerned about what’s going on at Bob Jones University, which most of them had never heard of before George Bush spoke there, than what the candidates plan to do to address such mundane matters as rising gasoline prices, threats of a Nuclear missile attack against US Cities should we defend Taiwan against an attack by China, the total failure of the NATO mission in Kosovo, the rapidly worsening cultural and moral abyss facing the nation, the recent attacks by the KLA on Serbs inside Yugoslavia, the shambles Clinton has made of American foreign policy or the highest tax rate in America since World War II.
John McCain is no Ronald Reagan. Reagan united people by dealing dealt with basic principles, big ideas and big issues. John McCain concentrates on manufactured problems and petty issues. After eight years of a devisive Clinton, voters seem to be looking for a uniter again, not a divider which seems to mean George W. Bush for the year 2000.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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