Rudy and Pat

The only thing I can figure out from the endorsement of Rudy Giuliani's candidacy by televangelist Pat Robertson is that desperation has set in amongst the Religious Reich to the point that one of their more prominent voices would support a man who is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, and views his marriage vows the same way he does a rental-car agreement. If this was true fifteen years ago, Mr. Robertson would have endorsed Bill Clinton...except that Mr. Clinton was then and is still married to the same woman and she is the only woman he's ever married.

Either that or Mr. Robertson has had one too many of the miraculous protein shakes that enable him to leg-press over 2,000 pounds.

Many former Christian conservative allies dismissed the endorsement as an inexplicable stunt. They noted that Mr. Robertson, 77, had lost much of his influence since the heady days of his second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses 20 years ago when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination.

“What support he has left,” said Connie Mackey, a vice president of the public policy arm of the evangelical Family Research Council, “is obviously going to be eroded by this very strange endorsement.”

Others close to Mr. Robertson said, however, that he had decided to speak out to rebut a threat from other Christian conservative leaders to bolt the Republican Party if it nominated Mr. Giuliani or any other candidate who supports abortion rights.

What also springs to mind is that the Christian conservative movement is just incapable of learning their lesson. They thought that with the election of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, the long years in the wilderness would be over. No more abortions, no more queers promoting the radical homosexual agenda, nothing but pure Christian white bread wonderfulness now and forever. But it didn't happen that way; Roe v. Wade survived intact through the 1980's, those damned queers were still everywhere, and the country elected Bill Clinton. Not to worry; all the Clintons did was rally the troops, and when George W. Bush came into office, they were sure that now really was their time, bitchez! Except the Bushies played them like a one-night stand -- "of course I'll respect you in the morning." Oh, sure, they talked a good game about "faith-based" this and that, but all they wanted was their money and their support at the voting booth.

Mr. Robertson must think that Mr. Giuliani is a very straightforward and pragmatic candidate who has been very upfront about his views on abortion and gay rights; he's not going to offer them nostrums and then screw them over later (although perhaps he should have checked with the former Mrs. Giulianis first). At least they know from the git-go, and since he's the best chance the GOP seems to have at the moment, you go with what you've got. Desperation and the fear of oblivion are a great motivator.

So this endorsement by Mr. Robertson is either a calculated move on the part of a very crafty and insightful political genius, or the random act of weirdness from a has-been lunatic who thinks political assassinations are cheaper than war and that meteors over Orlando are divine retribution for Lance Bass. You make the call.

Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.