So what candidate will the Christian Right back?

Sure, like I care, right?

Well, actually I do a little. I want to see, for one thing, how hypocritical this can get. As a number of people have pointed out re the 2008 presidential hopefuls, for instance, this bit of math seems startling:

Hillary Clinton - married once.
Barach Obama - married once.
John Edwards - married once.
And just for fun...
Al Gore - married once (but not running... so far).

Then we have:
Rudolph Giuliani - married three times.
John McCain - married two times.
Mitt Romney - married once (his Mormonism won't play well with the CR, though).
Newt Gingrich - married three times. (Nonetheless, he's apparently throwing his hat into the presidential ring.)

So... counting Al Gore who probably isn't running (but maybe should?) and Newt who probably is running (but maybe shouldn't?), the totals look like this:

Democrats = 4 candidates = 4 marriages.
Republicans = 4 candidates = 9 marriages (and in Gingrich's confession to evangelical guru James Dobson, he also confessed to an affair during the Bill Clinton scandal!)

A subtext in this is, of course, who is backing who. McCain is disgusted with Dobson, and Dobson has said basically he won't vote for McCain. So one is left wondering if Dobson is attempting to "rehabilitate" Gingrich as his own choice for the Republican nomination. Don't know... but it is nifty to note that though Giuliani (as Land claims) is not only of dubious character and pro-gun control, Gingrich will likely join McCain as pro-NRA. Guns are a Freudian representation of what? Oh... morality! I forgot.

But will other Christian Right spokesmen split their voting block up between Newt Gingrich and, as the Southern Baptists' Richard Land seems to have done, McCain? What would be truly fascinating is if Giuliani holds onto his current lead in early polls, and the Christian Right has to decide between him and whoever the Democrats nominate. Because here's the thing... not to back someone means the Christian Right is no longer a major player in the power wars. And after Dubya's success, largely because of them, I suspect the CR just won't be able to take the road of non-involvement.

This could be a season where all sorts of things, morally and otherwise, become clear.

Richard Land and the Christian Right (Good Luck with that, GOP)

I really do not enjoy seeing (or hearing) the name Richard Land. Nothing against the man himself, mind you. But whenever he opens his mouth, something painful for the rest of us -- Christian or not -- seems to emerge.

This time around, it is his comments on Rudi Giuliani's two divorces that caught my eye.

First, let me say I have no pony in the Republican race. I make this clear to show I don't care who the winner in that race is, as long as they don't end up in the White House.

Second, let me say I suspect Giuliani -- despite his moral shading -- is actually the Republicans' best hope. So I should probably just keep quiet and laugh to myself over the Repubs being saddled with the Christian Right. (Good luck with that in 2008!)

Third, I'm confident that nothing I say will affect any election anywhere. So here we go...

Richard Land dissed Giuliani on "character issues" in an interview with the Associated Press (CNN). His comments addressed Giuliani's messy second divorce in 2000 and resultant familial difficulties, some of which are playing out more publicly as the presidential primary campaign heats up.

"I mean, this is divorce on steroids. To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."

I love the last bit, where in what is a non-sequitor, Land switches from divorce to abortion to that most hideous of all moral sins, being pro-gun control! I don't know exactly how Land sorts that out -- I don't recall guns in the Bible but maybe it is in the original Greek or something. What I also thought nice frosting was Land's comments about John McCain, who he apparently is backing. Unfortunately, McCain also has a divorce in his background. But --

"When you're a war hero [like McCain], you have less to prove on the character front."

Does that mean the Christian Right is going to back McCain after all, despite James Dobson (of Focus on the Family) dissing McCain in no uncertain terms? "I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," said Dobson in January of this year.

Dang! Someone from the NRA needs to give Jim a call!