What disturbs me most about this article is where the event was held.
In an auditorium in the Senate Office building. Welcome to the
Christian Republic of America-Halliburton, Inc.

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Falwell says evangelicals control GOP, Bush's fate

By Scott Shepard
COX NEWS SERVICE

September 25, 2004

WASHINGTON The Rev. Jerry Falwell said yesterday that evangelical
Christians, after nearly 25 years of increasing political activism,
now control the Republican Party and the fate of President Bush in the
November election.

"The Republican Party does not have the head count to elect a
president without the support of religious conservatives," Falwell
said at an election training conference of the Christian Coalition.

Falwell said evangelical Christians are now "by far the largest
constituency" within the Republican Party, their route to dominance
beginning in 1979 with his founding of the Moral Majority, a precursor
to the Christian Coalition.

"I tell my Republican friends who are always talking about the 'big
tent,' I say make it as big as you want to, but if the candidate
running for president is not pro-life, pro-family . . . you're not
going to win," he said.

"Big tent" was coined by the late Lee Atwater as chairman of the
Republican National Committee after the 1988 presidential election to
summarize his view that the party should expand beyond its
conservative base to include moderates.

Falwell expressed confidence in a Bush victory over Democratic Sen.
John Kerry, adding, "You cannot be a sincere, committed born-again
believer who takes the Bible seriously and vote for a pro-choice,
anti-family candidate."

Falwell was among roughly a dozen speakers at the Christian Coalition
workshop, which was held in a Senate auditorium, a courtesy arranged
by Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority whip, the No. 2
Republican position in the Senate. The speakers included:

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
who said Bush's re-election is critical because "the next president is
going to appoint two, perhaps four, Supreme Court justices," making it
possible to reverse the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion-rights ruling.

The Rev. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, who, in announcing a $1
million campaign to mobilize church-going voters, likened politicians
who support abortion rights to people who support terrorism.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who said "preachers must be free to speak
out" in favor of anti-abortion office-seekers because liberals are
attempting to "eliminate the Judeo-Christian principles upon which
this country was founded."

The "Road to Victory 2004" conference ends today at a Washington hotel
with several hundred Christian activists attending training sessions
for registering new voters and getting those voters to the polls on
Election Day.
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040925/news_1n25christ.html

WASHINGTON The Rev. Jerry Falwell said yesterday that evangelical
Christians, after nearly 25 years of increasing political activism,
now control the Republican Party and the fate of President Bush in the
November election.