EVANGELICALS OUT AT GOP CONVENTION?

High profile evangelicals such as Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are still standing by the mailbox awaiting their invitations to the GOP convention:

The Rev. Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and a one-time Republican presidential candidate, said, "I've had no request from anybody to be there." Unlike Falwell, Robertson believes the GOP is deliberately keeping him and other evangelicals away.

"In the last convention, the thought was to keep all the conservatives out of sight," said Robertson, who has attended every Republican convention since 1988, but said he won't go this year. "The general thrust will be to entice the so-called independent moderates and I am not sure that there would be much reason for a conservative to be there."

The weasely GOP strategist Ralph Reed--we have Robertson to thank for him--claimed all was well:

"There is a specific program under way to invite social conservatives and religious leaders of a very broad or diverse representations and that is even under way as we speak," Reed said.

Translation: We're not inviting any of those guys who anyone might recognize on tv.

Although, on a brighter note, Falwell and Robertson don't have the clout they used to:

Also, many evangelicals no longer look to Robertson or Falwell as their top representatives. A survey conducted last spring for PBS'"Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" and U.S. News & World Report found that less than half of evangelicals have a favorable view of Falwell, while only a slight majority view Robertson favorably.

Is the GOP pulling back from evangelical headliners? I think without question. Is that a bad thing? Well, I'm no fan of Fallwell and Robertson, but I suspect the GOP lost the invitations for all the wrong reason. In the end, Robertson is right: it's simply another appeal to the moderate independent. And the harder the GOP goes after them, the less likely they'll be to find my vote.

[Link via WorldNetDaily]