Paradise Lost

Like most stories about falling from the heights power, like most tragedies, the demise of the Christian Right in Colorado is a quest of character and characters who blend a combination of hubris, ambition, plausibility and ultimately, plain, old-fashioned sinfulness into instructive tale of how power corrupts beyond what one can actually purchase.

When Robert Novak revealed in his column the rebuff that the McCain campaign gave Focus on the Family and the consequent shrug the campaign gave news that their stiff arm was now public, it showed the increasing willingness of GOP politicians to ignore a once formidable Christian power in Republican politics in Colorado. That the rebuff would come in a toss-up state, in a presidential election year, by the GOP nominee for president added a sense context that confirms that the state of Christian politics is nothing short of grave in Colorado.  

The downfall of the Christian Right in Colorado can't be pinned on any one cause, but in part it can be traced back to several key characters who show up repeatedly in several key parts of the tragedy.

"If our party can't elect Jeff Crank," says one strategist, "because he's not far enough right, or if Bob Schaffer is somehow not pro-life enough for the pro-lifers in the party, we have real problems. It's better that we check that baggage and go after more moderate voters. Because we will never satisfy the small group of people who seemed to have hijacked the Christian Right in Colorado."

Ironically, it was James Dobson, chairman of the board for Focus on the Family who provided one of the most dramatic example this past year of not being "pro-life" enough when members of the Christian Right in Colorado called upon him to "repent" of his decision to support a partial birth abortion ban because of some arcane language contained in the text of the Supreme Court's decision upholding the ban.  

The group was made up in part of a coalition of Christian Right activists that are most active in GOP primaries but tend to disappear for general elections.  

Some say that's because the Christian Right as it's currently constituted in Colorado is more interested in candidates they can control than in electing good candidates.

"Look at the main characters," says one political consultant. "It's always the same people. It's the Christian Coalition of Colorado, Colorado Right to Life, Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, Life in Media, Joe and Lily Nunez, Bob Enyart. They always complain that our party isn't pro-gun enough or pro-life enough or anti-something enough. And generally it's not about issues for them. It's about getting elected people that they can control."

It's also about running rough campaigns in GOP primaries that may win the race but make the winning candidate vulnerable.   

A case in point, says one elected official, is the congressional races in the 5th, 6th and 4th CD.

"Musgrave, Lamborn and Harvey provide a good study," says the elected official. "Musgrave has struggled in the" 4th CD "because of the odor they left because of the way [the Christian Right] campaigned for her. Even now she's not comfortable. She might lose that seat. It depends in part on how tightly she embraces John McCain."

Lamborn, the freshman congressman for the 5th CD, should by all accounts could be done. The "odor" is never going to leave him after the things done by the Christian Right in his name. Anybody would be better than Lamborn for the district . If he doesn't lose this time around, we think he'll still lose next time.

Harvey, on the other hand, probably confirms the decline of the Christian Right's influence. They'll do the same dirty tricks they always do by sending out mail alleging that Coffman or Armstrong aren't pro-life enough or pro-gun enough or good enough on taxes, but voters are more worried about the substance of leadership in this election.

While the GOP is certainly suffering its stay in the wilderness from commission of its own sins, it is the sins of the saved and not just the wicked that assure that the GOP will endure its own purgatory for a while yet longer.

Until the Christian Right repents of its own wickedness, they too, like a political Adam and Eve, will have eat the bread in the sweat of their face.

Amen.  

Editor's note: Wally incorrectly identified Musgrave's district as the 7th CD in the original version version of the story. We regret the error and have sent "Wally" to bed without supper.