politics

At last night's debate, John McCain directly challenged Barack Obama's position on abortion, articulating a clearly pro-life position without the "Culture of life" euphemisms that we've been used to for the last few years.

For a lot of pro-lifer voters, I imagine the moment with McCain was encouraging: high visibility, direct, and unapologetic. Also, utterly unsuccessful. As best as we can tell from polling results after the debate, his comments on abortion alienated and annoyed far more voters than they convinced. The pivotal moment, at least in my mind, was when he replied to Obama's statements about allowing abortions when a mother's health was threatened.

A few years back, when I had long since abandoned political conservatism but still considered myself a Christian, one of my persistent frustrations was the profoundly flawed ideological litmus tests the Christian right applied to political figures. Having married themselves to the Republican party in exchange for token gestures on pro-life issues, the Christian right accepted the assumption that Democrats (with a few exceptions) were agnostics, atheists, and anti-religious. Conservative Republicans, on the other hand, supported "family values" and were considered good Christians.

Ann Coulter is no stranger to controversy, and that seems to be the way she likes it. Many feel she's less a political pundit than a 'shock artist' -- something like the Andrew Dice Clay of the US political scene. Some of the things she says read like hyper-aggressive charicatures of Christian doctrine. Her throwaway comments about bombing Muslim nations and forcing their leaders to convert to Christianity are famous, for example. Few thoughtful Christians I know demonstrate anything but embarrassment when she's brought up -- her consistently spiteful attack-dog style often crosses lines of traditional Evangelical taboos, too. Yet she's still regarded as 'part of the team' by many conservative Christians.

For social conservatives dissatisfied with other GOP choices, the "Law & Order" actor and former Tennessee senator represents a Ronald Reagan-like figure, someone they hope will agree with them on issues and stands a chance of winning.

But Thompson's less-than-clear stance on a federal gay marriage amendment and his delay in entering the race are partly responsible for a sudden shyness among leading evangelicals.