Richard Land's Man Crush & The New Republic

Apparently, the folks at The New Republic are familiar with Sir Big Daddy Weave.

Michelle Cottle, senior editor of The New Republic has picked up a bit of my man-crush lingo in her latest post appropriately entitled Richard Land's Man Crush. Check it out:

RICHARD LAND'S MAN CRUSH:

While, as Chait points out, many social conservatives remain unconvinced of Fred Thompson's commitment to their cause, the Southern Baptist's Richard Land continues his tireless cheerleading for Big Daddy.

Even having talked to Land about Fred at some length a few months ago, I still don't understand this particular attraction. It's not as if Fred is the most conservative or the most religious or has the most irreproachable personal history of the GOP contenders.

My best guess is that Fred's appeal for Land is culture based--i.e., he is the only arguably top-tier Southerner in this race. Rich or poor, Southerners tend to be protective of our own, in part because we're sensitive to the fact that much of the rest of the country still looks down their noses at us as a bunch of racist, ass-backward, banjo-pickin' hicks.

Continue reading here.

For more on Richard - check out the blog by onemom (here and here) - a Southern Baptist who is ticked that Land has snubbed Mike Huckabee.

Onemom concludes:

What’s most important Mr. Land … money? Power? Or standing firm on our convictions - especially when there is a horse in this race that is a TRUE CONSERVATIVE, and not one who just came by those beliefs recently to achieve a political goal. You encourage Christians to vote their values in one breath, and then in the next you encourage us to make compromises in areas of conviction just to support candidates that you see as rich and powerful.

You have said that you think Mike Huckabee best represents the conservative Christian base, but that you won’t support him because you don’t think he can win. Well, Mr. Land - he can and will win, but it would be a whole lot easier if you followed your own instructions and voted your values. If you would pick up the banner for Mike Huckabee, the burden would be lighter.

Richard To The Rescue

Last week James Dobson caused a small ruckus after a "private e-mail" of his was exposed in which he lambasted Fred Thompson. Here's the e-mail:

“Isn’t Thompson the candidate who is opposed to a Constitutional amendment to protect marriage, believes there should be 50 different definitions of marriage in the U.S., favors McCain-Feingold, won’t talk at all about what he believes, and can’t speak his way out of a paper bag on the campaign trail?”

“He has no passion, no zeal, and no apparent ‘want to.’ And yet he is apparently the Great Hope that burns in the breasts of many conservative Christians? Well, not for me, my brothers. Not for me!”

For the sake of Southern Baptists (who all apparently love Freddie T), Richard Land has come to the rescue. In an interview with the David Brody, Land defended Freddy T against Dobson's "harsh and unwarranted" attack.

“I’ve received phone calls and emails from Southern Baptists about Senator Thompson. They are all furious at Doctor Dobson. They just feel that first of all there was a mischaracterizing of his positions. Do I wish that he supported the marriage protection amendment? Of course I do. To say that he is for 50 different views of marriage in 50 different states is a gross mischaracterization of his position. Secondly, do I wish that he attended church every Sunday? As a Baptist pastor, of course I do. But does that make him a person of unbelief? That’s harsh and unwarranted.”

“It’s (Thompson’s marriage amendment position) a problem. I think Southern Baptists have an ethical issue in which they need to deal. They may face a situation where they have a choice of three candidates. One they agree with 95% of the time, one they agree with 80 percent of the time and one they agree with 10% of the time. It may come to pass that they’re faced with a choice.”

Always great to see Richard Land out and about telling Southern Baptists to vote Republican and which Republican to vote for....

Finally, Brody concludes the interview by asking Land what about Thompson appeals to him and many other evangelicals. Here's where Richard's man-crush on Freddy T begins to show....

“Fred Thompson grew up in a very modest means in a small town in America just like Ronald Reagan grew up in very modest means in a small town in Illinois. You acquire not only an understanding of but a respect for everyday folk when you come from the background that you don’t get otherwise and people sense it. That this is a guy who respects me, a guy who understands that we are the backbone of this country, we are the salt of the Earth and he not only understands us, he’s one of us. He’s a successful one of us but he’s one of us and they trust a guy like that. They give a guy like that a larger margin of error. Nobody gets everything right but its core values. My assessment is that this guy is a whole much like Reagan including his Teflon quality. The press has been beating up with him for these types of gaffes and he continues to climb in the polls.”

It is incredibly rare that anyone on the Right dares to criticize James Dobson. According to Right Wing Watch, the last people to spar with Dobson ended up getting booted from the movement. We'll have to wait and see how this all plays out.

Love Is In The Air.......Everywhere I Look Around

The John Leland Award

Love is in the air
In the rising of the sun
Love is in the air
When the day is nearly done

And I don't know if you're an illusion
Don't know if I see it true
But you're something that I must believe in
And you're there when I reach out for you

Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound
And I don't know if I'm being foolish
Don't know if I'm being wise

But it's something that I must believe in
And it's there when I look in your eyes

"A lot of conservatives, they've been sitting by the phone waiting for Sen. Thompson to call and they're ready to go on a date and see if it works" - Richard Land

The Faith of Fred Thompson???

Fellow Baptist blogger Brian Kaylor has a breaking news story today over at EthicsDaily.com. Brian has uncovered information about where (if???) Freddy T attends church.

Let's look at a snippet from Brian's piece:

Questions about Thompson's religious affiliation have dogged the former senator and star of "Law & Order" since Focus on the Family founder James Dobson remarked in March he was under the impression that Thompson is not a Christian.

The Thompson campaign shot back by saying Thompson was baptized into the Church of Christ as a boy in the 1950s. A bio on Thompson's exploratory Web site said he attended First Street Church of Christ while growing up in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., where he learned "the importance of family, hard work, faith and education."

A political science professor at a Church of Christ-affiliated university responded with a tongue-in-cheek "I Saw Fred Thompson at a Church of Christ" Challenge on a blog, observing the former senator "may not be filling out an attendance card at a Church of Christ on Sundays."

Brian reports that a Church of Christ newspaper investigating Freddy T's religious roots discovered that he had been spotted on "occasion" at Brentwood Church of Christ in Tennessee where his mother is a member.

So, the good folks at EthicsDaily.com picked up the phone and rang Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. As all of my avid readers know, Dick Land is a frequent subject of many of my posts. Over the past 9 months, Dick has been mentioned over 20 times. What can I say? We like Richard - perhaps more than Ben Cole and SBC Outpost like Paige Patterson.

Over the past two months, I have documented Richard Land's more than obvious man-crush on now Presidential candidate Freddy T here, here, and here.

In an interview with EthicsDaily.com, Richard Land who has described Freddy T as "Southern Fried Reagan" claimed that Thompson's wife is a "very regular attender" at Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, Virginia. Vienna Presbyterian Church is affiliated with the mainline Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) denomination - a "pro choice" denomination that has rejected Christian Zionism and recently intiated a process of divestment from multinational corporations operating in Israel. Not exactly kosher in Christian Right circles....

Land added that Thompson "attends there with his wife and children when he's in town." "So, he is attending church on a regular basis," Land said. "I think that that information will help, perhaps, with all but some very-devout Church of Christ folks."

However, Peter James, pastor of Vienna Presbyterian Church told EthicsDaily.com that Freddy T "has attended" the church but that he has not had a conversation. Pastor Peter said Freddy T was at the church "on occasion" and "much less often" than his family.

This is quite interesting. Pastor Peter says Freddy T only visits VPC "on occasion." Yet, SBC political guru Dick Land asserts that Freddy T attends church on a "regular basis."

Which is it? Is Freddy T a Church of Christ guy or a mainline Presbyterian?

Or just more of a Bedside Baptist?

I recall another prominent conservative who is friendly with the Christian Right and has a poor track record regarding church attendance. Any guesses?

Ann Coulter.

Ann Coulter has said she is a Christian; she said she attends Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City - however Redeemer has no information that she has ever attended. Sounds alot like Freddy T. At least he's managed to roll out of the bed on Sunday AM's "on occasion."

Like Robert Parham said in the article, "Christian voters especially deserve straight-talk if Thompson is going to use God-talk in his campaign...If Thompson doesn't walk the talk, then he misuses faith for wrongful political ends and discloses a deep moral flaw."

Already, media personalities are misleading American's about Thompson's faith. Tonight, Chris Matthews of Hardball referred to Freddy T as a Southern Baptist not once but twice.

Let's hear from Freddy T not Richard Land about his religious roots and church activity.

Morris Chapman Gives Some Love To Freddy T

Fred Thompson has found more love from Southern Baptist leaders. An article in the Tuscaloosa News quotes Morris Chapman, President of the Executive Committee of the SBC, as saying...

"Another Southern Baptist called Fred Thompson the Ronald Reagan of the South, and I think he has some of that appeal. He is a magnetic personality. He seems to articulate his opinions clearly. He seems to be unflappable."

As I've documented in past posts, Richard Land of the SBC's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has spent most of his summer crushin on Hollywood Fred.

Past remarks from Dick Land include

"I'm around a lot of Baptists," Land said. "They find Fred Thompson to be a tantalizing combination of charisma, conviction and electability. He's got a Reaganesque ability to connect with ordinary folk that is powerful."

Land added: "He also has the same Teflon coating that Reagan had: Bad stuff just doesn't stick."

"This is Fred Thompson's race to lose" he said. "I have never seen anything like this
grassroots swell for Thompson. I'm not speaking for Southern Baptists, but I do believe I have my hand on the pulse of Southern Baptists and I think I know where the consensus is."

"Fred Thompson reminds me of a Southern-fried Reagan...To see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint."

In the same Tuscaloosa News article, Marc Ambinder offers us a nice quote from Land on Romney....

"Clearly you have very significant segments of the population in the Southeast who are evangelical Christians, Southern Baptists and other faiths," said Richard Land, who heads the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. "Most of them want to know what the religious perspectives of the candidates are, and it's important to them. It's not determinative, but it's important."

While Land thinks Romney's religion could be a problem, he said the former governor's pro-life stance might prove more important.

"There is no issue that matters more to most evangelicals than the issue of the life of the unborn," Land said.

If no issue matters more to Southern Baptists than abortion then why are Land and Chapman so quick to jump on the Fred Thompson bandwagon?

Like Romney, Thompson also has a spotty abortion record. First, there is the report that Thompson was hired by an abortion-rights organization to lobby the first Bush administration. But more importantly, in 1994 Thompson wrote that the "ultimate decision" about abortion is a woman's and that government should not intervene. On other questionnaires, Thompson declared his opposition to both criminalizing abortion and a constitutional amendment "protecting the sanctity of life."

At least for Romney's sake, he claims to have had traveled down Damascus Road. Meanwhile, James Dobson has gone so far as to question whether Freddy T has ever had a salvific experience.

Nonetheless, Scott Helman of the Boston Globe recently declared:

Dissatisfied with the current crop of GOP contenders, these conservative leaders say Thompson, despite new questions about his record on abortion, possesses the right combination of electability and conservative values -- the two ingredients they believe are necessary to energize evangelical voters and keep the White House in Republican hands in 2008.

"It's almost as if the man and the moment met," said Richard Land, who speaks for more than 16 million people as head of public policy for the nation's Southern Baptists.

Why does it seem that Land's first priority is Republican success in '08?

Richard Land Crushin' on Fred Thompson AGAIN!

We've written about Richard Land's man-crush on Fred Thompson a time or two before.

Tricky Dick has weighed in heavily again on Fred...

"I'm around a lot of Baptists," Land said. "They find Fred Thompson to be a tantalizing combination of charisma, conviction and electability. He's got a Reaganesque ability to connect with ordinary folk that is powerful."

Land added: "He also has the same Teflon coating that Reagan had: Bad stuff just doesn't stick."

Past remarks include:

"This is Fred Thompson's race to lose" he said. "I have never seen anything like this
grassroots swell for Thompson. I'm not speaking for Southern Baptists, but I do believe I have my hand on the pulse of Southern Baptists and I think I know where the consensus is."

"Fred Thompson reminds me of a Southern-fried Reagan...To see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint."

Notice how Land keeps comparing Fred to Ronald Reagan....

So, does one need to use the word "endorse" to actually endorse a candidate?

How many Southern Baptists actually knew who Fred Thompson was just four months ago? Other than Tennessee residents, political junkies, and Law & Order addicts such as myself?

Should I be surprised that Land is crushin' on Fred despite his spotty record on abortion?

In 1994, according to news reports, Thompson wrote that the "ultimate decision" about abortion is a woman's and that government should not intervene. On questionnaires he submitted to the Eagle Forum and the Christian Coalition, he said he was opposed to both criminalizing abortion and a constitutional amendment protecting the sanctity of human life.

Reports that Thompson had been hired by the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association to lobby the first Bush administration renewed the questions.

Like Mitt Romney, Tricky Dick frequents the Marriott too!

Starring Fred Thompson as Richard Land's Man-Crush

This is from David Broady of the Christian Broadcasting Network....

Broady writes....

A very influential religious leader has some pretty strong opinions about soon-to-be presidential candidate Fred Thompson. Dr. Richard Land is head of the Southern Baptist Convention. Within evangelical circles he is well known. Politically, he is a mover and a shaker.

Today CBN News asked Dr. Land what he thought about former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson.

"This is Fred Thompson's race to lose" he said. "I have never seen anything like this
grassroots swell for Thompson. I'm not speaking for Southern Baptists, but I do believe I have my hand on the pulse of Southern Baptists and I think I know where the consensus is."

He further said that in his assessment, Thompson may be the right man, in the right place, at the right time.

Bottom line: Land believes that Thompson looks to be the strongest social conservative who could beat Hillary Clinton in a general election.

This is not the first time Land has weighed in on the yet-to-be-Presidential-candidate Fred Thompson. Back in April on Chris Matthews Hardball, Land remarked:

"Fred Thompson reminds me of a Southern-fried Reagan...To see Fred work a crowd must be what it was like to watch Rembrandt paint."

Apparently, Fred Thompson is Richard Land's man-crush. Yuck.

Perhaps Land should review fellow Baptist David Gushee's 17 Rules for Christian Leaders...

1. Christian leaders must not officially or unofficially endorse political candidates or a political party.

3. Christian leaders must not publicly handicap or comment upon the political horse race.

Remember Southern Baptists, Richard Land won't speak FOR YOU but he's got your pulse...

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