Republicans and God

Did the Christian right sink the GOP by driving away other conservatives?

Three letters explain the Republican defeat—G-O-D, said Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post. “To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party.” This “armband religion” is killing the party by alienating the rest of its “non-base constituents" and driving away secularists and conservative Democrats too.

With the possible exception of hardcore creationism, said Jonah Goldberg in National Review Online, it’s hard to figure out where Parker believes the GOP embraced “oogedy-boogedyism.” Does she mean “opposition to abortion? Opposition to gay marriage?” Support for school prayer? These are legitimate conservative positions that deserve respect, not the kind of insults conservatives are accustomed to finding at the Huffington Post and DailyKos.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us