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The New York Times
Pat Roberson Endorses
Giuliani for President
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Stephen Crowley/The New York Times
Pat Robertson endorsed Rudolph W. Giuliani at a news
conference in Washington. |
By MICHAEL COOPER and
DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, From nytimes.com on the Web, November 7, 2007
Rudolph W. Giuliani scored a coup
today by winning the support of Pat Robertson, who, as one of the nation’s
best-known televangelists, could help Mr. Giuliani reassure Republicans who are
wary of his support for abortion rights and gay rights.
Mr. Robertson, the founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network,
said in endorsing Mr. Giuliani in Washington, that he believed “the overriding
issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the blood
lust of Islamic terrorists” and praised Mr. Giuliani as a “true fiscal
conservative.”
While Mr. Robertson did not mention Mr. Giuliani’s support of abortion rights,
he said approvingly that Mr. Giuliani “has assured the American people that his
choices for judicial appointments will be men and women who share the judicial
philosophy of John Roberts and Antonin Scalia,” who have argued against Roe
v. Wade.
The endorsement comes just a month after a coalition of other prominent
Christian conservatives threatened to back a third-party candidate if Mr.
Giuliani were to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. The
support of Mr. Robertson could not only help Mr. Giuliani present himself as a
viable candidate to the Christian right, but could also help him improve his
standings in Iowa: Mr. Robertson finished second in the Iowa caucuses
during his own run for president in 1988.
And the announcement threatened to overshadow an important conservative
endorsement being announced by Senator John McCain of Arizona — the backing of
Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, who recently ended his own bid for president.
While Mr. McCain opposes abortion rights, he has sometimes been viewed with
suspicion by anti-abortion groups who felt muzzled by the McCain-Feingold
campaign finance law that he helped pass, so the endorsement by Mr. Brownback, a
staunch social conservative, was seen as an important achievement by the McCain
campaign.
Mr. Brownback, in his endorsement of Mr. McCain, said in a statement:
“John McCain has spent a lifetime standing up for human rights around the world,
including a consistent 24-year pro-life record of protecting the rights of the
unborn.”
Mr. Robertson's influence within the Christian conservative movement may have
waned in recent years — he no longer attends the big strategy meetings of the
new leaders who have sprung up. But he still has clout as the chairman of
a television station and the host of a television show, “The 700 Club,” that has
already helped Mr. Giuliani reach an evangelical Christian audience.
In an interview on the Christian Broadcasting Network in September, Mr. Giuliani
discussed his religious views in more detail than he often does on the trail.
“I believe in God, I pray to God, pray to Jesus for guidance and for help,” Mr.
Giuliani said. “I have very, very strong views on religion that come about
from having wanted to be a priest when I was younger and having studied theology
for four years in college, it’s an area that I know really, really well
academically. I understand the history of religion. Man and women’s
relationship to God is one of the strongest, if not the strongest motivating
thing in human history.”
Mr. Robertson has attracted controversy in recent years.
He was criticized shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks for seeming to agree
with remarks made by another Christian conservative, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell,
who suggested on his television show that abortion, gays and lesbians had
angered God. In 2005 he called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the
president of Venezuela. “If he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I
think that we really ought to go ahead and do it,” Mr. Robertson said.
And he said that the threat to the United States from activist judges was
“probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings.”
But he has remained a much-coveted endorsement for some Republican candidates.
Mr. Giuliani had appealed directly to Mr. Robertson for support and gave a
speech at the university he founded, Regent University, over the summer.
(Mitt Romney, who has also been courting religious conservatives, spoke at
Regent as well.)
In his endorsement, Mr. Robertson framed the biggest issue facing the nation as
the threat of Islamic terrorists. The Giuliani campaign has been hoping
that Mr. Giuliani’s tough stance on terrorism would outweigh traditional social
issues for conservatives in the post-Sept. 11 world.
On Wednesday, Mr. Robertson warmly praised Mr. Giuliani as “a proven leader who
is not afraid of what lies ahead, and who will cast a hopeful vision for all
Americans.”
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