Something to keep track of:

From the Washington Times (yes):

Grassley won't be GOP delegate

Evangelical Christians in Iowa, dominant in the state's Republican Party, have denied Sen. Charles E. Grassley his request for a place on the state's delegation to this summer's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Mr. Grassley may attend the party's Sept. 1-4 nominating convention in St. Paul, but not as a voting delegate. ...

"The Republican Party of Iowa is moving significantly to the right on social issues," the just-ousted Iowa Republican National Committee member Steve Roberts told The Washington Times. ...

Other party officials said money for the party is drying up because of past mismanagement and current religious dominance, which has turned traditional Republican politics upside down.

"It's pretty well controlled now by the Christian Alliance," Mr. Roberts said. "If somebody came to me and wanted to be a delegate to the national party convention, I used to say, 'Talk to the state party chairman or to Grassley.' Now it's very simple. You go to the Christian Alliance, and they determine who is a delegate, and you have to do exactly as they say."

In recent weeks, religious activists replaced Mr. Roberts as the national Republican committeeman and also replaced the national committeewoman with pro-life advocates who also oppose gay marriage. ...

Political observers in Iowa saw the move against Mr. Grassley as retribution for his having tangled with evangelical pastors in his state. He initiated a Senate Finance Committee investigation of six televangelists for conspicuous personal spending.

It this spreads, it'll be the death of the Republican party (at least for several years - maybe a decade).

The Christian Alliance is not the same thing as the Christian Alliance for Progress (http://www.christianalliance.org). The latter is anti-war and pro-gay rights.

The group mentioned in the story is the Iowa Christian Alliance (http://www.iowachristian.com/). Lots of great stuff, including this from the page on economic issues: (emp add)

Dick Armey And IDT Tell Iowans That Discounts On Your Taxes, And Optional, Personal Social Security Accounts Make You Better Off, And Winning The War Against Terrorists A Certainty

Former US House Majority Leader, Dick Armey, came to Des Moines on September 19th as guest speaker for Iowans for Discounted Taxes ...

Armey’s main message was that Americans have a higher standard of living than anyone else because we have more freedom to produce and be successful. So Americans are willing to pay the price to send armies anywhere to defend our freedom.

Unfortunately, it’s just the opposite in many countries, like France, where the standard of living is so much lower that they do not have the will to defend themselves because the costs look like another tax that will further reduce their standard of living. ...

... younger Americans, like members of every other great nation, historically, will be worn out by taxes until they won’t care who governs them. Then we will have no armies to defend us, not unlike the Europeans. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We have the time to make the changes. Iowans simply have to demand them from everyone running for office, especially presidential candidates. ...

The terrorists know this and are counting on our government and all the politicians to wear us out.

That story, at the top of the webpage is dated. It's from 2005 and by someone from IDT (Iowans for Discounted Taxes). But still, it shows the kind of thinking going on over there.


posted by Quiddity at 7/22/2008 06:35:00 AM