Conservatives Put Faith in Church Voter Drives

[Rose Siding]

WASHINGTON — As discontent with the Republican Party threatens to dampen the turnout of conservative voters in November, evangelical leaders are launching a massive registration drive that could help counter the malaise and mobilize new religious voters in battleground states.

The program, coordinated by the Colorado-based group Focus on the Family and its influential founder, James C. Dobson, would use a variety of methods — including information inserted in church publications and booths placed outside worship services — to recruit millions of new voters in 2006 and beyond.
...
The church coordinators, devoting one or two hours per week, would be in charge of "encouraging pastors to speak about Christian citizenship, conducting a voter-registration drive, distributing voter guides and get-out-the-vote efforts.".....

Critics say the practice is potentially illegal, citing tax laws that prohibit churches from engaging in partisan activities.

The IRS has launched a program to crack down on violators, with investigations pending against dozens of churches.

The IRS probe with the highest profile is that of All Saints Church in Pasadena, one of Southern California's largest and most liberal congregations.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gopchurch15aug15,0,5887088.story

[napi21]

1. I just wonder WHICH churches the IRS is really looking at?

Somehow, I doubt it's Dobson, Robertson, Fallwell, etc.

[BOSSHOG]

2. dobson should advertise in pornographic publications

and porn websites. Maybe have volunteers hand out flyers outside adult bookstores since recent evidence indicates christians are addicted to porn. Its hard hating in the name of Jesus Christ and keeping the flock focused on hating liberals when there are so many pleasures of the flesh distractions.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

7. What recent evidence are you referencing?

I'm not questioning the validity of your post, I would just like to be able to cite a source.

[BOSSHOG]

8. The attached story

was posted here yesterday:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Poll_Christians_addicted_to_pornography_0814.html

[Freedom_from_Chains]

9. Hmmmm, maybe I should start visiting some of the church's in my area

Thanks for the cite. :toast:

[BOSSHOG]

10. I live in a mostly rural county in south Mississippi

There are about a dozen family names which take up a lot of room in the phonebook. Those names are prominent in all the baptist churches which dot the highways. Those names are also prominent in the weekly police reports. And there is a large number of young ladies 15-25 that spend a great deal of time looking like sluts in this rural, christian county in a red state. Its all Clinton's fault.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

11. Yes, I'm sure it was Clinton who taught them BJ's aren't sex.

This is why we must repeal the heathen attack by the godless, and I'm sure Satan control, liberals at all cost, no matter how many rights we have to give away at the bequest of our saviour, George W. Bush. :sarcasm:

[n2doc]

3. Ain't gonna be enough this time

36% ain't gonna be enough. No matter how much brainwashing, threats to go to hell, and fearmongering they do. And when they lose they will implode into a morass of hate and self recrimination.

[MysteryToMyself]

5. I grew up going to the southern churches

They don't like abortions or gays getting married. They do however know that Social Security is a good middle class program. They would choose those saving Social Security, over the gay or abortion issue. The problem is the Republicans say they are going to fix it, when they really mean dismantling it by handing it over to the stock market. We should have a lot of articles about "fixing it" doesn't mean saving it." Restoring it financially is what needs to be done, not fixing it by throwing it to market forces at a 2 trillion dollar cost.

I am glad the democrats dropped the gun issue. With these radicals in power anything we have to protect ourselves is good. No telling how many terrorists have crossed the border stirred up by the Bushite policies overseas.

The churches get tax free status because they aren't part of the government or a business. By them mixing politics with religion they can lose their tax free status.

It is no surprise they would go after the ones who are not republican.

[underpants]

12. Of course not but that's not the point this article *IS* the point

The acutal number of voters doesn't matter what matters is making it seem reasonable for Republicans to win. They have to get it within the bounds of possiblity so the machines can work their special magic. By my guess in some areas (Va., SC, Miss., Mo.) you have to beat a Republican by a good 8% to offset the voting machines.

[Peace Patriot]

13. Underpants, you are so right. This is a pre-written narrative for post-

election "explanations" of their miraculous come-back "victory." They did it in 2004, too. AFTER the election, Rove attributed their surprising win to their "invisible" get-out-the-vote campaign in the churches. But there is NO EVIDENCE--zero, zilch--for any significant success of that effort, if it occurred at all. All the evidence goes the other way. The Democrats blew the Bushites away in new voter registration in 2004, nearly 60/40!

After their mysterious "victory" this fall, we are going to hear...

gay marriage
brown immigrants
the London plot (or whatever else they cook up in the meantime) = fear of terra
and
their "get out the vote" effort "in the churches"

...as the "explanations" for how 70/30 disapproval got flipped around. They plant these little newssturds into the newsstream as the post-stolen election "talking points." And the war profiteering corporate news monopolies just go right along, never look at the facts, and never investigate anything.

They really can't squeeze any more votes out of that lemon (rightwing 'christian' nuts). It's their base. And, if the truth were known, I don't think they've ever had much MORE than their base, at any time since, oh, summer '03. 56% of the American people opposed Bush's preemptive war on Iraq BEFORE the invasion--Feb. '03--just after Powell's speech! That number dipped only briefly, in the few weeks of the invasion with US troops at max risk, then started right back up and reached nearly 60% again, where it stayed throughout the 2004 election campaign. It's over 70% today. Bush's personal approval rating has been in the same toilet for well over a year--starting with the unprecedented, low rating of 49% on the very day of his 2nd inauguration and sinking like the Titanic ever since then. He can't rise out of 35%--his base plus his billionaire buds--no matter what he does. And IF he retains control of Congress, you can be SURE that it is NOT gay marriage, brown immigrants, terra or more votes from his already tapped out base. You can be sure that it is Diebold/ES&S TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY vote tabulation!

Nothing we can do about this, though, until we restore our right to vote! And we can start doing that this fall by a massive citizen protest against Diebold, ES&S and ALL election theft machines. Boycott the machines! Vote ABSENTEE! If enough people do it (and many are--it's up to 50% in Los Angeles), we can frighten the election theft industry at the state/local level, and FORCE reform NOW. It won't get us accurate counts in November--that's impossible (and AB votes aren't "safe" either)--but it CAN create panic and crisis. We need to create the CONDITIONS for reform. And people need to express their discontent. It's easy. Everybody can do it! And it will help turnout--it will provide a REASON for non-voters to vote. The goal: FLOOD local/state election officials with MOUNTAINS of paper ballots to deal with. Let the election theft machines sit idle! Don't cooperate with your own demise! Make them throw these machines out NOW!

Bust the Machines--VOTE ABSENTEE!

[DeepModem Mom]

4. K&R

[zbdent]

6. Only if we can put a statement in the church bulletins, too -

"Pro Life should not end after the first breath"

[flamingyouth]

14. kick

[icymist]

15. Evangelical leaders gearing up to turn out November vote

Evangelical leaders gearing up to turn out November vote
Registration drive comes amid IRS probe of churches
Peter Wallsten, Washington Post

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

08-16) 04:00 PDT Washington -- As discontent with the Republican Party threatens to dampen the turnout of conservative voters in November, evangelical leaders are started a big registration drive designed to reach religious voters in battleground states.

The program, coordinated by the Colorado-based group Focus on the Family and its influential founder, James Dobson, will use a variety of methods -- including information inserted in church publications and booths placed outside worship services -- to try to recruit millions of new voters in 2006 and beyond.

The effort builds on the aggressive courtship of evangelical voters in 2004 by President Bush's re-election campaign, even as the Internal Revenue Service has announced renewed scrutiny of nonprofit organizations, including churches, that engage in political activities.

The new voter-registration program -- with a special focus on eight states with key Senate, House and state-level races -- comes as Republicans are struggling with negative public sentiment over the war in Iraq and other administration policies. Turning out core GOP voters is central to the party's strategy to retain control of Congress.

Read the article

[elliswyatt]

16. omg

the idiots are gearing up. screw them and let's get out and knock em in the knees

[conkar]

17. Second That!

I'm in.

[napi21]

18. I read this yesterday and the post I read said it may be illegal!

The IRS has already notified all Charitable orgs that they are investigating "illegal political activity" and will pull their tax exempt status!

I guess Dobson and his cohorts think they're exempt!!!!

[William Seger]

21. Need to push for that

I suspect nothing would shut Dobson up faster than the threat of having to pay taxes on all that easy money.

[calimary]

30. What you said! We DO need to push for that, and at the same time

to watch carefully for what these organizations attempt to do to skirt or change the law, or somehow modify their approaches - or even just call them something different (maybe shell organizations so they can fly under the radar, politick all they want, and not pay taxes). THAT has to be watched carefully, also.

They will try every way and any way, everything and anything, to get their way. And true honesty, morality, and genuinely Christ-like values have nothing to do with it.

VIGILANCE, folks! As Mad-Eye Moody told Harry Potter's "Defense Against the Dark Arts" class - "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!"

[RaleighNCDUer]

25. They are.

IIRC, the only churce under current investigation is a liberal church. No fundie mega-churches are being looked at.

[noahmijo]

19. My friend has a saying "Republicans gather every Sunday: they are

organized. We can't compete with that kind of organization and that is are biggest problem."


In alot of ways I couldn't agree more.


Before anyone says it, I understand that our advantage is that we don't have a flock like mentality like the religious freaks there do, however it is their major advantage they can become so lockstep and united while we spend most of our time fighting amongst ourselves.

[JeffR]

20. Dobson should have his citizenship revoked

and should be deported to Afghanistan. He'd be a natural Taliban leader.

[icymist]

22. Lovely photo in your signature JeffR.

Even Lincoln is looking at the time! Great job!

[JeffR]

31. Thanks, icymist

:hi:

[saigon68]

40. His pro death penalty Philosophy is certainly hateful enough

Christians for the Rope and Old Sparky

Death to the IslamoFascists



Nice slogans for the hateful, right wing Nut Jobs like this fat puke

[The_Casual_Observer]

23. A lot of those voters are becoming disillusioned.

No rapture, no constitutional ban on abortion or gay marriage.

[nickyt]

24. "including information inserted in church publications"...

Don't forget to insert t h i s, motherfuckers:

Consider one memo highlighted in a Capitol Hill hearing Wednesday (Nov.2, 2005) that Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, R-TX, sent the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana to describe his strategy for protecting the tribe's gambling business. In plain terms, Scanlon confessed the source code of recent Republican electoral victories: target religious conservatives, distract everyone else, and then railroad through complex initiatives.

"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees" Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them." (Oct. 2001)

[underpants]

26. Sorry I am still not buying it

I know they are organized and all that (they really are) but this article is simply psy-ops to make seem at least reasonable for the Republicans to still win in November. They did this in 2004 and then rigged the election but because they had "prepped the battlefield" it didn't seem as wildly unlikely than if they had just cranked those results out of the blue.

Not buying it.

[stepnw1f]

29. I Don't Either

At least the threat they portray in this article...

[William769]

27. They forgot to mention a couple of methods that they will also use.

LYING & CHEATING!

[stepnw1f]

28. Here Come the Fruitcakes

worshipping the devil's interpretation of Jesus.

[JerseygirlCT]

32. IRS

This seems to completely flout the non-profit rules, doesn't it?

[LaCrosseDem]

33. the G.O.P. is "God's Own Party"

This is why I am a *former* Christian. The Republicans have successfully assimilated Christianity.

[Joanne98]

34. I once went thru the dictionary putting words to GOP. It was fun.

[mitchum]

35. Be a real shame if fundy church buses were disabled the night ...

before the election.
A low down dirty shame.

[brentspeak]

36. Not funny.

Dirty tricks on Election Day are normally a Republican specialty, though some Democratic politician's twit son slashed some tires on Election Day a couple of years ago, I think in Detroit. Nothing would make me happier than to know that that Detroit incident is the last time a Democrat pulled a GOP-type Election Day dirty trick.

[mitchum]

39. I'm not advocating or laughing at the idea...

I would think that my acknowledgement of such an act being "a low down dirty shame" is as equally scolding and "tut-tut-tut-like" as your own post.

However...
Food for thought: He who takes the high road is often shot from the ditch

[HuffleClaw]

37. isn't this a gross and blatant violation of campaign laws?

funny they'd be so obvious about it. perhaps they know little will be done about it?

on edit: i recall this was done before too, but the only real investigation was into what were called 'left-leaning' congregations.

[IndyBob]

38. Of course the left leaning are the only ones investigated

Must we explain everything to you liberals?

Everyone knows that the only True Christians are those that vote republican. The left leaning organizations cannot be called True Churches because their members worship and believe incorrectly - classifying them more as pagans or satanists.

Therefore the right leaning Churches are tax exempt, and the left leaning organizations are not.

QED

Time for another kool-aid, maybe I'll try the grape flavored this time. :beer:

:sarcasm: