Evangelicals and social conservatives are drawn to hate like a moth to a flame... [View all]

[kentuck]

http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/05/evangelicals-unhappy-republican-gay-marriage.php?ref=fpa

Evangelicals Unhappy With GOP’s Gay Marriage Strategy

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Evangelicals and social conservatives are urging Republicans to make the fight against same-sex marriage an election-year priority and go after President Obama over his new-found support for the cause. So far, the GOP establishment is resisting.

Rick Santorum pushed Mitt Romney to use the issue to his advantage. “I think what you see is his is a very potent weapon if you will for Gov. Romney if he is willing to step up and take advantage of a president who is very much out of touch with the values of America,” the former presidential candidate said.

But the Republican establishment is singing a different tune, showing little interest in focusing on the issue, and instead fielding questions about it by pivoting to the economy. The result is a strategic divide over how to handle the issue of same sex marriage on the right, pitting politicians against the evangelical community as they negotiate their response to the president’s gay marriage position.

Top Republicans on Sunday continued to charge the president with political opportunism, an attack the GOP has used since Obama’s announcement, arguing that his support of same-sex marriage was a part of a strategy to divide and distract the country from more pressing issues.

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