The Meeting Of The Not-Romneys

Leaders of the nation’s largest evangelical and anti-gay hate groups will gather in Texas this weekend to decide which of the Not-Romney candidates they will get behind. Via NPR:

To perform the triage, more than 150 religious conservatives are gathering at a Texas ranch Friday and Saturday. Among the bigger names: Tony Perkins of Family Research Council; Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate; James Dobson, who used to head Focus on the Family; and Don Wildmon, who once ran American Family Association. The mission of this “emergency meeting” is to unite behind one true-blue religious conservative for the Republican nomination. Fischer says evangelicals are desperate to defeat President Obama. But he does not believe former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — whom they distrust on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage — can generate the passion to do that.

“If Romney gets the nomination, his support is going be tepid, lukewarm, maybe even nonexistent,” Fischer says. It probably won’t be that bad, says Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention. Polls suggest that given the choice between Romney and President Obama in a general election contest, 9 out of 10 evangelicals would vote for Romney. And yet, Land says: “Before we marry the guy next door, don’t you think we ought to have a fling with a tall dark stranger and see if he can support us in the manner to which we’d like to be accustomed? And if he can’t, we can always marry the steady beau who lives next door.”

That’s a rather curious way to put it, Mr. Land.