Word: robertson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...exit of Falwell plainly ends the initial era of the Religious Right and quickens speculation on its prospects in the next phase. Even as Pat Robertson escalates his evangelically inspired presidential bid, recent tidings seem to amount to a threnody of waning influence for the movement. Television ministries have had a particularly rocky time. The Contribute or Else I Die campaign of Oral Roberts disgusted many Americans as well as his own church, which ruled last month that Roberts' status is not, and never has been, that of a United Methodist clergyman. Above all, the horrendous PTL scandal has harmed...
Meanwhile, the presidential campaign of Pat Robertson makes him the movement's new "undisputed leader," in the estimation of Political Analyst Kevin Phillips, who adds, "That's what he's running for." Robertson would dispute that. He calculates that winning the Republican nomination is "almost a done deal," in the words of an aide. A more plausible scenario, considering Robertson's stupendous negative ratings in some polls, is that he could capture just enough delegate strength to be a power broker between George Bush and Robert Dole...
Barring a major stumble, though, Robertson promises to emerge with durable political influence. For the moment, he is pointedly keeping the Religious Right at arm's length to broaden his appeal, and in talks refers to his previous vocation as "businessman," not "evangelist." He has quit the Southern Baptist clergy and ceded control of his Christian Broadcasting Network to Son Timothy. But his organization of volunteers and financial supporters draws heavily upon the Christian Right and is one of the most substantial political infrastructures ever built in the U.S. on a religious base. It should carry Robertson and his smoothly...
...debate revealed the degree to which the Republicans are tugged by their own special interests: right-wing red hots. Front Runners Bush and Robert Dole found themselves pitted against a field of yapping underdogs, each catering to causes championed by conservative activists. Haig, du Pont, Jack Kemp and Pat Robertson all blasted Bush's ardent support for the proposed medium-range missile treaty; this attempt to score points by implying that Ronald Reagan may be soft on the Soviets showed * the strong pull exerted by the party's right wing. The conservative tide was so fierce that at one point...
...lack his infectious appeal. As a result, each of their challengers is trying to capitalize on different touchstones of the "True Believers." Kemp is the fervent supply-sider, du Pont the apostle of free markets and Haig of standing tough and tall in the world. Perhaps most significant is Robertson's role as the Republican Jesse Jackson. The televangelist was never challenged on any of his debate statements, even when he claimed that the lost earnings of aborted fetuses could save the Social Security system, or that he would balance the budget by "cutting waste and mismanagement." Like the Democrats...