Politics: Time To Panic

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Politics Time To Panic Religious conservatives are worrying out loud about Mitt Romney. By David Weigel Posted Friday, Sep 14, 2012, at 10:57 PM ET Bryan Fischer is surrounded by shiny, happy people. Rep. Paul Ryan has just finished speaking to the annual Values Voter Summit, the final pre-election conference of social conservatives. He smiled through two ineffective hecklings—Ryan is quite good at turning those into applause breaks—and got the audience cheering for Mitt Romney, for the "moral clarity" of his foreign policy, for the threatened "religious liberty" of churches. Everybody else swooned, then filed out of the room to grab lunch. Fischer, whose American Family Association co-sponsors this event, wasn't swooning. "He didn't say one single word about marriage," says Fischer. "This is the safest environment in the United States of America to talk about marriage. I've got to believe that that came from on top. Marriage won 61-39 in North Carolina—in 2012! That's in a state that President Obama won in 2008. Marriage is a winner. It's just a mystery to me that they won't touch this thing." He shrugs. "Mitt Romney should be leading by 10 or 15 points. The fact that he's not is Mitt Romney's problem. It's because he's run such a lackluster campaign that's been so vague on ideas." The Values Voters Summits began in 2006, based on a simple premise: The voters who had brought the GOP to power were being disrespected. Twenty-two percent of voters had told exit pollsters that "moral values" motivated them. Democrats, engaged in their quadrennial bout of hand-wringing, agreed ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Is This the Clash of Civilizations? When Did Sodas Get So Big? Do You Really Want To Know Your Baby's Genetics?	Advertisement
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