Chillin' with the fag haters...

Posted by Evan Derkacz at 11:41 AM on October 10, 2006.

Mitt Romney has a problem. It's similar to Giuliani's, George Pataki's and, until he decided that Jerry Falwell was no longer an "agent of intolerance," John McCain's. Conservative Christian support.

Without it, you will not be a Republican president.

The difference with Mitt Romney is that, unlike the others, he's got Christian chops -- only his are of the Mormon variety.

On the one hand he's hoping that evangelicals don't care: "People want to see their leaders as people of faith ... they don't put much significance in the brand."

While on the other, he's reaching out with open arms. Apart from his recent appearance at South Carolina's Citadel, a conservative military school, during which he faithfully toed the evangelical line, he's now got his wife in on the act.

From today's press release: "Massachusetts First Lady Joins 'Liberty Sunday' Simulcast."

That would be the Liberty Sunday of the Tony Perkins and Bishop Wellington Boone that Ann Romney's to speak at. That would be the Wellington Boone who just last month told the Values Voters Summit:

"I want the gays mad at me." Boone said that while "the gays" are "saying a few things" about him, "they’re not coming at me strong." In an effort to change that, Boone declared:

Back in the days when I was a kid, and we see guys that don’t stand strong on principle, we call them "faggots."

Ahh, the process of choosing a Republican candidate. Rev your engines.

Tagged as: religious, right

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.