What will this mean for the GOP? Considering that exit polls on election day in 2004 showed that 22% of voters labeled themselves Evangelical Christian, it would probably secure a Democratic win. That is, if Dobson could muster enough of them to defy their ingrained Republican voting tradition.

I was watching Face the Nation on Sunday and the guest was Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council. He appeared to back peddle a bit on Dobson’s statement by stating, “What we said last week was more of a proclamation of principle rather than a declaration of intent.” He then stated that “If the party chooses to break its commitment to creating a culture of life, we’re not going to go in that direction with the party.” during a conference call on Thursday with reporters. To me this sounds pretty much like an intention.

On Face the Nation, Perkins went on to say that the Conservative movement is comparable to a three legged stool the Fiscal Conservatives, the Foreign Policy Conservatives, and the Social Conservatives. He implored the other 2/3 of the party to throw their support to the Social Conservatives and their anti-choice agenda. Without all three legs they will “impale” themselves. Thursday, Perkins stated that he believed roughly half of the Religious Right would vote for Giuliani anyway but that’s still a lot of votes to lose.

So what will this mean for the Democrats? Probably a bigger win over the Republican nominee. Unless, that is, Mitt Romney starts climbing faster. He appears to be the Evangelicals’ favorite at this time with Perkins stating Thursday, “he’s one of the strongest on our issues. It’s true he has had a change of position on these issues. I do believe they’re genuine. I do not see him going back.”

He did agree with some other conservatives that this could be a stepping stone toward Universal Healthcare and that was not acceptable to him or the president. When these arguments were refuted, fairly well, by Rangel who pointed out that this was an offer of insurance, not healtcare, that it would cover 10 million children in america, and that they have been in ongoing negotiations with the White House as their first request was for 50 billion dollars and not the 35 billion dollars they have worked it down to. He explained that by dropping the figure lower they would lose coverage for over 1 million children. Rangel asserted that it is the White House who is not willing to work with Congress on a bipartisan bill supported by the majority of American citizens.

I immediately thought ahead wondering what the rebuttal would be from Putnam. Imagine my anger when this is what spewed from his smarmy mouth. “This is a telling statement that he’s more interested in playing political games than compromising.” WTF? That “statement” had never been uttered by Mr. Rangel, in fact he had just explained the negotiations that were still taking place.

In addition to flat out deceit, Putnam bolstered his position by saying that 2 million children would be covered by SCHIP who already have private insurance. He is very opposed to taking children away from private insurance. Remember, SCHIP will aid families who make too much for Medicaid assistance but too little for private health insurance. For those families that have sacrificed to secure private health insurance at exorbitant rates, this would be a huge assistance. This would free up money for them to get groceries, pay bills, etc. and still have peace of mind that their kids’ medical needs will be met.

It does not sound to me like the Republicans are the party for average, working America. This is something that Democrats have known for a long time, maybe something like this will motivate America to demand that their government listen to them, to demand the Republican party and this administration be accountable to their constituents. America deserves much more than rhetorical games to explain why our government; which is to rule for the people, is ignoring our plain wishes on nearly every major issue. As of yesterday morning the House was about 15-20 votes shy of the amount needed to override the veto. Please go HERE and write your representative, let them know that you support health insurance coverage for children in America.