Do Republicans Love the LORD?

The mid-term elections are 8 days away and the candidates are pulling out all the stops. In Tennessee, the senate race between Bob Corker and Harold Ford to replace Bill Frist is heating up. I think the reason this race is close is because Bob Corker hasn't excited the republican base. This all goes back to the primaries where there was a three way race between Corker, my friend Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary. If Van had stayed out of it, Ed would have won and we'd have a true conservative running (Corker is more moderate).

But Harold Ford, although real smooth and a great campaigner, continues to make unforced errors. The most recent one is where he said republicans fear the LORD but democrats fear AND love the LORD. The link is to redstate.com and you'll have to scroll down a little bit to find the video. Other sites have the same clip. Ford has also filmed a campaign ad inside a church.

Do democrats love the LORD more than republicans? Absolutely not. If they did they'd be opposed to abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. Republicans get criticized for what the mainstream media calls pandering to the religious right. That may be true but at least we're trying. At least the republicans are opposed to abortion, homosexual marriage, etc. Democrats only want to invoke their relationship with GOD during campaigns. When they get into office they do anything but vote or promote positions that come from a Christian worldview.

If he wins, Tennessee will rue the day that Harold Ford is elected to the senate.

Jerome

Religious Politically Active Organizations

I received an e-mail overnight from James Dobson. It was part of a mass e-mailing from Focus on the Family Action. You've heard of Focus on the Family but have you heard of Focus on the Family Action? It is a nonpartisan issue-advocacy organization. You can read more about the organization here.

The e-mail I received highlighted differences between Harold Ford, Jr. (D) and Bob Corker (R). They are the candidates for the senate seat in Tennessee being vacated by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. While the e-mail said it was only pointing out the differences, it clearly was pro-Bob Corker and anti-Harold Ford, Jr.

What do you think about religious organizations (Focus, Family Research Council, the Southern Baptist Convention through the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, etc.) being directly involved with individual campaigns? Should the organizations be involved in shaping the conversation about faith and politics or is it okay for them to target individual races? I think it is an important difference and something to talk about. Is there a line that is being crossed? I haven't decided my own answers to these questions.

This week we'll look more at the mid-term elections. Things will heat up significantly over the next several days.

Jerome

Last Day of The Election Blour

Sunday will be the last day of the blog tour for The Election. Here is the link to the blog alliance web page. There have been several good reviews written by some of the members. And here is the Amazon link if you want to order a copy of The Election.

Jerome

Same Sex Marriage in New Jersey

This should get God-fearing Christians up in arms. The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a ruling yesterday that opens the door to gay marriages. Will that rally the Christian conversative base of the GOP? We'll see if it had any impact in a couple of weeks. Some think this decision has put the marriage issue squarely back on the table. Was it ever off the table?

I'm at a loss as to why we have to battle to keep marriage between a man and a woman. That is the way it was ordained by God. But we continue to battle liberal interest groups on this issue. On the ballot in Tennessee this election day is a proposal to amend the state constitution to clarify that for a marriage to be recognized in this state it must be between a man and a woman. The measure should pass without any trouble but I suspect that even right here in the middle of the Bible belt that we will have some who will vote against the measure. That just goes to show us how far from God we have moved as a nation. Again, I reiterate my point that I've made many times before that we as Christians must stand up and be counted on issues such as this. We must use the political processes to change our culture back to one that respects and honors God.

Jerome

Review of The Election

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is reviewing my novel, The Election. I'm excited to have the alliance discussing and linking to my book. It's a great organization. Here is a link to the alliance blog and this is the link to the Amazon page.

Jerome

Will Christians Stay Home on Nov. 7?

Many, including me, believe that conservative Christians carried the day for President Bush in November 2004. There have been murmurs since then that the president hasn't given enough attention to issues which are important to Christians. Will that cause those same Christians to stay home on November 7 or vote democratic?

I hope not but some believe that the republicans have reason to be concerned. I've advocated for months on this blog that Christians should vote for candidates who not only give lip-service to, but actually believe and follow a Christian worldview. And more often than not I find that republican candidates share that worldview. Some democratic candidates express their support for positions such as pro-life, pro-marriage, etc. But the problem is that on state and national levels the democratic party supports pro-choice and homosexual rights positions. Those are certainly not Christian worldviews.

Others advocate that there is no place in politics for religion. I disagree complete. (If you have time, run a google search for Heather MacDonald and read some of her other articles). If Christians stay away from the political process then there is no stopping the moral decline of our culture.

So, Christians, get out and vote. Early voting is already underway in many places.

Jerome

John Grisham's The Innocent Man

I've followed Grisham's career for years. He is a few years older than me but we both attended the same law school. I've met him a time or two and he spoke to a law school class of mine one day. There is absolutely no chance he would recognize or remember me. But I still find his recent project interesting. I remember a blurb from something I read several months ago where Grisham said he called Doubleday and told the folds there that he had the idea for his next book after reading an obit in the New York Times.

Here is a link to an article in the USA Today from October 10. You can see Grisham's politics in this article -- and in his new book. There's nothing new about that. Just read The Chamber. I heard that recently on Charlie Rose's TV show Grisham gave credence to the democratic mantra that the War on Terror in Iraq was conceived before 9/11 but that 9/11 simply gave the opening President Bush needed to invade. If he actually said this, then certain I disagree with him. But who am I to argue with John Grisham? My politics are clearly evident in my books as well.

And as a writer I saw some other interesting tidbits. First, Grisham has 235 million books in print worldwide. That's a lot of books! Second, he's not going to publish a book of any type next year. I guess with 235 million already in print what's the need. Lastly, and perhaps the most interesting, is that he said "[Y]ou never know where a story's going to come from . . ." Even in my short career I know that to be a true statement.

I can't find the link again, but a few days ago Drudge reported that The Innocent Man scanned over 172,000 copies the first week. I read in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal that it was number one on the non-fiction bestseller list -- ahead of Bob Woodward's book. Looks like Grisham has another resounding success on his hands.

Jerome

Nancy Pelosi as Speaker?

What would happen to the country if the democrats obtained control of both the house and the senate? One thing is that Nancy Pelosi would likely be elected speaker of the House of Represenatives (although there are some rumblings that perhaps congressional democrats will not elect Pelosi speaker). Is that something we really want? Do we want Nancy Pelosi two steps away from being president? It gives me the shivers just to think about it.

What about those tax cuts that we've enjoyed and that have stimulated the economy? Larry Kudlow thinks some of those tax cuts are in jeopardy.

And what about all the other things we conservatives hold dear? They are probably in jeopardy as well. Even if you believe that the republicans in congress and President Bush have made some mistakes they are still better than the alternatives. As Fred Barnes stated in an article today, vote early and often and vote republican. As the sub-title for Barnes' article implies, a vote for democrats would be a setback for moderatives and conservatives. And may I add -- for Christians too.

Jerome

Voting For Candidates or Party?

My democrat friends try to separate their support for local candidates from their support of the party as a whole. They tell me that the person they vote for is pro-life; pro-marriage; pro-guns, etc. That is probably true. The democratic candidate for the state senate from the Jackson area says he supports all these things (he sounds a lot like the republican candidate). Problem is that his party -- the democratic party -- as a whole is against the things he claims to support.

Gary Bauer made a statement recently with which I agree. He said a vote for a democratic candidate is a vote for that party's values. Likewise a vote for a republican candidate is an endorsement of the party's values.

As I've pointed out before, I believe that the republican party more closely represents what I believe as a Christian. Neither party is perfect. And until the democratic party changes some planks in its platform (i.e. pro-choice, homosexual agenda, etc.) I don't see how a born again Christian can say their vote for a local democratic candidate isn't an endorsement of the national party.

Jerome

Voting For Candidates or Party?

My democrat friends try to separate their support for local candidates from their support of the party as a whole. They tell me that the person they vote for is pro-life; pro-marriage; pro-guns, etc. That is probably true. The democratic candidate for the state senate from the Jackson area says he supports all these things (he sounds a lot like the republican candidate). Problem is that his party -- the democratic party -- as a whole is against the things he claims to support.

Gary Bauer made a statement recently with which I agree. He said a vote for a democratic candidate is a vote for that party's values. Likewise a vote for a republican candidate is an endorsement of the party's values.

As I've pointed out before, I believe that the republican party more closely represents what I believe as a Christian. Neither party is perfect. And until the democratic party changes some planks in its platform (i.e. pro-choice, homosexual agenda, etc.) I don't see how a born again Christian can say their vote for a local democratic candidate isn't an endorsement of the national party.

Jerome

Is Jesus a Liberal or Conservative?

This is purely an academic exercise. The God of the universe does not fit into labels that we humans create (and define). The scriptures give us the descriptions of Christ and that is simply all we need. But some try to corner Him into one camp or the other. This link is to The Evangelical Outpost. Scroll to the October 16 post and you will see an interest discussion about the theories of whether Jesus is a liberal or a conservative. Be sure to read the comments. Some are so far off base that they are comical.

Jerome

Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury

This week the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance has a blog tour (blour) for Karen Kingsbury's new book, Like Dandelion Dust. Here is the link to the review on the blog alliance web page. Karen's personal website is here. And as always, if you would like to order, here is the link to the Amazon page.

Jerome

Blockbuster or Bust?

I subscribe to the print version of The Wall Street Journal but not the online version. So I can't provide a link to this article but if you get a chance to read it you should.

Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg had an article in yesterday's issue titled "In Era of Blockbuster Books, One Publisher Rolls the Dice." The article is about a debut novel by Jed Rubenfeld titled The Interpretation of Murder. It is an historical novel about a 1909 visit to the U.S. by Sigmund Freud.

The publisher, Henry Holt & Co., paid an $800,000 advance to get the North American rights only. Did I mention this was Rubenfeld's debut novel? The publisher committed to a $500,000 marketing campaign and printed 10,000 advanced reader copies. All told the publisher spent $1,300,000 for the book (and this DID NOT include the actual production cost). It needed to sell 150,000 copies of the hard cover edition just to break even.

Guess what? That's right. It flopped. The book hit the NYT bestseller list at number 18 and fell from there. Bookscan reported that Murder sold 12,400 copies in the first 19 days after its release. It's going to have a hard time getting to 150,000.

And just to show how fickle the industry is, on September 20 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez held up Noam Chomsky's book before the U.N. and praised it. Sales soared. And the publisher you ask? Henry Holt & Co.

This story proves the point that it is virtually impossible to predict a bestseller. A publisher can spend millions of dollars but it takes word-of-mouth to effectively market a book.

Jerome

Double Standards

I'm working through edits on The Divine Appointment (June 2007)and haven't had time to post in the last couple of days. But I've read some articles in the last day or so that I found interesting.

Is the double standard in the media as apparent to you as it is to me? A scandal breaks among the GOP and the national media goes crazy but Senator Harry Reid of Nevada is involved a shady business deal and hardly anything is mentioned about it.

And certainly there is no surprise at how the media portrays Christians. Finally someone has pointed out the media double standard.

Finally, a little self-promotion. The Election will be featured in the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance blog tour (blour) next week. More about that later.

Jerome

Dick Armey v. James Dobson

I found this article by Dick Armey on the Freedom Works website about Christians and Big Government very interesting. Are there some who use their Christianity to gain political power? I certainly hope not. I advocate individuals with a Christian worldview to be involved in the political process for purposes of changing the moral landscape of our country, not for the purpose of obtaining power for power's sake.

Jerome

Some Good News for Republicans

At least one pundit says that the republicans will hang onto the house and senate. That's good news and I hope his prediction turns out to be accurate.

Jerome

Mitt Romney for President

Will religious conservatives support a Mormon for president in 2008? The writer of this article in Slate certainly thinks so.

I'll have to chew on this one a little bit and do some more research on Romney before I jump inside this tent. My religious beliefs and those of the Mormon religion differ so greatly that I'm not sure yet how excited I'd be about a Romney candidacy. I'm much more inclined to support Huckabee or Brownback than Romney.

Jerome

Violette Between by Alison Strobel

The Christian Fiction Blog Alliance blog tour is highlighting Violette Between by Alison Strobel this week. Here is the link to the review on the blog alliance web page. And here is the link to the Amazon page if you would like to order a copy.

Jerome

Doomsday for Republicans?

I hope not. As I predicted last week, the Foley scandal has less prominence in the headlines this week although it hasn't disappeared completely. Some recent polling suggest a noticeable shift in favor of the democrats. Pundits are predicting that the republicans are loosing the vote of the "security moms" because of the fallout from the Mark Foley scandal. Admittedly, the scenario of the republicans retaining control of congress appears bleak.

Many times you can tell which races are the closest by where the parties are spending the most money. If that theory holds true, then republicans believe they need to spend money in Ohio, Missouri and Tennessee. These three seats appear to be the battleground for the control of the senate. Hanging on to the senate is extrememly important. John J. Miller gives a rundown of the competitive senate races here. You can see that he has 4 "toss up" races and 2 "leaning democratic takeover" but none "leaning republican takeover." That is bothersome. I believe we may see another Supreme Court Justice retire in the next two years and we need the republicans in control of the senate for confirmation purposes.

At this late stage of the campaigns, retention of control of the house of representatives by republicans appears to be in greater jeopardy than the senate. The Washington Post has an article today where even republican campaign strategists are predicting house losses of between 7 and 30 seats. We could live with 7, but 30 would be terrible.

What this means to all of us is that we need to work hard for those Christian, conservative candidates who are on the ballot in our respective areas. This election is important. You can say what you want to about recent events but the truth is that the republican party still more closely reflects Christian values than does the democrat party.

Jerome

Republican Election Strategy & The Supreme Court

I want to highlight two things in today's blog. First, I continue to believe that the Mark Foley scandal will be off the front pages by early next week and discussion among voters about the mid-term elections will turn to real issues. I've linked to two separate articles that support what I'm talking about. The first is by William Kristol of the Weekly Standard. Kristol writes that the democrats strategy of making the Foley scandal the issue of the mid-term elections will be futile. The second article is in the Chicago Tribune and highlights the republican strategy for the mid-term elections. I think we will see a concerted effort by the republicans, beginning next week, of moving the conversation back toward issues of national security, the economy, etc. For goodness sake, North Korea is talking about testing a nuclear weapon and there's hardly been any mention of it in the main stream media. It certainly hasn't been above-the-fold.

The other thing I want to point out in today's blog is a look at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court has certainly tilted more right (at least I hope -- we haven't seen to many decisions yet that have really sorted this out) with the appointments of Roberts and Alito. I believe the Court is still one vote shy of really being a right leaning, conservative Court. Justice Kennedy is the wild card. It is likely that his vote in every case will be the deciding vote.

My second novel is titled The Divine Appointment (due to release June 2007). The plot line is about the political battle over a Supreme Court appointment that, if confirmed, will move the Court to the right. Although fictional, I certainly hope that in the not too distant future, the Court does move decidedly right and stays that way for a very long time.

Jerome

Beyond Foleygate

Mark Foley's inappropriate contacts with former congressional pages continues to consume some news services but additional information is emerging. The Drudge Report has pointed out that the former page may have been 18 years old when the contacts with Mark Foley occurred and has also carried a blurb that perhaps the explicit instant messages were part of a hoax that went awry. Ann Coulter has reminded everyone of prior, similar mis-deeds by democrats. The spinning of this event will continue for a few more days. Some are even suggesting that Foley was somehow set up.

It will be interesting to see how this episode plays out in congressional and senate races, if at all. For the most part, all politics are local. And if the local party operatives are doing their part, then it may not have any impact at all. There is one congressional race in western North Carolina that caught my attention today. If I knew previously that Heath Shuler was running for congress I had forgotten. Shuler is from western North Carolina and was a star quarterback at the University of Tennessee. He was drafted high in the NFL draft, but an injury to his foot cut his career short. He is involved in many businesses in the western North Carolina - eastern Tennessee area. His name recognition and popularity likely make him a formidable opponent to the incumbent. Shuler is running as a democrat but talks like a republican. The race for this congressional seat is always close and it will be interesting to see how it turns out. It could be one of those pivotal races that determines whether the republicans maintain control of the house of representatives or not.

Keep your eyes open. News events will move rapidly over the next 3-4 weeks until that one last thing (we don't even know what it is yet) will occur that will impact the mid-term elections.

Jerome

Role of Faith in Politics

Here is a link to an article written by Rev. Mark H. Creech about the role of faith in conservative American politics. Creech does a good job of highlighting some historical documents and outlines some of the battle lines between conservatives and progressives.

Jerome

Blog Tour

Last week was Violet Dawn by Brandilyn Collins. This week the tour will feature a review of Dark Hour by Ginger Garrett.

October Surprise?

Will the Mark Foley allegations and resignation be the "October surprise" for this election cycle and give the democrats a landslide victory next month? There are plenty pundits who think so. See this link, this one, and here's another one. One newspaper has called for the speaker of the house of representatives, Dennis Hastert, to resign. President Bush says he is "dismayed and shocked" and wants a thorough investigation.

Here's the deal as I see it. There is no doubt that what Mark Foley is accused of is despicable and he should be investigated and punished. But I don't think this is the "October surprise." It is much too early. The mid-term election is still weeks away. This will be old news and off the front pages by the end of this week. Sure the democrats will put this in their playbook and try to keep it in front of the public for the next several weeks, but interest will wane. The republicans will do all they can to move this story to the back page of the papers and move the terrorism discussion to the headlines again. But there is still something out there that may have an impact on the mid-term elections and we won't hear about it for at least three weeks. That's my prediction anyway.

Jerome

Mid-Term Elections Heat Up

You can read every article and editorial in every newspaper in the country and realize that the the mid-term elections are going to be close. Some pundits say that the democrats will take control of both houses of congress; others say one or the other; and still others claim that republican control is safe. We'll know in about 6 weeks.

Tennessee has consistently been a red state in recent elections. The current governor is the only democrat elected to a state-wide office in at least the last 12 years, if not longer. Even Al Gore couldn't carry the state in the 2000 presidential election -- and he's allegedly a native son. But some are opining that the race between the republican, Bob Corker, and the democratic candidate is to close to call. And really it shouldn't be. There's simply no reason why this should be a close race in this red state -- and I have my personal doubts about the polls. There's 4 or 5 articles in the "commentary" section of the website I linked to which will provide you with some pundits' reasonings why the race is close.

In Florida, Katherine Harris, the republican challenger for the senate seat held by Sen. Bill Nelson, has accused Nelson of claiming to be a Christian but not voting with a Christian worldview. You remember Katherine Harris, right? She rose to fame during the Florida presidential election lawsuit(s) in 2000. The national republican party tried to dissuade her from running for this senate seat, but she ran anyway. She won the republican primary, but nobody gives her much of a chance to beat Nelson. Realclearpolitics isn't even tracking this race. Although I don't give her much of a chance either, I do agree with her statement that Christians should vote for candidates who represent a Christian worldview with their actions-- and not simply give lip service to it.

And lastly, the media will continue to do all it can to influence the outcome of elections. The main stream media (MSM) tried hard to get Al Gore and John Kerry elected to the White House over George Bush. Fortunately, it failed. But here is Bob Woodward with a new book and he blatantly states that its release is timed to occur before the November elections.

If you've read my book The Election you know that I believe a critical day in the life of a political campaign is the Thursday before the election on Tuesday. I think that Bob Woodward's book is coming out too soon to have any real impact on the mid-term elections. There may not be any national story that impacts all the races this November, but watch for localized news on November 2 that impact individual senate/house races.

Jerome