Emerging Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, kicking off a West Coast fundraising effort, is opening the door to criticism from skeptical conservatives by attending one event hosted by a former moderate GOP senator who blasted the party for giving in to the Christian right’s agenda.
A Bush fundraiser Thursday in Indian Wells, Calif., is being hosted by former Missouri Sen. John Danforth, one of a group of former Republican lawmakers who have criticized the party for shifting focus to a Christian social agenda.
In advance of the country club fundraiser for Bush’s Right to Rise PAC, critics distributed a 2005 op-ed Danforth wrote for the New York Times in which he slapped the party for moving away from fighting deficits to opposing gay marriage. And he accused the GOP of becoming a “political arm” of Christians.
“As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around,” he wrote.
Danforth was ambassador to the United Nations under former President George W. Bush. He is an Episcopal minister.
“Our current fixation on a religious agenda has turned us in the wrong direction,” he wrote, adding, “Republicans have transformed our party into the political arm of conservative Christians.”
Bush has been criticized by conservatives worried about his positions in support of immigration reform and common core education standards and another line of attack, this time from evangelicals, could be damaging.
However, if he is fighting for moderates against Mormon Mitt Romney, he may still have the advantage. To their right, potential candidates such as Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Bobby Jindal are gunning for the Evangelical vote.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
