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Hypocrisy-ometer Boils Over As Ralph Reed & Evangelicals Continue Supporting Herschel Walker [1]
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Date: 2022-10-10
“I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”-- Dana Loesch, conservative radio host and former spokesperson for the National Rifle Association
In a 2016 interview on NPRs Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, Ralph Reed doubled down on his support for then-Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump, making it clear that he could care less, which direction Trump’s moral compass pointed. While he admitted that Trump’s words and actions were offensive, Reed assured supporters that there was too much at stake in the election for Trump’s treatment of women to change the way Christian evangelicals should vote.
A few days ago, in an interview with NPR’s Leila Fadel, Reed, the founder and chair of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, is sticking to that morally reprehensible formulation. Reed said he was onboard with Walker when asked about the GOP’s continued support for its Georgia Senate candidate.
Fadel stated that “Walker is running on an anti-abortion platform, and he's said repeatedly that no abortion is ever acceptable, no matter the circumstance. So an accusation first reported in The Daily Beast that Walker paid for an abortion for his now ex-girlfriend - she provided a receipt, a check from Walker and a get-well card as proof - has many calling Walker a hypocrite.”
Fadel asked Reed why the Republican Party is sticking with Walker. Reed: “Well, I think in this particular case, we're dealing with a 13-year-old anonymous allegation that no other media organization has been able to independently verify. We don't know who the accuser is. Herschel denies it. And to be perfectly honest with you, in the aftermath of the Steele dossier and the Access Hollywood tape and the October surprise in October of 2018 of Brett Kavanaugh being accused of sexual assault and serial rape, most of those charges were disproven. The main charge was never proven. I think voters are largely being inured to these kind of October surprises. Herschel denies this allegation. And I think voters are going to vote on the issues.”
Despite mounting evidence and concerns about Walker’s character and fitness for the Senate, Reed stuck to the script, even as Walker’s son Christian publically denounced his father’s actions. “Well, I was at a fundraiser in December of last year where his son spoke effusively about him and strongly supported him,” Reed said. “So I don't know what that situation is. But look; I think what this really boils down to is we have an election in five weeks taking place when inflation is at a 40-year high. Gas prices are at the highest level in U.S. economic history. And people are voting on the failed policies of Joe Biden, whose job approval in Georgia is 37%. And among swing voters, Biden's job approval is 20%. And Raphael Warnock has voted with Joe Biden 96% of the time. He's tied to him. And so he's trying to change the subject to something that happened with Herschel Walker 13, 15, 20, 25 years ago. I'm just saying it's not going to work.”
Ralph Reed is not alone in trashing his moral compass. Politico’s Natalie Allison reported that Since the Walker revelations “evangelical Christian leaders in Georgia have banded together to support Walker, as has the Republican Party in general.”
Allison states that as of October 6, “Christian evangelical leaders have not flagged in their support, saying that he aligns with them on key policy matters. It’s a practice that has become common for Christian conservatives since the rise of Donald Trump — a political era that has inured religious voters to news of lewd behavior by Republicans.”
Pastor Anthony George, who presides over the 13,000-member First Baptist Church of Atlanta, said “The dilemma is, do you wait for a candidate who is perfect? Do you wait for a candidate who perfectly aligns with everything you not only want them to do when they’re elected, but all of your cultural and moral beliefs? Or do you take what’s given to you and make the choice between the options?”
On MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said: "They're supporting him because the voters in Georgia don't care. They're not getting phone calls from people in Georgia or anywhere else screaming to back away from Walker, so they lean in. This whole family values ruse of the GOP is busted. Democrats didn't expose it, they didn't expose the family values lie, right? Republicans exposed their own lie. You know, for 25, 30, 40 years, they have been telling people how to live, who to love, what to believe, when they themselves weren't applying those standards to themselves, and now that's exposed and they don't care because the only thing that matters is that Republicans hold that, get that Georgia seat."
Over the past six years (the Trump era,) the agenda of Christian evangelicals has fared well – especially with their seizure of the Supreme Court. So why should they abandon a winning formula? The end has justified their means on so many issues; abortion, trans and gay rights, education… Morality be damned.
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