NEW YORK (ABP) — President Bush, capping a Republican National Convention that sought to strike a careful balance on social issues between conservative policies and moderate speakers, briefly reiterated some of his most controversial social policies in his speech to delegates Sept. 2.
While religion and issues important to religious conservatives have enjoyed a high profile during Bush's first four years in office, the convention focused mainly on national-security issues while giving scant attention to social issues. Political analysts said GOP leaders were attempting to avoid the strident tone on “family values” set at the 1992 Republican convention, alienating some moderate voters.
In a speech devoted mainly to national security, Bush briefly touched on social issues important to religious conservatives. He reiterated his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage and his support for government funding of religious social-service providers.
“Because a caring society will value its weakest members, we must make a place for
the unborn child,” Bush said, to applause from delegates. “Because religious charities provide a safety net of mercy and compassion, our government must never discriminate against them.
“Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in our society, I support the protection of marriage against activist judges,” he said, in one of the convention's few mentions of the issue. Bush supports a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage.
He did not mention two of his other social policies that have proven less popular in the polls — his opposition to most embryonic stem-cell research and his support for a federal program that would provide government-funded scholarships to private schools, including religious schools.
Bush spent much of his time referring to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the ensuing war on terror. Bush — as did several other speakers at the convention — grouped the war on terror with the war in Iraq, angering critics of the Iraq war.
When Bush was discussing the war, a young female protestor, seated about 30 yards away from the president in the California delegation, stood up and screamed: “How many people died?” She immediately was tackled by security guards. As she was being taken away, delegates drowned out her yelling with chants of “Four more years!” and “U.S.A.!”
Bush was introduced by New York Gov. George Pataki. Pataki was one of several moderate Republicans featured in prime-time speaking slots at the convention who disagree with Bush on issues such as gay marriage, stem-cell research and abortion rights. The others included former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani Aug. 30 and a highly publicized Aug. 31 speech by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
In the weeks leading up to the convention, the announced line-up of moderate prime-time speakers led some of the party's base of religious conservatives to complain. In response, Bush-Cheney officials offered featured speaking spots to two of the party's standard-bearing religious conservatives — Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole also offered some words of encouragement to religious conservatives in her Aug. 31 speech. She defended the party's opposition — found in its platform — to abortion rights and gay marriage. She also touted the party's support for religious displays in public buildings.
“In the United States of America, we are free to worship without discrimination, without intervention and even without activist judges trying to strip the name of God from the Pledge of Allegiance, from the money in our pockets and from the walls of our courthouses,” Dole told delegates. “The Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. The right to worship God isn't something Republicans invented, but it is something Republicans will defend.”
The platform delegates adopted Aug. 30 calls for, among other things, a total ban on abortion, a reinstitution of prayer in public schools and banning same-sex marriage and civil unions.
-30-