I Guess Third Time Is Not A Charm For Some People

From CNN:

A Southern Baptist leader said Tuesday that evangelical voters might tolerate a divorced presidential candidate, but they have deep doubts about GOP hopeful Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times.

Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, told The Associated Press that evangelicals believe the former New York City mayor showed a lack of character during his divorce from his second wife, television personality Donna Hanover.

"I mean, this is divorce on steroids," Land said. "To publicly humiliate your wife in that way, and your children. That's rough. I think that's going to be an awfully hard sell, even if he weren't pro-choice and pro-gun control."

The fact that all GOP candidates for president have to pass through their party's Evangelical base is the Achilles' Heel for the Republicans. Indeed, it is such a powerful force that even an alleged "straight-talker" like John McCain has been forced to flip-flop like a madman in order to cozy up to these radical religious extremists.

Although Giuliani doesn't seem like a very nice person -- his own son reportedly won't have any part in his campaign -- he appears to be a moderate Republican who probably wouldn't be a bad president. Of course, I felt the same way about George W. Bush when he was appointed to the presidency, so maybe I'm not a very good judge of character.

In any event, it will be interesting to see how Giuliani will handle these wingnuts. I'm kind of rooting for him to pass through this Evangelical filter and emerge as the GOP nominee without having to flip-flop like McCain has. If that happens, then maybe the GOP can finally break away from these radical elements and this country can get to work on solving real problems.