Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani

(CBS/AP)  Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, a prominent Christian leader and social conservative, endorsed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Republican nomination for president.

"It is my pleasure to announce my support for America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani, a proven leader who is not afraid of what lies ahead and who will cast a hopeful vision for all Americans," Robertson said during a news conference with Giuliani in Washington.

The former New York mayor backs abortion rights and gay rights, positions that put him in conflict with GOP orthodoxy, and has been trying to convince cultural conservatives to overlook their differences with him on those issues. That makes the support of a high-profile religious conservative like Robertson a particular boon.

Robertson made no mention of the differences on social conservative issues in the statement.

CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield said that this move makes sense when looked in the context of how Giuliani has been actively courting conservatives over the past few years and also some of Robertson's history.

"Robertson has long been a political player at least as much as a religious leader," Greenfield said. "He's often backed more "electable" Republicans, against the more "pure" social conservatives." (, CBSNews.com's campaign blog.)

Giuliani is best known to voters for leading New York in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Shortly after 9/11, Robertson released a statement in which he said the attacks occurred because Americans had insulted God and lost the protection of heaven by allowing abortion and "rampant Internet pornography."

"Rudy Giuliani took a city that was in decline and considered ungovernable and reduced its violent crime, revitalized its core, dramatically lowered its taxes, cut through a welter of bureaucratic regulations, and did so in the spirit of bipartisanship which is so urgently needed in Washington today," Robertson said.

In an interview with CBS News after the announcement, Robertson said he expect Giuliani to win the nomination quickly.

"I hope he does well in the caucuses and the primaries. I think it will all be over by February so we've only got a couple more months," Robertson said. "I'm wishing him very well in making victory next fall as the nominee of the party." (listen to the interview here)

CBS News senior political editor Vaughn Ververs said Robertson's endorsement should provide a boost for Giuliani's campaign.

"Conservatives suspicious of Giuliani's positions on issues like abortion and gun control may give the former mayor another look as a result of Robertson's support," Ververs said. "Many other conservative leaders have endorsed other candidates and, as long as they do not coalesce among one single candidate, that's good news for Giuliani."

Evangelicals have split in their support for the leading Republican candidates. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a favorite of Christian conservatives who dropped out of the race last month, endorsed fellow Sen. John McCain of Arizona on Wednesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, recently announced that Paul Weyrich and Bob Jones III were on board with his candidacy.

Asked about the Robertson endorsement, McCain, at a news conference with Brownback in Dubuque, Iowa, said: "Every once in a while, I'm left speechless. This is one of those times."

When asked about the endorsement during a campaign stop in South Carolina, Romney emphasized the support he had gotten from Jones and Weyrich.

"Everybody has their own choice," Romney said. "I'll tell you the people who have the ultimate say are gonna be the voters. And I sure hope that I'm able to do well with them as I have in the early contacts I've had in the early states."

Robertson, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 1988, founded the Christian Broadcasting Network, the Christian Coalition and Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va.

Also Wednesday, Giuliani said he asked two GOP friends in Congress, Rep. Peter King of New York and Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas, to introduce bills to keep states from giving licenses or similar identification to illegal immigrants.

The Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, was criticized after a televised debate last week when she hedged an answer on whether she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's effort to grant licenses to illegal immigrants. Her aides say she generally supports the idea in the absence of comprehensive immigration reform.

[candide777]

However, these spirits can be transmitted to children, especially if someone who had this demonic spirit seduced or raped a child--or even if they were close to gay people. These demons can also be imparted to others through unholy sexual acts.
Posted by singinrick at 04:25 PM : Nov 09, 2007

LOL! :-)

[candide777]

So as long as we "agree" with homosexuals, then you have no problem with it, but if we oppose of the lifestyle, we hate them according to you.
Posted by singinrick at 03:28 PM : Nov 09, 2007

No, you misunderstand. It''s when you try to deny them equal rights under the law, even though they pay taxes, that''s when I would accuse you of being totally mean, hateful and unfair? Ya see?

[candide777]

-Candide I feel so sorry for you. I really do.
Posted by singinrick at 03:19 PM : Nov 09, 2007

Oh, don''t feel sorry for me. I''m having a gay ol'' time! LOL!

[candide777]

Godless liberals. Makes me sick.

Posted by singinrick at 03:28 PM : Nov 09, 2007

Now, now, rick, you know what the Bible says about judging others. I must say I doubt you are a Christian. Your posts are all dripping with hatred, and Jesus tells us to love one another, so that makes you, not a true Christian. It really is that simple.

[candide777]

As I said, you secular humanists are going to have to find out the hard way just how wrong you were in the end, sadly.
Posted by singinrick at 09:00 PM : Nov 08, 2007

Yes, yes, yes, we know, eternal damnation, the fires of hell and all that icky stuff, but until then, I have two words for you, dude: PAR TAY!!!!!

[candide777]

-Gee, imagine that, another insult from another hateful liberal.
Why am I not surprised!
Posted by singinrick at 02:56 PM : Nov 08, 2007

Rick, I''m just speaking the truth. I don''t make up the truth; it is what it is. I don''t hate you, I just know that you are wrong about most everything, that''s all. I still like you lots, but I want you to learn how to think rationally and for yourself.

[candide777]

You humanists are a very dangerous sect of our culture. VERY DANGEROUS.
Posted by singinrick at 09:00 PM : Nov 08, 2007

LOL! "The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species. It may be a long farewell, but it has begun and, like all farewells, should not be protracted....I leave it to the faithful to burn each other''s churches and mosques and synogogues, which they can always be relied upon to do." Christopher Hitchens, "god is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything" (2007)

[candide777]

If any Christian doesn''t believe Christ is Risen, then they can''''t be a Christian....it''s that simple.
Posted by singinrick at 08:57 PM : Nov 08, 2007

Rick, don''t forget though that you yourself are not a Christian because you still harbor nothing but hatred in your heart for gay people. Jesus tells us that we must love one another, but you don''t, so you cannot be a Christian, it''s that simple.

[topprophet]

Things people should know about Rudolph Giuliani: A Spanish company, Cintra-Zachry, which is owned by the King of Spain, is already building the North American SuperCorridor highway through the middle of our country thanks to NAFTA, and they''re going to get the tolls. Rodolph Giuliani''s Law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani represents that Spanish company. Another Giuliani business, Giuliani Capitol Advisors was once a partner of Cintra-Zachry, and actually owned the rights to collect tolls from the Indiana and Chicago sections of the SuperCorridor before Giuliani sold that interest recently to an Australian company called Macquarie. Bracewell & Giuliani represents some of the biggest multi-national oil, utility infrastructure and financial corporations both in the U.S. and abroad. With that have come the connections that Giuliani has been able to tap into for campaign donations, essential for his Presidential bid, not only in Texas but nationwide, as he has become the consumate NWO globalist. Particularly unnerving, given Giuliani''s personal experience on 9/11, is his defense of open borders at any cost while condoning the NAFTA Superhighway Corridor and by extension the North American Union, without the consent of the U.S. Congress or the will of the American people. We should have seen it coming when Mayor Giuliani enacted Special Order 40 in 1994, ordering NYC cops to stop checking the immigration status of suspects caught violating the Law. Vote for a REAL AMERICAN--Ron Paul.

[topprophet]

All of these trade deals and world governmental organizations that all of the presidential candidates support (except Ron Paul), such as the ICC, NAFTA, GATT, WTO, and CAFTA, are all major threat to our nation''s sovereignty. They transfer power from our government to unelected foreign elites. The ICC wants to try our soldiers as war criminals. Both the WTO and CAFTA could force Americans to get a prescription to take herbs and vitamins. The WTO has forced Congress to change our laws to meet their needs, and not our own. If anything, the WTO makes trade relations worse by giving foreign competitors a new way to attack U.S. jobs. The NAFTA superhighway, which is currently being built, is just one part of a plan to erase our borders and create the North American Union, a single nation State like the EU, out of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, with a new, unelected bureaucracy and money system. Forget about controlling immigration under the NAU scheme. There won''t be any borders anymore, or a free America. Our limited, constitutional government, will be gone forever. Let''s not forget the UN either. It wants to impose a direct Carbon Tax on us. Ron Paul successfully fought this move in Congress last year, but if we are going to stop ongoing attempts of this world government body to rule over us, we need someone in the White House who knows how to say "No." We must withdraw from any organizations or treaty that infringes upon our nation''s sovereignty. Vote AMERICA FIRST! Vote for Ron Paul.