Playing The Religion Card

One day before harbinger primaries in Virginia and Washington state, John McCain charged into enemy territory and scathingly dismissed Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson as an intolerant extremist.

When he spoke in Virginia Beach, Va. on Tuesday, McCain said he was addressing "the future of the Republican Party." But it's no accident that the Arizona Senator's chosen target was a televangelist who placed phone calls sharply criticizing both McCain and his campaign chairman.

McCain condemned Christian conservative leaders such as Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance" -- and warned his party against "pandering to the outer reaches of American politics."

McCain's attack is risky in Tuesday's Virginia primary, where more than a third of the voters are part of the Religious Right. But McCain aides told CBS News that they expect his attack to help in New York and the Northeast, Ohio and the Midwest, and in Washington and California on the West Coast.

And the Senator's attack went beyond his own GOP.

"Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right."

McCain called his GOP rival, Texas Governor George W. Bush, a "Pat Robertson Republican" who wouldn't be able to beat likely Democratic nominee Al Gore in November.

CBS News Correspondent Phil Jones reports Robertson is in Mexico. And a Bush campaign strategist, with close ties to the religious right, told CBS News on Monday that "Robertson is back in the cage. He's been told, No more phone calls."

Robertson's creation, the Christian Coalition, sought to place itself above McCain's blunt talk, promising to "rise above this transparent effort to divide one American from another on the basis of religion."

"Our pro-family message of faith and freedom will draw citizens to the polls in record numbers as we encourage all people of faith to continue their active involvement in the process we call democracy," said Roberta Combs, the Coalition's executive vice president, in a statement.

At the other end of th country, Bush avoided any mention of Pat Robertson, but accused McCain of "playing upon people's religious fears," and excoriated him, again, for placing phone calls which suggest that Bush might be anti-Catholic. This came one day after Bush sought to placate Catholic voters with a "mea culpa" letter to Cardinal O'Connor of New York - which, I almost forgot, has a primary next week.

The politics of religion and the religion of politics have become so intertwined that there's room for considerable skepticism on matters which ought to invite sober reflection and respect for others. Both Bush and McCain may feel dismayed about playing the religion card, but that has stopped neither of them.

McCain's broadside against Pat Robertson was, by extension, an attack against Bush, whom Robertson intended to help. It's debatable if Robertson did, in fact, help Bush, for Robertson is unpopular among many voters, Christian and non-Christian alike. Although it was bold to tackle him in his own state of Virginia, McCain's sharp criticism of him didn't carry much risk.

Witness the fact that when he got a chance to respond, Bush, in more secular Washington state on Monday, tried never to mention Robertson. Asked about Robertson's support, Bush said "I've got all kinds of supporters," and instantly veered off to discuss his own ability to "bring people together."

And Bush challenged McCain's claim that he is a Reagan Republican who believes in inclusion, not exclusion.

McCain "invokes the name of Ronald Reagan, but he invokes religious fears. That's not the politics of Ronald Reagan I remember," said the Texas Governor.

But while Bush won't stand next to Robertson, he hasn't repudiated him or the message implied in his phone calls -- a distorted message which implied that McCain was not pro-life and that he might undo the work of the religious right. And when someone asked Bush on Monday to reassure moderate women voters in the state who dislike the influence of conservative Christians in the party, Bush answered, as he does to virtually every question, "I've got a record" of working with others and promoting women -- a response that tells voters to accept the mechanics of his record without questioning the substance of his views.

The heyday of the religious right, in the 1980's, has probably passed. Here's one Republican candidate blasting Robertson -- and another not coming to his defense. But there are still plenty of conservative Christian voters out there whom no Republican wants to offend. That's why so much of McCain's speech on Monday consisted of a direct, passionate appeal to them, including a moving story of his own faith -- tested and reaffirmed while held in a Vietnamese prison camp.

In the midst of his indignation, McCain said, "the political tactics of division and slander are not our values." That's a little disingenuous, for McCain admits to the phone callwhich suggested Bush echoes the anti-Catholic sentiments held by former leaders of Bob Jones University, a South Carolina school Bush visited earlier this month. And the Bush folks say there are now push poll phone calls in Virginia repeating the charge.

Bush complained long and loud about those phone calls, but they bore fruit. As Catholics in New York and other states streamed home from Mass on Sunday, they heard of his letter to Cardinal O'Connor -- or saw him on television admitting to a "missed opportunity" for preaching a more inclusive message at an exclusionary school.

The Bob Jones visit was probably imprudent, but it can't reasonably be taken as an indication of anti-Catholic sentiment, anymore than McCain's disagreements with fellow Republicans mean he'd overthrow the conservative social principles they prize. Both McCain and Bush have reason to protest their innocence, but their statements are so tinged with political advantage that one can't help but long for a separation of church and political debate.