Senator John McCain and Jerry Falwell at Liberty University last year. (Photo: Josh Meltzer for The New York Times)Back in 2000, when he was trying to appeal to moderates, Senator John McCain positioned himself against the religious right. His chief targets were Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, whom he described as “agents of intolerance.”
This time around, as he again seeks the Republican presidential nomination, Senator McCain is now in the opposite position — trying to appeal to the religious right, not demonize it. This comes from experience: the conservative base tends to have a disproportionate voice in picking the presidential nominee.
So as Mr. McCain has been gearing up for his latest campaign, he has been mending fences with those on the right. Among those he wanted to get right with was Mr. Falwell.
With Mr. Falwell’s death today, and a debate scheduled for tonight among the Republican presidential candidates, among the likely topics will be how well the candidates meet the tests of the Christian conservatives who owe their clout to Mr. Falwell.
Most of the 10 Republican candidates appear to be largely in accord with the party’s conservative base. But the three who are leading in the polls — Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, and Mr. McCain — have not been natural allies of the religious right.
Jerry Falwell and President Ronald Reagan in 1987. (Photo: Barry Thumma/Associated Press)Mr. Giuliani, a Roman Catholic, supports abortion rights and civil unions for gays, two positions unacceptable to Mr. Falwell. In a statement today, Mr. Giuliani said of Mr. Falwell, “He was a man who set a direction. He was someone who was not afraid to speak his mind.”
Mr. Romney, a Mormon, in the past has supported abortion rights but is now against them. He has courted the support of the religious right and even met with Mr. Falwell last year. While another evangelical leader, James Dobson, had questioned whether Christian evangelicals could support a Mormon for president, Mr. Falwell said that he could, if he agreed with that person on social and moral issues.
Of the three, Mr. McCain has the most history with Mr. Falwell. In 2000, Mr. McCain suggested that his opponent, George W. Bush, was conducting a smear campaign against him, with the aid of religious extremists.
“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,” Mr. McCain said at the time.
After the campaign, Mr. McCain continued to take positions that were antithetical to the right, opposing, for example, a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage.
But as he prepared for his race this time around, Mr. McCain began massaging his positions, not just on social issues but on economic issues like tax cuts. In 2006, he reached out to Mr. Falwell, telling him he had spoken “in haste” in 2000.
Mr. Falwell seemed to accept Mr. McCain’s conversion and invited him to speak at the graduation last year at Liberty University, which Mr. Falwell founded.
“By all means, let us argue,” Mr. McCain told the graduates. “But let us remember, we are not enemies.” He added: “I have not always heeded this injunction myself, and I regret it very much.”
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