Poll: 67% of Catholics approve of the job Obama’s doing
Even Catholics who consider themselves “conservative” politically are more likely to approve than disapprove of Obama’s job performance [49/40]…
In fact, 53% of Catholics voted for Obama for president in November, almost identical to the 52.9% of the popular vote Obama won in the 2008 election. Catholics’ 67% approval of Obama in his first 100 days is slightly higher than his overall 63% average approval rating for the same period. Thus, relative to the population, Catholics have become a bit more supportive of Obama as president than they were in the election.
Well, what else do you expect from social conservatives? Every single RINO that needs to be cast out of the party are social conservatives that would enlarge the government so the others would live as they wish.
For that matter, I think the religious right (although this is mostly protestants and evangelicals, who are, well, more puritanical than Catholics) harmed the conservative cause more than helped. Conservative social policies can never win, except in the blaze of a revolution (which, despite the advice of a Founding Father about what the tree of liberty needs, I think should be avoided when possible). Conservative fiscal policies always win. The religious right trades the latter for former.
I don't mean to bash them unjustly. After all, it was a youth pastor who told me what the Republicans stand for, i.e. small government and private enterprise, without all the distortion I get from the liberals in the media and school (the so-called "teachers"), and I owe him a great deal for that. But in this time when the Republican party needs a revival, we need to straighten out our priorities. Conservative fiscal and economic policies first (for those who support these are the true Republicans who will never defect even in times of trouble), and, if we have some political capital to burn, maybe then a penny or two into the well of conservative social policies.