Home > Social Conservatives Wield Influence on Platform
By ROBIN TONER and DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Republicans approved a platform yesterday that puts the party firmly on the record against legalized abortion, gay marriage and other forms of legal recognition for same-sex couples, reflecting the political clout of social conservatives and setting up a stark contrast with the Democrats for the fall campaign.
The platform also hails President Bush’s fight against terrorism, advocates making his tax cuts permanent and calls for the creation of personal investment accounts in Social Security as part of a new "ownership society’’ that Republicans assert will give Americans more responsibility and control over their financial lives.
The 93-page document, produced under the tight control of the Bush forces, tries to accomplish several political tasks: promoting and defending Mr. Bush’s record, particularly on national security; sketching a domestic vision for a second term; and energizing the party’s conservative base.
Democrats and their allies immediately denounced the platform as extremist and at odds with the moderate image the party is trying to project this week.
"It’s the truth behind the facade of their convention,’’ said Stephanie Cutter, spokeswoman for Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee. "It reflects the divisiveness and extreme policies of the last four years, while the public speakers paint a very different picture.’’
Gay rights and abortion rights groups restated their dismay. Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, declared, "It’s one of the most discriminatory platforms in modern history.’’ She added, of Mr. Bush, "He’s counting on the fact that most people won’t be reading the letter of the law of the Republican platform."
Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader and chairman of the Republican platform committee, hailed the platform, titled, "A Safer World, A More Hopeful America,’’ as a tribute to Mr. Bush when he presented it to the convention yesterday.
"Our platform highlights the principles that unite our party,’’ Mr. Frist said. "We stand squarely, fully and firmly with President George W. Bush in a time of profound national and historic consequence.’’
Reflecting the altered world since the last Republican platform was written four years ago in Philadelphia, half of the document is devoted to national security, and what it asserts are Mr. Bush’s sweeping achievements in the fight against terrorism. "The president’s leadership has achieved successes once deemed impossible to realize in so short a time,’’ it declares.
Hailing the president’s "steadfast resolve’’ in response to the attacks of Sept. 11, the platform declares: "There is no negotiation with terrorists. No form of therapy or coercion will turn them from their murderous ways. Only total and compete destruction of terrorism will allow freedom to flourish.’’
The platform also describes the war with Iraq, which brought hundreds of thousands of protesters to the streets of New York this week, as justified and successful. "Iraq, which once had the worst government in the Middle East, is now becoming an example of reform to the region,’’ it says.
Republicans also used the platform to promote the ownership society and "reformed’’ government that are expected to be a highlight of Mr. Bush’s speech Thursday night as he tries to offer a conservative approach to such bread and butter issues as retirement and health care.
Mr. Kerry has proposed rolling back the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $200,000 a year and using the money for new health care initiatives. The Republican platform echoes Mr. Bush and says the cuts must be made permanent. "We believe that good government is based on a system of limited taxes and spending,’’ it says. "The taxation system should not be used to redistribute wealth or fund ever-increasing entitlements and social programs.’’
The platform describes the current deficit of $445 billion as "unwelcome but manageable,’’ and argues that it should be reduced by cutting spending, not limiting tax cuts.
Republicans also called once again for "strengthening Social Security with ownership,’’ allowing workers to direct part of their payroll taxes to personal investment accounts. Critics assert that the transition costs of such partial privatization would be huge because tax revenues would be diverted from the Social Security system into the private accounts.
The Democratic platform declares that it opposes replacing the current benefit with any system "subject to the whims of the market or the economy.’’
Party platforms are not binding on a candidate, but are generally considered a snapshot of the party’s ideological and political imperatives in an election year. The current platform shows the major role that social conservatives are playing in the Republican Party as it heads into an extremely competitive race in which each party must turn out its core supporters.
On abortion, the Republican Party restates its longstanding commitment to a "human life amendment’’ to the Constitution, declaring that "the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.’’ Chances of passing such an amendment in Congress have been considered slim for many years. The platform also hails Mr. Bush for signing and defending the Partial Birth Abortion Act, a ban on a type of second and third trimester abortions. That law was recently held unconstitutional by two federal courts.
Social conservatives, who pushed Mr. Bush to endorse a federal constitutional amendment against gay marriage earlier this year, pushed for even stronger language in the platform, and succeeded. Mr. Bush has indicated that he embraced a constitutional amendment opposing same-sex marriage only as a last resort to prevent courts from deciding the issue and said that states should be free to recognize same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships. But the platform, as amended by the conservatives on the platform committee, condemns not only gay marriage but also state recognition of other same-sex unions as well.
At a news conference yesterday, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a group of social conservatives, said that the push to strengthen the platform’s opposition to same-sex civil unions was partly a response to Vice President Dick Cheney’s statement last week that he personally favored leaving the issue up to the states.
"We are obviously troubled by the vice president’s comments last week, which in ways led to the strengthening of the language in the platform,’’ Mr. Perkins said.
Mr. Kerry has said he opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes a constitutional ban on it. The Democratic platform declares, "Marriage has been defined at the state level for 200 years and we believe it should continue to be defined there."
On another volatile issue, the platform applauds the president’s decision to restrict federal financing for research using embryonic stem cells. Again, some conservatives tried to call for additional restrictions on privately financed research, but Dr. Frist, a close ally of the White House and a medical doctor, fought off that effort.
In a gesture to moderates, the Republican platform added a "unity plank," acknowledging that party members of good will might disagree. But the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay group, and Republicans for Choice faulted the plank for failing to specify the divisive social issues: abortion, stem-cell research and same-sex marriage.