ORLANDO, FL — Before they take the stage for the big Fox News/Google debate, many of the Republicans running for president stopped off for a short Faith And Freedom Coalition meeting here.
The FFC, run by Ralph Reed, works to combine the grassroots of the tea party with the evangelical ideology that still fuels much of the conservative movement. In a string of short speeches, each candidate reached out to the religious conservatives gathered here.
Here’s one line from the speeches that defined what the candidates are saying to court the religious base.
Michele Bachmann
Bachmann tried to sell her formidable social conservative credentials.
“Barack Obama’s approval numbers are at their lowest level. And I’m here to tell you that they’re going lower further. We don’t have to go to the side, we don’t have to sit on the back of the bus of this election. We need to stand out and have a hand in it this time and have a candidate this time that’s a true social conservative.”
Mitt Romney
Romney was introduced by his wife and moved things right along to his attacking Obama — and politicians in general (*cough* Rick Perry *cough*) in probably the least faith-y speech of the afternoon.
“I remember that old Ronald Reagan line: ‘It’s not that liberals are ignorant, it’s just that what they know is wrong.’ … All those years, perhaps, in the Harvard faculty lounge and looking abroad to Europe to see how Europeans did things, [Obama] imagined that if somehow we were more like Europe things would be better…I believe in America.”
Rick Santorum
Like Bachmann, Santorum tried to sell himself as the social conservative’s social conservative.
“What makes America the greatest country on Earth is one word. And the word is faith.”
Ron Paul
Paul toned down his libertarian vibe to turn the volume up on his social conservative side by talking a lot about his opposition to abortion.
“Many people recognize that I am a strong defender of liberty. I have a lot of friends who defend liberty but they are very careless about life. And I believe that you cannot be a strong defender of liberty if you don’t defend all life.”
Herman Cain
Cain, always received well by this crowd, was received well yet again.
“The founding fathers got it right. They got it right when they said, ‘we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator — not man, not an administration, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.”
Newt Gingrich
Gingrich was played on stage with the Rocky theme and began reeling off the top few of the 50-100 executive orders he promised will come on the first day of his administration.
“The first executive order will eliminate every White House czar everywhere. The second executive order will reinstate Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy and no taxpayer money will be used to fund abortion overseas.”
Rick Perry
Perry was the final speaker, was introduced by the Speaker of the Florida state House — a backer — and got a standing ovation before launching into what was basically a standard stump speech read from notes. The crowd seemed to be very interested.
“Howdy.”
BONUS: Donald Trump
Trump appeared via video.
“I’m in Australia. It’s a wonderful place…I’m making some very big speeches talking about President Obama and the fact that he’s doing such a poor job and everyone here agrees with me 100 percent.”
Evan McMorris-Santoro
Evan McMorris-Santoro has covered politics for TPM since 2009. Before that, he was a reporter at National Journal’s Hotline covering election 2008. He started his career covering local politics at newspapers in TN and his native NC.
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