Republican Candidates Pander to Religious Right, Praise Falwell Legacy

By John Nichols, The Nation
Posted on May 15, 2007, Printed on May 16, 2007
http://www.alternet.org/story/51940/

The various and sundry Republican presidential contenders will be stumbling over one another tonight -- as they debate in South Carolina -- and in the days ahead to curry favor with the religious right by expressing their sorrow at the passing of the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

It's not that most of the Republican candidates really cared much for Falwell. Aside from Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, the most seriously evangelical of the bunch, none of the GOP runners really qualifies as a Falwell follower in the classic sense.