We've all wondered why Mitt Romney has remained silent on Michele Bachmann's neo-McCarthyist search for radical Muslim influence in the government. Well, Politico's Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin have shed some light onto why--he recently held a meeting with them. Not long after Romney came back to the States, he flew to Denver in order to meet with a select group of religious right activists. Among them were four men who, according to numerous reports, have expressed support for Bachmann--James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer, and Jerry Boykin.
In late July, Dobson, Perkins and Bauer signed a letter to John Boehner calling Bachmann a woman of "undeniable courage (and) great patriotism." The letter was signed by several other religious right luminaries as well--including David Barton, Star Parker, Mat Staver, Stuart Epperson and Tim Wildmon. And just last week, Boykin joined four other former national security officials in signing a separate letter to Boehner praising Bachmann.
The obvious question here is whether Romney discussed Bachmann at that meeting. And People for the American Way raises several other questions--including why Romney would meet with the likes of Boykin, a leading Islamophobe.
One thing PFAW left out, though--Boykin is also a card-carrying member of the New Apostolic Reformation, a fascist brand of Christianity that thinks it can actually bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world. He is a member of the board of the Oak Initiative, a dominionist-oriented think tank run by a "prophet" in my area, Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries. And he recently became executive vice president of Perkins' Family Research Council, thus tightening the links between the mainstream religious right and the NAR.
We already know that Romney has sold his soul to the Tea Party. Now it looks like he's sold his soul to the religious right as well.