'This Is Not a Bluff'

[Reporter responds] No.

You've answered my question. I cannot vote for someone who believes that it's all right to stop a beating heart.

But when he says [he would] appoint nothing but strict constructionist judges, [perhaps] he is trying to say to you, "I am in your camp, but I don't want to say it too loud because I want to win the general election …" You know—
But he's not in my camp. And I hesitate to say this, but I might as well because it is in the equation. If Giuliani were a once-married man who was still faithful to his wife, I might be more inclined to take his promises seriously, but he is a thrice-married and twice-divorced man, and the circumstances of at least his second divorce are abominable. Now, I am not saying that I wouldn't vote for a divorced man. I am not saying that divorce disqualifies a man or a woman from being president.

McCain, for example.
Yeah. Well, and Thompson and Reagan. When it comes to divorce for most evangelicals in 2007, the number and the circumstances are important. In terms of numbers, more than one divorce is a problem, and adultery is a problem.

Do you feel that to be a person of faith, being pro-life goes with it?
I think it's impossible for me to comprehend how a person can be a person of faith and be pro-choice and be consistent, but human beings by nature are inconsistent. Look, I grew up in a society where I am very grateful that I was always taught at home that racism was not only wrong, it was sinful, but I lived in a society [Houston] that was still segregated. I went to segregated schools, lived in a segregated neighborhood, and I knew people who were in many ways profoundly faithful and religious people who had an enormous blind spot called "race." For many of them it was a very paternalistic attitude. It wasn't a hostile, vicious attitude, but it was a very paternalistic one.

Did anything about the recent "Values Voters" summit in Washington surprise you? Anything in the results of the straw poll?
The straw poll, no. I wasn't surprised that Huckabee won among the people actually there, and that Mitt Romney mounted a strong Internet voting campaign and won the whole thing. Romney's campaign is extremely well organized and extremely efficient. People who were there told me that Huckabee did phenomenally well in his speech. Mike's a tremendous speaker, and he was speaking to his crowd. Probably 75 percent of the people in that room are evangelical Christians.