Do as we say...

In further weirdness surrounding the upcoming elections, large numbers of conservative Christians, including Dr. James C. Dobson, are coming out of the woodwork to throw their support behind...

Um, nobody, really.

Citing an overall failure by the GOP to carry out their stance on things running from gay marriage to stem-cell research, conservative Christian groups are now saying that, if the Republicans don't get in line and make these issues a priority, they will pull their backing from the upcoming elections. If they follow through and take their voting numbers away from the GOP, it could easily open the door for the Democrats to take control of both houses of Congress, a scenario that some pundits already see as being likely. This would also mean that the C.C.'s would have even less support in the higher levels of government to push their agendas.

This may seem to fly directly in the face of smart politics, but it has worked in the past. Truth be told, the C.C.'s regularly stump around in the months prior to an election, and denounce the Republican party for not sticking to their (and by their I mean the C.C., not the GOP) guns strongly enough in the past term, and threaten to pull their support. And what happens, more often than not?

Well, the members of the GOP who may be more moderate in their own views but know that they've got a tough election ahead of them may actually bow down to the C.C. stance, and make claims that they will push to outlaw gay marriage, and that they'll make sure that abortion is treated in as harsh of a light as first degree homicide. Then, when they actually get elected, they find that they are lightening their views, in order to get pet projects off the ground, and to keep their seats until the next time that Dobson and crew rail against them.

This is an unfortunate fact of political life, as sure of a cycle as spring following winter. The worst part about this is that everyone who's actually part of the cycle knows what the final result is going to be.