A month ago, Ralph Reed ambled into “The Brody File” where he told CBN journalist David Brody that he was not working for or involved with any of the current Republican presidential candidates, but expected to be more deeply involved come next year:
“But for the moment I haven’t formally signed on with any campaign, but I may do so in the future. I do want to help the ultimate nominee win in November 2008. I feel very strongly that this is a really critical election,” Reed said. “I expect to be involved at some point, and I’m not going to sit on the sidelines.”
Reed has been slowly making his way back into politics since his loss last year to Casey Cagle in the race for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia. It is clear that Reed has no intention of retreating from politics and since he clearly intends to play a key role in the upcoming elections, it comes as no surprise that he’s been brushing up on his right-wing, pro-GOP talking points:
Ralph Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition, said the Democrats' appeal to active churchgoers won't work.
"You can't take the same tired, discredited liberal agenda of higher taxes, government-run health care, abortion on demand, cut and run in Iraq, retreat rather than a forward strategy in the war on terrorism, and by putting a religious veneer on it and quoting some Scripture, cause religious conservative voters to respond," he said.
Is Reed speaking as a GOP hack here or as a self-described representative of the right-wing grassroots? It is nearly impossible to tell. In all likelihood, it’s probably a combination of both, since his entire career has been rooted in his ability to exploit the GOP’s right-wing base for the profit of the party and himself.
The real question here is just which GOP contender will eventually bring Reed and all his Abramoff-related baggage on board their campaign, because it is obvious that Reed’s vaunted grassroots mobilization skills will continue to be made available to the highest bidder.
