What is the agenda?

As the president said, we want to make the tax cuts permanent. Two, we want new tax cuts. We want the president to start vetoing spending bills. We want to ratchet down the size of government.

But isn't the huge increase in government spending and the budget deficit already the fault of Bush and the Republican-led Congress?

He certainly had a big role to play in that, certainly. And we're going to focus on the conservative agenda, which is to reduce government. I don't know if we're going to abolish the [new Medicare] prescription drug benefit, but we'd like to. It's just an expansion of government. When government grows, individual liberties are reduced. We'd like to see oil and gas exploration increased in the continental United States. We want a constitutional amendment on marriage. We want the culture of life expanded -- that was one of the big issues that this election was fought over.

Christians feel there is a war against Christians out there. We would like to make sure that the president, and he's inclined to do this, understands how there's an anti-Christian environment in the culture, at the national level, in Hollywood, television, the media generally, a lot of the institutions -- legal institutions, educational institutions. We want to change that. People of traditional values have a role to play in the public arena.

But many Americans feel it's the non-Christians and liberal Christians who are under attack these days. They feel that it's their rights and beliefs, not those of conservative evangelical Christians, that are under assault and threatened.

No one has to believe [in Jesus Christ]. I'm not forcing them to believe. And if [John] Kerry had been elected, he would have forced his views on abortion -- killing babies a minute before they're born -- on the rest of us.

So you want to overturn Roe vs. Wade?

We want judges appointed who will not legislate from the bench.

But isn't that just code for outlawing abortion?

I don't know. If Roe vs. Wade is not in the Constitution, I guess you'd have to look at that. We just don't want judges who impose their personal views.

You want to block Specter, one of the last Senate moderates, from obtaining the Judiciary Committee chairmanship. [The current chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is term-limited as the panel's leader.] Is there any future at all for moderate Republicans in the GOP?

Absolutely. It's just that the election was fought not on moderate Republican issues but on conservative issues. It was conservatives who made the phone calls and pounded the pavement and turned out the big vote for Bush and the Republicans in Congress. But yeah, sure, unlike [with] the Democrats, there's a place for moderates in the Republican Party. The Democrats do not tolerate dissent in their party. You have zero chance of having a successful career in national Democratic politics if you're not pro-abortion and [don't] pass the homosexual litmus test. Not so in the Republican Party. Not only are you welcome, but we put you on TV. We give you platforms to speak out on.

I assume you're talking about moderates like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who were given prime-time speaking slots at the Republican National Convention. They're moderates on abortion and stem cell research. But they really seemed just like props in a façade to make the party seem less threatening to the rest of the country. They don't have any real power in the party, do they?

How are they moderates on stem cell research?

They support it.

That's not a moderate position.

Lots of Republicans support stem cell research -- for example, Nancy Reagan. By definition that's a moderate position.

Yeah, but the election was fought out on the president's position on stem cell research. [Bush opposes it because it involves the destruction of human embryos.]

Is there any future for people who believe in abortion rights and stem cell research in the Republican Party?

Oh, absolutely. If they believe in a pro-abortion position, well, we're not going to accommodate it. Absolutely not. But we do welcome them in the party, and they have made some welcome contributions. To the extent they support lower taxes, a fiscally sound government and a strong national defense -- absolutely we welcome them.

You accept moderates as long as they abandon the very positions that define them as moderates? That sounds like your own kind of litmus test.

I remind you that it was conservative issues that won this election. And George Bush, on matters of principle, why, 40 hours after the polls close, should he abandon us? It would be dishonest.

How did you feel when you learned Bush had won?

Ecstatic. This is a quantum leap forward. I've been working at this for 43 years. And we've made an enormous amount of progress. For the first time since Calvin Coolidge a Republican president has won reelection while gaining seats in the House and Senate. It's historic, and he did it running on a conservative agenda.

So what about the 49 percent of Americans who didn't vote for Bush and don't agree with this agenda? Too bad? Their views aren't relevant?

First of all, it was 48 percent. Well, yeah, their views are relevant. We'd love to have them support a fiscally sound government and a strong national defense against the forces of evil out there. And this is a pluralistic society, and conservatives are going to have to compromise.

Bush will likely get the chance to make as many as three Supreme Court appointments. Do you think a staunchly anti-abortion judge can make it through the confirmation process?

We're not looking for a pro-life judge. We're looking for a judge who will interpret the Constitution and not put his thoughts or views before those of the legislature's. That's all we're looking for.

Again, that sounds to me like code for overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Well, that's up to you all to say.

Spoken like a politician!

I don't know if that's a compliment at all. But listen, I've got another conference call. I've got to go.

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