Right Web

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.

Gary Bauer is a Christian Zionist leader and a former GOP presidential candidate who directs the conservative organization American Values. Bauer has helped lead a number of neoconservative and religious groups that have advocated militarist U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East alongside right-wing domestic programs and social policies.

Bauer's dossier of political activities dates back to the Reagan administration, where he served in a number of posts under Secretary of Education William Bennett. From this perch he lambasted purported moral decay in public schools and advocated controversial policies like school prayer. According to a 1986 Washington Post article, Bauer blamed "the public schools for what he called the decay in the nation's morals," criticized textbook publishers as "soft on the Soviet Union for saying that Russians enjoy some freedoms," and criticized teacher unions for promoting "leftist indoctrination aimed at turning today's students into tomorrow's campus radicals.”[1]

On foreign policy, Bauer has repeatedly teamed up with neoconservative figures like Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, who is a personal friend, to advocate hawkish U.S. overseas agendas. In particular, as a Christian Zionist, Bauer has promoted a decidedly Israel-centric view of Middle East peace, lambasting President Barack Obama for allegedly not being supportive enough of Israel. He told the New York Timesin March 2012, “I’ll be brutally honest: I don’t trust the president on Israel. I think his record on Israel is abysmal.”[2] Bauer’s views, however, stand in stark contrast to those of Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said during a February 2012 interview with Barbara Walters: “The most important issue for Israel is our security. I think under President Obama we have the best relationship on the issue of security. Never were the security … needs better met than today under President Obama. This is a fact.”[3]

Militarist Advocacy

Since the 9/11 attacks, Bauer has been a vociferous advocate of an aggressive “war on terror,” supporting neoconservative-led advocacy campaigns like the Project for the New American Century and using outlets like the Weekly Standard and Human Events to attack war critics and press for expanding the anti-terror campaign.

Bauer has helped launch two “astroturf” groups since the election of President Barack Obama that have worked to push the administration to adopt hawkish Mideast policies, including taking a hard line on Iran and accepting the right-wing policies of Israel’s Likud-led government. One group, Keep Israel Safe, launched an ad campaign in April 2010 that accused the Obama administration of “coddling” Iran, appeasing terrorists, and not being a friend of Israel. The group, which as of early 2012 appeared to be defunct, was ajoint project of Bauer and Tom Rose, the former publisher of the Jerusalem Post and a contributing editor at the Weekly Standard.[4]

Bauer teamed up with Kristol and other right-wing figures to found the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI) in mid-2010. ECI is a Washington-based advocacy group that claims “to provide citizens with the facts they need to be sure that their public officials are supporting a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.” ECI’s first act was to run a controversial attack ad in Pennsylvania in July 2010 targeting the track record of Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), which insinuated that he supported Mideast terrorists.[5] The group has also campaigned vigorously to get the United States to support military action to stop Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. The group’s board members and advisers have included Bauer and Kristol, as well as Rachel Abrams, wife of notorious Iran-Contra veteran Elliott Abrams; Noah Pollak, a neoconservative pundit who has worked for Commentary; and Michael Goldfarb, a former writer for the Weekly Standard who has worked as vice president of Randy Scheunemann’s lobbying firm Orion Strategies.

Bauer justified his militarist advocacy efforts in a March 2005 interview with the Providence Journal, making the alarmist claim that "Islamofascism" was threatening western civilization. He said, "There is a need for Western civilization to confront this evil. The things they demand of us would require us to change who we are. ... No politician is going to be able to ignore it. And no one is going to be able to say I will react to it as long as I can get France to go along."[6]

In an April 2007 article for the Weekly Standard, Bauer compared today's "anti-war left" to that of the 1960s, arguing that in both cases the "ugly aggression by the so-called peace movement" fell far outside the U.S. mainstream. He wrote: “Clearly, while the country may be suffering a loss of confidence in how the war is being managed, that concern is not translating into an alignment with the activist anti-war crowd, for whom victory is never an option. In the weeks and months ahead, as the anti-war Left continues to step up public protests of the war (CODEPINK has planned dozens more protests and 'occupations'), they may find that the only sparks they create are in the hearts of Americans who long to see dynamic defenders of the home of the brave and the land of the free.”[7]

In 1997, Bauer joined a passel of neoconservative figures in Washington to create the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), an influential pressure group founded by Kristol and Robert Kagan, whose various sign-on letters and statements uncannily forecast—or influenced—the foreign policy course adopted by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11. PNAC's founding statement of principles, issued in June 1997 with the signatures of a stellar cast of hardline Republicans and neoconservatives, argued that although a "Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today ... it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next."

Bauer also serves on the Board of Advisers of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a neoconservative outfit founded by former New York Times correspondent Clifford May shortly after 9/11 that claims to be "dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism."

Christian Zionism

A key advocate of Christian Zionism in the United States, Bauer is on the executive board of Christians United for Jerusalem (CUFI), a right-wing advocacy organization led by evangelical pastor Johh Hagee that promotes the idea that Christians “have a biblical obligation to defend Israel.”

In 2002, Bauer teamed up with Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the conservative Jewish organization Toward Tradition to create the American Alliance of Jews and Christians (AAJC), the aim of which is "to unite Christians in support of Israel and work with American Jews and Christians on behalf of traditional values," according to the organization’s website. Said a July 10, 2002 press release announcing the group: “A unique synthesis of Jewish authenticity and Christian grassroots muscle, the group will draw on Mr. Bauer's Washington experience and influence in the Christian community, including the 100,000 conservative Christians who receive his daily e-mail. The AAJC's Board of Advisers will include Dr. James Dobson, Charles Colson, Rev. Jerry Falwell, Rev. Pat Robertson, Pastor Rick Scarborough, as well as Rabbi Barry Freundel, Rabbi David Novak, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Michael Medved, John Uhlmann.”[8]

Bauer has also served on the board of the Jerusalem Summit, an Israel-based advocacy outfit that brings together evangelicals, neoconservatives, and hardline pro-Israel figures from across the globe in an effort to promote Likud Party-aligned views on Israeli security.

Domestic Policy

Bauer has also led a number of right-wing organizations that focus on domestic politics and issues of supposed moral decay. He is the former head of the Family Research Council (FRC) and in 1981 helped found the Council for National Policy along with a group of former members of the John Birch Society.

Bauer now heads American Values, an organization that says it is "deeply committed to defending life, traditional marriage, and equipping our children with the values necessary to stand against liberal education and cultural forces." According to its website: “The culture of death continues to be promoted in our media, courts, and legislatures. Millions of unborn children have been killed over the last 30 years as a result of our country's selfishness justified under the euphemisms of choice and privacy. Advances in science have brought about new challenges for those working to protect life. Embryonic stem cell research and cloning advocates borrow from the pro-abortion playbook by trying to confuse the public about the supposed benefits and dangerous realities of their research.”

A statement on the American Values website adds that the group “[b]elieves America's relationship with Israel needs to be the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Achieving peace in the Middle East starts with ensuring the security of the Israeli state. While American Values is deeply committed to the achievement of a peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including the Palestinian Authority, peace cannot be achieved as long as terrorism persists against the Israeli people. Israel has attempted to appease the Palestinians, by moving out of the Gaza Strip, but the result has been more violence against Israel. The withdrawal from Gaza as well as the recent war in Lebanon prove that only a strong and viable Israel in concert with a powerful and resolute United States will achieve the peace this region wants and needs.”

Scandals

Despite his espousal of conservative Christian crusades, Bauer's personal behavior has been the subject of sharp criticism from his employees and political allies. He was accused of adultery by his 2000 presidential campaign staff, who "charged Bauer with ill-advised private meetings with a 27-year-old female campaign aide. In October, campaign manager Charles Jarvis and almost half the campaign staff left Bauer over the charges of impropriety.”[9]

When Bauer called his own press conference to combat the rumors of adultery, he refused to answer questions about which campaign he thought was spreading the rumors (although he had claimed a rival campaign was doing it), and whether or not any of his former colleagues had approached him about his seemingly inappropriate behavior with the female aide.[10]

According to the liberal People for the American Way, after Bauer dropped out of the 2000 presidential race, the board of the Family Research Council "quickly confirmed that [Bauer] would not be back—no surprise, as FRC had previously given Bauer a thinly veiled notice of expulsion when it released the results of a poll conducted among their staffers. ... In addition, Bauer had reportedly angered James Dobson, founder and head of Focus on the Family, mentor to Bauer, and underwriter of much of the FRC, when he decided to run for president.”[11]

When Bauer dropped out of the presidential race, he endorsed the campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), which drew criticism from conservative leaders. Reported People for the American Way, "On his 700 Club television show, Pat Robertson, who himself sought the GOP's presidential nomination in 1988, said, 'I don't think the Bauer thing makes one hill of difference. He didn't do anything anywhere all over the country. ... I would think, frankly, that his political activity is pretty much over.'"[12]

Despite his attempts to become a leading member of the religious right, and despite his strongly right-wing views, Bauer has been known for "scaring the hell out of the Republican establishment," as William Saletan put it in a 1998 Mother Jones article. "Bauer is leading his flock toward a moralist economic philosophy that often seems more Democratic than Republican. The China debate drew Bauer into an open alliance with liberals. He coordinated strategy with House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO), attended a Kennedy family dinner, staged a press conference with the AFL-CIO, and dined with Richard Gere after they shared the same stage at a rally.”[13]

Please note: IPS Right Web neither represents nor endorses any of the individuals or groups profiled on this site.