simon says GOP pops poison pill Simon says Bush, Cruz and Rubio look craven on 'religious freedom.'

There is a poison pill inside the Republican Party and if its presidential hopefuls keep swallowing it, they are going to choke off their chances for the White House.

The religious right has managed to convince some potential candidates that it is extremely powerful. It has convinced the more gullible ones that they must grovel, kowtow and genuflect before it.


This is nonsense. As I have written before, the religious right has not gotten the nominee it has wanted since Ronald Reagan. It is a paper tiger.

And by taking the poison pill that the religious right offers, the potential candidates risk alienating the rest of the nation.

Witness the events of the past few days: Indiana’s Legislature had passed a “religious freedom” law on March 25. It was signed into law by Indiana’s governor, Mike Pence, the next day.

While the actual language of the bill was so dense it read like assembly instructions from IKEA, the purpose was simple: The law would allow businesses to discriminate against homosexuals.

The law was necessary, the religious right said, because Christians are an embattled minority in this country and need special protection to practice their religion.

In that Christians make up about 80 percent of all Americans, they seem like a pretty “muscular” minority, however, and, in reality, only a tiny number of far right conservatives feel embattled, discriminated against or put upon when it comes to the free practice of their religion.

In America today, if you serve the public, you have to serve all the public.

You can’t put up a sign at your lunch counter that says “Whites Only” because it is your personal or religious belief that the races should be separate.

But if you believe the Bible says homosexuality is a sin, should you be able to refuse service to homosexuals?

Eric Miller, a powerful conservative lobbyist in Indiana, backed the “religious freedom” law. “Christian bakers, florists and photographers would now be forced by the government to participate in a homosexual wedding or else they would be punished by the government,” he said. “That’s not right.”

And a beaming Miller stood behind Pence as the governor signed the bill into law.

Pence had been a congressman from 2003 to 2013. He had very conservative views on homosexuality as well as many other subjects. He returned to Indiana to become governor and get executive leadership as a springboard to the presidency.

But Pence failed to appreciate that the almighty dollar was going to be more important to Indiana than the religious right’s view of the Almighty.

Indianapolis, the state’s capital and largest city, mockingly used to be called Indian-no-place. Over the years, however, the city very consciously transformed itself into an international sports hub.

The NCAA is headquartered in Indianapolis, and it threatened to move future events out of the city because of the new law. It wanted the law changed and changed immediately — which is to say, before the Final Four took place there this past weekend.

And the president and chief executive of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce called the law “entirely unnecessary.”

All sorts of giant corporations, including Apple, the Gap, Levi Strauss and Subaru, opposed the law.

But the one that really hurt was Eli Lilly and Company.

Eli Lilly is a $20 billion pharmaceutical behemoth that has been headquartered in Indianapolis since the company was founded in 1876. It employs 11,000 people in the state. And when Eli Lilly is unhappy, Indiana can get downright morose.

“Discriminatory legislation is bad for Indiana and for business,” Eli Lilly’s spokesperson said. “That’s one key reason we worked with the Indiana Chamber and other businesses in an attempt to defeat the legislation.”

But you know who was just pleased as punch with the new law? Top-tier Republican presidential hopefuls Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, as well as other potential candidates like Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and Carly Fiorina.

Cruz, the only announced candidate, said Indiana was “giving voice to millions of courageous conservatives across this country who are deeply concerned about the ongoing attacks upon our personal liberties.”

At first, Pence was emboldened by such nonsense. He went on ABC’s “This Week” and told George Stephanopoulos: “We’re not going to change the law, OK?”

That was Sunday, March 29.

By Tuesday, March 31, Pence had learned that hardly anybody in Indiana cared what a bunch of Republican presidential yahoos believed.

Hoosiers cared that thousands of people were threatening to boycott their state. Social injustice turns out to be bad for business. And so Pence said he wanted the law changed. Fast.

Thursday, April 2, the Legislature changed the law, and Pence signed the new law the same day.

“In the midst of this furious debate, I have prayed earnestly for wisdom and compassion,” Pence said.

I don’t know if Pence got either, but he did get a kick in the teeth to his presidential hopes.

Where did this leave Bush, Cruz, Rubio and the others? Looking craven and foolish, that’s where.

No doubt they will get several chances to redeem themselves in the months ahead.

But if they are still searching for Bible verses with which to woo the religious right, I suggest they start with: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

And if someone asks them to pop another poison pill, they should just say no.

Roger Simon is POLITICO’s chief political columnist.