The real leaders of the Republican Party are very unhappy with the GOP establishment over their treatment of Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin: Conservative Christians Rally Around Akin in Face of GOP Criticism.

Making the point yet again that Akin is no outlier in the conservative movement — his opinions may be reactionary and medieval, but they’re also mainstream.

(CNN) – Even as the official Republican Party continues to try to derail Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin over his remarks about “legitimate rape,” a powerful force within the GOP has begun rallying to the candidate’s side: the party’s socially conservative base.

Powerful Christian activists in the GOP have begun pushing back against party leadership, alleging it has gone too far in trying to thwart Akin and it is attempting to sideline issues that social conservatives care about, such as abortion.

The criticism is creating major tensions between the mainstream Republican Party and a key part of its base days before the GOP’s convention is set to open in Tampa, Florida.

“Following the pounding of Todd Akin by the GOP kings and lieutenants in the last 36 hours, I’ve come to the conclusion that the real issue is the soul of America,” wrote David Lane, an evangelical activist who’s influential in the Republican Party, in an e-mail to fellow activists Thursday morning.

“The swift knee-jerk reaction to throw Akin, a strong conservative pro-life, pro-family born again Christian under the bus by some in the Republican Party is shining the light on their actual agenda,” Lane continued.

[…]

In a note to supporters Wednesday night, conservative Family Research Council President Tony Perkins heaped criticism on the GOP for abandoning Akin.

“Todd Akin has a long and distinguished record of defending women, children, and families – and unlike the GOP establishment, I refuse to throw him under the bus over one inarticulate comment for which he has apologized,” wrote Perkins, who is in Tampa attending events leading up the convention.

“As for the GOP, it has no rational basis for deserting Akin when it has stood by moderate Republicans who’ve done worse,” Perkins continued. “Singling out Todd suggests a double standard, designed to drive out social conservatives.”

Todd Akin in Tampa With Top Social Conservatives.

Rep. Todd Akin was in Tampa Wednesday night meeting with top conservative groups and donors, several sources confirmed to POLITICO.

The embattled Missouri Senate candidate flew to Tampa to meet with members of the Council for National Policy, a secretive coalition of powerful conservative and evangelical leaders, activists, and donors.

The Council for National Policy is a theocratic far right organization founded in 1981 by “End Times” fanatic Tim LaHaye. More information at SourceWatch: Council for National Policy.

The Council for National Policy (CNP) is a shadowy, secretive group dubbed “Sith Lords of the Ultra-Right” by the liberal blog DailyKos.[1] Mark Crispin Miller called CNP a “highly secretive… theocratic organization — what they want is basically religious rule” (A Patriot Act). Their membership (see below) is a Who’s Who list of the biggest names of the Radical Right.

“The CNP describes itself as a counterweight against liberal domination of the American agenda,” reported ABC News.[2]

CNP’s membership is comprised of leaders in the family values, national defense and decency movements woven by members of the Dead Billionaires Club like the Adolph Coors Foundation, the Koch brothers, Richard DeVos, Richard Scaife and other billionaires and foundations who have invested heavily in developing a complex web of far-Right groups, think-tanks and politicians over the last forty years to return the United States to its pre Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 19th century capitalist roots.[3]

Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told the New York Times about the CNP meeting ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention, “The real crux of this is that these are the genuine leaders of the Republican Party, but they certainly aren’t going to be visible on television next week.”