Weyrich: Well, I think that he recognizes that where they are on a lot of questions he is not. And he's intellectually honest, so he doesn't want to embrace them as if he were one of them, when in fact, he is not exactly. So, again, he regards them as allies. He knows that they have a coincidence of interests on a lot of different issues. But you know, he isn't going to pretend that he is Senator John Ashcroft when he's not. I give him credit for that, because you have a lot of people in this business who are so phony that they would tell the Christian Right precisely what they wanted to hear, adopt the language and not have it inside. And so, I much prefer this, frankly.

Q: I wonder, would you enunciate for me the historical differences between Newt's position and the Christian Right's position and, in addition, how Newt's world view diverges from yours?

Weyrich: The point is, we start at different points. When I hear about an issue, or when I'm considering a policy, the first question I ask is, 'Does this conform to the Judeo-Christian teachings on whatever subject it is we're talking about?' Does it conform to the Scripture and tradition, because those are the twin rails upon which I ride.

He does not start at that point. He starts at a different point. Is this good for the country? Is this good for the Republicans? Is this going to strengthen his majority? You know those sorts of questions. Often times you come to the identical conclusions when you start analyzing at that point as opposed to the point that I'm analyzing at. But there are times when you do not. And there are times when, if you are able to be faithful to the Father, so to speak, of the Church, then you will diverge from the expedient political point of view. I think that that's where the difficulty lies simply because he doesn't analyze things that way. But, to his credit, he is open to that analysis. In other words, if I come to him and say, 'Look. The path that you are about to take is wrong for these reasons,' he will at least hear what we have to say and consider it and, sometimes, even agree with it.

Q: Can you envision a break with Newt Gingrich?

Weyrich: Well, certainly not immediately. I mean, in other words, our position is not to just jump the minute we hear something we don't like. Were that the case, we'd be on fire every day of the week in this city. What we do with somebody that is definitely in the same orbit as we are is we sit down and talk with them and try to persuade them that the point of view that they embrace has flaws in it. Ultimately, if decisions are being made that put somebody on a divergent path, then of course if you are true to your principles, you will have to disagree with them. But I think we're a long way away from that period of time. I don't really want to engage in endless speculation about this because I think we're a long way away from that point at this stage.

Q: You all aren't going to get that many Speakers of the House who are born-again Christians.

Weyrich: Well, one never knows, but again, the important thing here isn't, at the moment, division. The important thing is that we are working together towards the same objectives. A lot of people want to make divisions between religions, between backgrounds, between orientation and commitment and so on and it's easy to make division. It's more difficult to bring people together.

Q: Absolutely. I don't mean to be trying to do that. But one way of understanding somebody is separating them out from what he is not. And I think there might be a perception out there that Newt is an instrument of the Religious Right and you've made it plain that there is a coincidence of interest that we've witnessed so far. You've known him for how long?

Weyrich: I've known him for over 20 years.

Q: So does that mean you are close pals?

Weyrich: No. We get along fine. From time to time he asks my advice and I'm always willing to give it, but I'm not a pal of his like say Bob Walker, congressman from Pennsylvania. We don't think in exactly the same way, but we do a lot of things together because we're right now traveling down the same freeway.

Q: And to some degree he has gotten to that fast lane on that freeway in part because of his association with you, hasn't he?

Weyrich: Well, he asked a lot of advice early on. I gave a lot of advice. Some of it he took and some of it he did not. He tells me that I was helpful to him, but, you know, we work with each other. I'm willing to work with anybody that's willing to do the right thing from my perspective. I also can't take the position that because somebody does something that I don't like that I will refuse to work with them because if I did, I wouldn't have anybody to work with.