More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider’s tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.
“Tempting Faith’s” author is David Kuo, who served as special assistant to the president from 2001 to 2003. A self-described conservative Christian, Kuo’s previous experience includes work for prominent conservatives including former Education Secretary and federal drug czar Bill Bennett and former Attorney General John Ashcroft.”
Kuo, who has complained publicly in the past about the funding shortfalls, goes several steps further in his new book. He says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”
“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.
Doesn’t it warm the cockles of your heart to learn the religious “goofy” — lead the American electorate in being misled?
More seriously, Kuo alleges that then-White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman knowingly participated in a scheme to use the office, and taxpayer funds, to mount ostensibly “nonpartisan” events that were, in reality, designed with the intent of mobilizing religious voters in…targeted races.
With the exception of one reporter from the Washington Post, Kuo says the media were oblivious to the political nature and impact of his office’s events, in part because so much of the debate centered on issues of separation of church and state.
Kuo characterizes himself as a “compassionate conservative”. He’s not only worked for Bush and Bob Dole, he worked for Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart…and AOL’s Steve Case.
He is also a professional bass fisherman. He helped reel in the gullible like the poor fish they are.
Chuckle. I didn’t see Part 1, last night. I’ll have to remember to watch Part 2, tonight.
how does this surprise anyone?
george w. bush is not a conservative
he spends like a drunken sailor,
he never even mentions fiscal responsibility
he believes in public education
he does nothing to champion religious causes
he creates whole new govnt agencies (not shrinking government)
no support for states’ rights
his only conservative quality is that he likes spending money on hugely expensive weapons systems of questionable value and efficacy at the expense of the hard-working men and women in uniform on the battlefields of war.
anybody want to take bets that the 2008 elections will be cancelled due to war time concerns?
Placate those that could make things abit rough.
How is this surprising? To be religious is to be a gullible cult zombie anyway. Those pathetic lemmings believe any freeking thing they’re told by anybody they consider an authority figure.
4. And this is different from the left wing where religion means compulsory social experimentation, cookie-cutter poverty, and singing the praises of dear leader? Hey, I like this hyperbole thing too.
RBG
Can you guys make up your mind whether Bush is just leading religious nuts, or whether he himself is one?
I feel a strange sort of relief at this. In a way I’m glad to know that they just pander to the nutjobs, as opposed to being nutjobs themselves.
#5 — “cookie-cutter poverty” — you mean like that Christ guy, right?
#6 — all of the above.
ABCD:
Actually, this is when you should point out that this item has suspiciously become public right before mid-terms, thus illustrating a cynical and partisan ploy by the left (who will beat on the subject like a red-headed bongo in a drum circle at burning man) to persuade evangelicals that the neo-cons are simply using them. I mean, hey, what could be more to their advantage than to have James Dobson play Ralph Nader to the GOP?
That these folks got used goes without saying; anybody who thinks this means they simply got chumped has obviously forgotten Terri Schiavo, however.
I work professionally with organzations that might qualify under the office of faith based funding and I have been wary of it from the start. There has been no new funding and the modest changes that have been made to qualify religious based organization for programs were mostly made under Clinton and not Bush. I am and have been concerned for a long time that this undue attention without anything actually being done will mean that the goverment will impose stricter requirements on religious organizations in the future. Currently a huge amount of work is being done by faith based organizations like Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, Lutheran Social Services, etc. They use the money appropriately and do not mix religion and social services. But many new orgs are just in it for the money and do not have appropriate controls to make sure the money is spent right. Haven’t read the book, but it sounds about right from where I stand.
All this proves is that Rove isn’t insane just an excellent political manipulator. The jury is still out on Dubya’s mental stability.
Interesting story, overshadowed by the boy-who-cried-wolf nature of left wing news.
8. No, Christians are rich off the backs of the Godless hoardes. I mean like Castro, Clinton and North Korea’s Whoflungdung.
RBG
#13 – You know… as an athiest, I don’t really care… But Clinton is a Baptist.
#5 RGB
Yeah and the Republican Right doesn’t try to influence social behavior? Oh Please!.
What have you done to help the poor?
Singing praises? To Who?
Adam noted:
undue attention without anything actually being done
I doubt that Bush has a corner on this market, but he’s certainly done a whole lot of it.
14. By my calculation that means 97.7% of the world believes Clinton to be an infidel. Close enough for government work.
15. And what have you done for the poor? Oh, wait. Aren’t you supposed to be a philanderist or philatelist or something? Dang. That can only mean your ideas are right and mine are wrong. What I really need is a hit song and a tour to reverse that belief.
RBG
First of all, if you believe in religion your intelligence (on a scale between 1 and 10) cannot be higher than about 4 or5. Anyone with intelligence higher than that can manipulate you. Karl Rove’s intelligence is around 7 to 8.3, which is why he was able to lead the herd into his battle. The American average is a paltry 4, BTW (you can thank TV for that).
Don’t worry, Christians are like ants; once you figure out their behavioral pattern, controlling them is quite easy.
This next midterm election the only thing the Republican politicians should do is promise (which will never happen) them that they will use all their power to prevent any law that will force Evangelics to treat gay/lesbian/transgender people as equals and the suckers will vote for that specific politician no matter what.
And if you don’t believe me, why did George W. Bush got reelected or even better, why support for him fell five points two days after confirming his reelection?
Has anyone else noted that the facts and statistics quoted in these posts are 50% made up and the other 90% damn lies.
“Can you guys make up your mind whether Bush is just leading religious nuts, or whether he himself is one?”
So either Bush is a fanatical religious nut who invades countries because Jesus told him to and is trying to establish the Bible as the law of the land.
Or he’s lying to and manipulating the religious right (at the expense of gays and other groups) to get their votes while using the so-called faith-based initiative as a secret arm of the Republican party to funnel federal dollars into partisan campaigns.
Either way, he’s a dick, so whichever it’s easier for you to loyally defend and apologize for the Preznit. Take your pick.
This is why separation of Church and State is so important. I can agree, churches can do alot more with good funding. However, as this shows, our government will favor religion establishments that curry more votes, period.
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion” dove tails with Christ saying “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”.
Religion shouldn’t be about politics. That is, politics is the wrong focus for religion.
#9 Max Bell wrote: ” this is when you should point out that this item has suspiciously become public right before mid-terms, thus illustrating a cynical and partisan ploy by the left …”
Max, if you had actually read the article you would have noticed that the writer of the book is a conservative Republican and an evangelical. He was one of Bush’s guys, the number two guy in the the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.
#23, Spencer, that only proves that this is a ploy just before the elections. Those damned Democrats will even pretend they are Republicans, going under cover for years, only to emerge at the worse time possible and see the election is thrown. May they all rot in Martha’s Vineyard.
IF this is really true and hasn’t be taken out of context, who really cares. Each group is trying to promote their political/moral agenda, this no different than any other human struggle.
Is it really important if you’re a Christian what someone is really thinking, that’s by and large a thing for God to judge. The important thing would be the struggle involving the moral battle grounds of today’s society. This is how Bush should be judged, by anyone that voted for him or Republicans in the past.
Who is more likely to assist evangelical Christians, Democrats that back and promote unlimited abortion, drug usage, caving into the Global UN, and forced participation in the gay/lesbian/transgender/Pedophilia. Which party do you think NAMBLA would support. That has as much relevance as this report does.
Does anyone think that President Bush, who went and celebrated Ramadan with Muslims, can be or is a true Christians ( Keep in mind that by definition Muslims deny Christ’s divinity). It doesn’t matter where you believe this yourself as a reader, you just have to follow the logic of the thought, how can you be true believer and support a religion that denies the basic tenets of your religion, unless you are of course ignorant of you religion and certainly anyone that attends bible study each day would have a basic understanding of this.
Then there is the NAU, North American Union, that Bush is promoting, and that the Democrats also support and promote.
The answer is a third Nationalist party, one that promotes this countries interest above the interests of those that rape and divest us of you rights and property.
Makin Traaxx
#24 Mr. Fusion
For some reason I feel like watching “The Manchurian Candidate” tonight.
#17 RGB
The term is philanthropist and yes I am. No, it doesn’t mean that! I look at it more in the sense of better or worse.
“What I really need is a hit song and a tour to reverse that belief”
If you are referring to people listening to rock stars or movie stars for there view you are barking up the wrong tree. I have a conscience unlike you and your ilk and I tend to listen to mine. I don’t give a shit what Barbra Streisand or Bono say. I will however thank and congratulate Bono on the wonderful work he does to help those less fortunate. Besides how is listing to a famous person really any different than listing to a politician? They are both just selling you something. The difference is politicians try to sell it as the truth where as the movie star and rock star let you know it is their opinion.
Just because you follow a person with blind belief doesn’t mean everyone else does.
I will ask you again. What have you done to help those less fortunate?
#18 0113addiv
“First of all, if you believe in religion your intelligence (on a scale between 1 and 10) cannot be higher than about 4 or5.”
I agree with that sentiment but I know some very intelligent people who are also religious. I would refer you to
“Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time” by Michael Shermer (Sorry don’t have a link) He has written a couple of books on the topic of why people follow religion and other strange belief systems like the Republican view of government. lol 🙂
#28, J, I’ve read that book. It is definately highly recommended. Belief systems are extremely difficult to change. Look at the Holocaust. Would you still believe in God if someone wiped out your whole family even though they were God-worshipping people? Where was God? Asleep? Didn’t we pray enough? Belief systems cannot change because from day 1 of life parents teach their children to obey them. They set up an authority figure that the child can almost certaintly never change. My parents never instilled this belief in authority. My schooling did. It took thirty years to kill that belief. 30 YEARS!
27. Assuming you’re referring to Liberals… I have selflessly dedicated my life to showing them the way to truth and righteousness.
RBG