Posted on 10/15/2006 7:25:44 PM PDT by rakovsky
A former senior presidential aide has accused the Bush administration of using evangelical Christians to win votes but then privately ridiculing them once in office. The allegations by David Kuo, the former deputy director of the White House office of faith-based initiatives, come at a devastating time, when the administration is counting on born-again Christians to vote in sufficient numbers to save the Republicans' hold on Congress in the November elections.
In a book entitled Tempting Faith: an Inside Story of Political Seduction, to be published on Monday, Mr Kuo portrays the Bush White House's commitment to evangelical causes as little more than a cynical facade designed to win votes.
"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," Mr Kuo wrote, according to MSNBC television, which obtained an early copy of the book. In particular, he quotes Karl Rove, the president's long-serving political adviser and mentor, as describing evangelical Christians as "nuts".
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
"The Republican Party treats the Evangelicals like the Democratic Party treats Blacks."
Quite pithy and very true.
I have some problems with Karl Rove on exactly these issues, but I'm not going to credit anything Julian Borger says in The Guardian.
Are you an E Christian ?
I recall they tried it last time. That was a raging success! LOL!!!
I don't believe this.
This guy was on "60 minutes" tonight with Lesley Stahl. Don't ask me what he said because as soon as he started with his bashing I changed the channel.
CBS just helping the dems along in time for the elections.
The Guardian tried that in 2004 by having its readers write to Greene County voters in Ohio. Didn't work too well then, either.
Looks like we'll be facing troll infestations for the next few weeks.
Welcome to FR. Friendly advice, as I am fairly new myself, you may want to lurk a while lest you say something to offend (some folks have itchy trigger fingers and hungry kitties) the more sensitive of our fellow freepers. Do try and stay out of flame wars, you might learn something in the process.
Oh and one other thing..you know that if this WERENT about influencing the base, that the headline would otherwise be "Former Bush advisor reveals Bush really does understand what slimy malcontents Christians are!"
Right. Why don't you start one and suck away votes from the democrats?
You've done it again!
I'm beginning to think this thread deserves a ZOT!!
Which explains Bush's SCOTUS picks and his office of faith-based initiatives.
Welcome to FreeRepublic.
I found it interesting, I saw another insider interviewed and he was doing a very good job of not saying that the guy was a liar.
Wow, the Guardian and MSNBC. I guess you can't beat that for credibility. (/dripping sarcasm)
No agenda here. Nope, none.
I don't believe this. Just trying to keep ths Christains at home on voting day. Man, they are really getting desperate.
Easy money indeed. I saw him on 60 minutes. He is saying all this because he says President Bush didn't do enough for the poor. Even Diane Sawyer said surely he knows the President had 911 and Hurricane Katrina to contend with, and he also has to get the money approved by Congress, and isn't it possible he allocated as much as he could?
This guy is totally about the fact that he feel President Bush promised billions to faith based initiatives, and only gave millions.
I say, there are a lot more things faith based initiatives are for than just the poor. The money goes to other faith based projects, for instance, trying to keep kids off the streets and out of gangs, (for one)
Yup! And I'd say the real target are the republican voting evangelicals.
I watched his interview. It might have been believable if he wasn't trying to sell his book.
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