Yet more pre-midterm bad news for Republicans: a new book “Tempting Faith”, due out next Monday, documents how the Bush administration has been playing evangelical Christians for fools, using public funds to manipulate them for political purposes while characterizing their leaders as “out of control”, “goofy” and “the nuts”.
Author David Kuo has sterling right wing Republican “creds”: he was a staffer to both Bill Bennett and John Ashcroft before serving as special assistant to Bush from 2001 to 2003.
In his book, he documents how the Bush administration actually spent $20 million _less_ on “compassion” social programs than the Clinton administration.
Rather, the Office of Faith Based Initiatives was used to fund partisan political events with public money. In Kuo’s opinion, this was so effective that it helped to win Ohio for the Republicans in 2004.
I suppose it would be too much to hope that this message will reach even a few of the 30% or so who still believe that “the Lord” wanted Bush to be President.
I for one find it a solace that the Bushites don’t really believe all their twisted “family values” malarkey: craftiness and deceit are more tolerable in the offices of the leader of the Free World than 17th century religious insanity.