Bush Actually Dismissive of Religious Right

[Doug]

DOUG
David Kuo was the second-in-command of the White House's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives for several years. He resigned, disgusted with the White House's dismissive treatment of the religious right behind the backs of their leaders. (HIS BOSS RESIGNED in disgust TOO, stating that politics drove everything at the White House.)

Now Kuo has written a tell-all book: Tempting Faith.

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Kuo... 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.

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 20 targeted races.

According to Kuo, “Ken loved the idea and gave us our marching orders.”

...In fact, the Bush administration often promoted the faith-based agenda by claiming that existing government regulations were too restrictive on religious organizations seeking to serve the public.

Substantiating that claim proved difficult, Kuo says. “Finding these examples became a huge priority.… If President Bush was making the world a better place for faith-based groups, we had to show it was really a bad place to begin with. But, in fact, it wasn’t that bad at all.”

In fact, when Bush asks Kuo how much money was being spent on “compassion” social programs, Kuo claims he discovered “we were actually spending about $20 million a year less on them than before he had taken office.”

The money that was appropriated and disbursed, however, often served a political agenda, Kuo claims.

“Many of the grant-winning organizations that rose to the top of the process were politically friendly to the administration,” he says.

More pointedly, Kuo quotes an unnamed member of the review panel charged with rating grant applications.

“But,” she said with a giggle, ‘When I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero … a lot of us did.’”

“Tempting Faith” contains several other controversial claims about Kuo’s office, the Bush White House and even the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress.

See the rest of the story here.

[JD Allen]

This actually makes me feel a little better about the Administration. At least now I know they are probably not trying to figure out how to get Armageddon started.

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

Don't feel better, JD. The Neocons have always been users and the fundies are very easy targets, but Bush himself is an "end-timer" - the neocons think they're using him, but he's using them. And he IS trying to figure out how to get Armageddon started. According to the fundies, Armageddon has to start in the Middle East. That's why W has sent war ships to the Persian Gulf and is beating the war drums about Iran, but is only talking about UN sanctions for North Korea.

[Doug]

Don't feel better, JD. The Neocons have always been users and the fundies are very easy targets, but Bush himself is an "end-timer" - the neocons think they're using him, but he's using them. And he IS trying to figure out how to get Armageddon started...

DOUG
Yes, the monkey does not grind the organ.

[Doug]

Here is a link to the 60 Minutes report about Kuo's book.

Including:

At the time, Bush proposed for the first time that he would spend $8 billion dollars on programs for the poor.

"I think it's one of the most important political speeches given in the last generation. I really do," says Kuo. "It laid out a whole new philosophy for Republicans."

After the election, to much fanfare, President Bush created the office of faith-based initiatives to increase funds to religious charities.

But Kuo says there were problems right off the bat. For one, he says the office dropped very quickly down the list of priorities.

Asked how much money finally went to them, Kuo says laughing, “Oh, in the first two years, first two years I think $60 million.”

"When you hold it up to a promise of $8 billion, I don't know how good I am at math, but I know that's less than one percent of a promise," says Kuo.

Part of the problem, he says, was indifference from "the base," the religious right. He took 60 Minutes to a convention of evangelical groups – his old stomping ground - and walked around the display booths, looking for any reference to the poor.

"You’ve got homosexuality in your kid’s school, and you’ve got human cloning, and partial birth abortion and divorce and stem cell," Kuo remarked. "Not a mention of the poor."

"This message that has been sent out to Christians for a long time now: that Jesus came primarily for a political agenda, and recently primarily a right-wing political agenda - as if this culture war is a war for God. And it’s not a war for God, it’s a war for politics. And that’s a huge difference," says Kuo.

..."I have this burden on my heart that the name of God is just being destroyed in the name of politics," Kuo says. "I felt like I had to write this."

"You’re calling for a fast. That’s your expression," Stahl remarks.

"Yes. I think that Christians, particularly evangelical Christians need to take a step back. To have a fast from politics," he replies. "People are being manipulated. Good well-meaning people are being told, ‘Send your money to this Christian advocacy group or that.’ And that’s the answer. It’s just not the answer. It’s not the answer."

[Barbara Fitzpatrick]

He's right, of course. That's what has disturbed me about the "Christian base" of W's all along. There was nothing "christian" about them - they were being snookered into giving their power and money for a group of snake-oil salesmen's power grab. I know there's not a heck of a lot of "good" stuff in the bible, but the true christians I have known in my life followed those "good" pieces like they were the whole thing (think Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity). Cutting food stamps or lunch programs for kids is just not something they'd do. Hopefully, presupposing they believe this guy, now they know they've been had, they'll "fast from politics" for a bit. I don't mean not vote, but stop looking at the party instead of the platform - and most assuredly remember that it's "by their fruits shall ye know them" and check for poisonous fruit.