Thursday, October 19, 2006

The Democrats Religion Problem, Again

The always-excellent Amy Sullivan discusses liberal attitudes to the revelations of David Kuo (former second-in-command at the White House Faith-Based Office), who noted that the Bushites were taking their evangelical backers for a ride. It's a devastating expose, showing that the religious language employed by the regime is a fraud, a cynical charade, an afterthought. Perfect ammunition for the GOP's liberal critics, right? Wrong. As Sullivan points put, the mantra that Bush is trying to implement a theocracy is so ingrained among the left, they are unwilling to change their perspective, not only in the face of evidence to the contrary, but evidence that they can actually use against the administration to garner support. Sullivan concludes:

"In fact, the real revelation of Kuo's book is not that the Bushies don't care about evangelicals; it's that liberals are too wedded to their views to capitalize on it."
and

"If it turns out instead to be a political sham that produced only 1 percent of the new funds it promised for faith-based organizations, liberals need rethink their theocracy-phobia."
Liberals were all over tell-alls from Paul O'Neill, Ron Suskind, and Bob Woodward. Just not David Kuo. The major liberal blogs pretty much ignored the story. And, when the topic did come up, liberal commentators tend to mock and insult the evangelicals. This should be a golden moment for the Democrats. As shown in a recent poll, the Republicans have lost a 29-percentage point advantage among frequent church-goers in recent months. Shouldn't the Democrats be trying to capitalize on this? Or are they glued to their own prejudices with all the zeal of a Bush, a Cheney, or a Rumsfeld?

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