The "Extent of Their Usefulness"
Posted by on October 13, 2006 at 11:12 AM
More Republican values on parade:
A former deputy director of the White House office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives is charging that many members of the Bush administration privately dismiss its conservative Christian allies as “boorish” and “nuts.”
The former deputy director, David Kuo, an evangelical Christian conservative, makes the accusations in a newly published memoir, “Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction” (Free Press), about his frustration with what he described as the meager support and political exploitation of the program.
“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 writes.
In an interview, Mr. Kuo’s former boss, James Towey, now president of St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa., said he had never encountered such cynicism or condescension in the White House, and he disputed many of the assertions in Mr. Kuo’s account.
Still, Mr. Kuo’s statements, first reported Wednesday evening on the cable channel MSNBC, come at an awkward time for Republicans in the midst of a midterm election campaign in which polls show little enthusiasm among the party’s conservative Christian base.
While many conservative Christians considered President Bush “a brother in Christ,” Mr. Kuo writes, “for most of the rest of the White House staff, evangelical leaders were people to be tolerated, not people who were truly welcomed.”
The political affairs office headed by Karl Rove was especially “eye-rolling,” Mr. Kuo’s book says. It says staff members in that office “knew ‘the nuts’ were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness.”
Without naming names, the book says staff members complained that politically involved Christians were “annoying,” “tiresome” or “boorish.”
This really shouldn't be a surprise, aide to convicted Republican super-lobbyist, Jack Abramboff, Michael Scanlon, already gave us a taste of the GOP disdain for the right-wing base they pander to:
"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees," Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them." The brilliance of this strategy was twofold: Not only would most voters not know about an initiative to protect Coushatta gambling revenues, but religious "wackos" could be tricked into supporting gambling at the Coushatta casino even as they thought they were opposing it.
Comments (25) «
Any time a person has to be given a sheet of paper with candidates names on them and told who to vote for by a church has the "wacko" thing going for them.
I hope this is only the tip of the ice-berg. Let's put away once and for all the Jerry Falwels and the Pat Robertsons!
Makes you wonder how many of those mega church/media evangelists like Falwell and Dobson are really laughing behind their backs at the "wachos" they take money from, too.
"... Karl Rove ... staff members .. “knew ‘the nuts’ were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness.”
MAYBE, FINALLY, the "religious right" wakes up from their long slumber with a corrupt moron who play acts as president. then, realizing that even though the democrats, having different "religious values" are more in tune to the "common values" that have been trashed by the current republican regime.
america1st, I hope so, too. But I doubt it.
The fundies leadership is as corrupt as the Republicans and will do anything to keep control over their faithful. The lies will continue and the sheep will be led.
And the sheep aren't so pure either. To save unborn children, they would put existing children at risk. I don't get that kind of devotion to principals. But then I never understood why the Pharaisees sacrificed Jesus.
You gotta love Olbermann. Here's the link to that story.
Can't stay off this story and can't help but wonder if this is coded language to the christian right"
W
hen President George W. Bush starts using fifty-cent words in press conferences, one has to wonder why, and on Wednesday, during his Rose Garden appearance, he used the word “caliphate” four times. The enemy, he said—by which he clearly meant the Islamic terrorist enemy—wants to “extend the caliphate,” “establish a caliphate,” and “spread their caliphate.”
so I wanted to know if the use of caliphate is a code word to right-wing folks as Kuo says in his book.
Took a little while but I've found references on right wing "Christian" websites and on repub sites.
From a conservative columnist:
"The Islamists have been clear all along about their plans to form an Islamic caliphate and inhabit the entire world with burqas, stonings, amputations, honor killings and a lack of religious and political freedom."
From a repub candidate for Congress in CT:
The war on Terrorism is not limited to the conflict in Iraq. It is a worldwide struggle with an international, de-centralized band of Islamic-Fascists who respect no nation’s boundaries, no rule of international law and no human rights. They believe in the subjugation of women and the overthrow of all governments (democracies and monarchies) because they interfere with the direct rule of Allah over all of human affairs. Specifically, they favor a restoration of the Global Caliphate. While this concept is mostly unknown to Westerners, it is the driving force behind their world view and their justification for terrorism.
The christian action network: (page 11 of the .pdf)
The caliphate changed venues throughout the Muslim years but it was
last located in Turkey in 1923. To Muslims, the caliphate is a sacred position
similar to that of the Pope’s. Allah spoke, directed and led the Muslim World
through the caliphate. But in 1923 the institution was abolished by the Turkish
ruler, Kemal Mustafa, after World War I.
Saudi Wahabists (and other radical terrorist groups) have been trying to restore
the office of the caliphate ever since.
a comment posted to rich tucker on towhnall.com
"The thing we're at war against is an idea (the pan-global caliphate of the umma). Since that's not a State, one cannot declare war on it without a major change to the ideas of declaring war, which would entail changing the Constitution to make it strictly legal (I am a rather strict constructionist in this area)."
seven links on the gop site.
Remarks By The President On The Global War On Terror
[ They hope to establish a violent political utopia across the Middle East, which they call a "caliphate," where all would be ruled according to their hateful ideology... Osama bin Laden has called the 9/11 attacks -- in his words -- "a great step towards the unity of Muslims and establishing the righteous caliphate...]
In Case You Missed It: 'Republicans Will Make History'
[ 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has said his plan is to use Iraq as a base to launch further attacks, with the goal of creating a new caliphate in the Middle
In Case You Missed It: Five Years On
[ However, bin Laden is above all a man of ambition, not grievance, and his ambition is to re-establish an Islamic Caliphate after his own fashion, one that can destroy every trace of what the West represents within its own sphere and, someday, in ours, too...]
RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman Addresses The RNC Summer Meeting In Minnesota
[ Osama bin Laden’s number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has said his goal is to use Iraq as a base to launch further attacks, with the goal of creating a new caliphate in the Middle East – and perhaps the world...]
more in the next msg. Each of these has its own unique url and date.
The fighting in Iraq has been difficult and it has been bloody, and some say that Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. The terrorists disagree. Osama bin Laden has proclaimed that the "third world war is raging" in Iraq. Al Qaeda leaders have declared that Baghdad will be the capital of the new caliphate that they wish to establish across the broader Middle East. It's hard to believe that extremists would make large journeys across dangerous borders to endure heavy fighting, and to blow themselves up on the streets of Baghdad for a so-called "diversion." The terrorists know that the outcome in the war on terror will depend on the outcome in Iraq -- and so to protect our own citizens, the free world must succeed in Iraq. (Applause.)
Iraq is not the reason the terrorists are at war against us. They are at war against us because they hate everything America stands for -- and we stand for freedom. We stand for people to worship freely. One of the great things about America is, you're equally American if you're a Jew, a Muslim, a Christian, an agnostic or an atheist. What a powerful statement to the world about the compassion of the American people that you're free to choose the religion you want in our country. They can't stand the thought that people can go into the public square in America and express their differences with government. They can't stand the thought that the people get to decide the future of our country by voting. Freedom bothers them because their ideology is the opposite of liberty, it is the opposite of freedom. And they don't like it because we know they know we stand in their way of their ambitions in the Middle East, their ambitions to spread their hateful ideology as a caliphate from Spain to Indonesia.
well maybe I have it out of my system maybe not. We need to show that they are speaking code and challenge them on it.
Veneita,
Maybe people who want to start another Christian crusade need the cover of a Ilamic Caliphate?
Or maybe the military industrial complex has mophed from makers of machinery to Halliburton style service industries? A conventional war needs hardware; a crusade needs the independent contractors to keep the troops in place for long periods of time.
There isn't anything religious about the GOP or the 700 Club type non-profits in my opinion. They are both forces of big business.
The code words are just Rove/Hughs copy points that communicate their coordinated message among all the participants of this fraud.
Bin Lauden might be interested in the Caliphate, as are all Muslims, from an intellectual/spiritual framework, but he's more interested in getting rid of the House of Saud from a purely political standpoint.
Sandy,
It seems to be some irony in the use of the term "caliphate" given the bush administration's close association with the house of saud. although they are the secular rulers, they let the religious authorities have a heavy hand in their society.
The regressive republicans are hypocrites.
veneita- i just couldn't resist adding this to the mix you've created here- here's some garbage from the former radical commie turned radical right-wing nutjob (albeit, a very well paid nutjob)- i had the self-imposed misfortune of reading this piece of crap recently- do yourself a favor- skip the book and read the gushing reviews from his ignorant readers at amazon- anyway, the point is, your suspicions are very likely on the mark (that the use of the word "caliphate" is deliberate) and this book fills in the picture that you have created because if you read it, you will know that "radical islam" is the new boogeyman that "the left" in the u.s.a. are now aligned with (just like they were supposedly marching in lockstep with the "commies" all those years)-
of course, the real truth is that people like david horowitz and his many followers on the right are not much different than the radical muslims that they purport to hate so much- each has to have a colossal boogeyman on which they can pour all of their venom in the service of their ignorance about themselves and the world that they inhabit
http://www.amazon.com/Unholy-Alliance-Radical-Islam-American/dp/089526076X
one very effective answer for the sewer of Washington would be to throw out ALL of current crop of thugs and muggers. With a one term limit for national office. Then to push for a National Initiative law. Making it possible for us to have at least some direct input to the process of law creation.
On the surface, the picture could, I guess, look bleak. Yet, I tend to see the glass half full. First, the Republicans had their chance at policy making. Well, the end result is evident. Now,enough is enough. From the corporate world corruption has bled well within the belt way. Now we have a chance to cast the most important protest. Come Nov., we will be able to vote. We can vote no for more corruption, short sighted, narrow minded foreign policy making, and policies to place the middle class as second class citizens. Us Americans know are exit strategy.
I've been reading some ultra right responses to Kuo’s Tempting Faith book. Some of the arguments being used to respond to the latest sleaze revelation are pathetic. In one instance responses to those who decry the hypocrisy of the Bush Administration using the ploy of defrauding religious organizations to gain their voters support are accused of complaining that faith based organizations are being supported.
That person appears to be inhaling the same ethereal atmosphere that’s in the Bush oval office. I guess that guy make it a certainty Ann Coulter has many companions in that rarified air.
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