The final death nail for the GOP?

New book: Bush advisers mocked evangelicals

The White House denies the assertions made by a former
official in the faith-based-initiative program.

Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times
Last update: October 13, 2006 – 12:14 AM

WASHINGTON - A new book by a former White House official says President Bush's top political advisers privately ridiculed evangelical supporters as "nuts" and "goofy" while embracing them in public and using their votes to help win elections.

The former official also writes that the White House office of faith-based initiatives, which Bush promoted as a nonpolitical effort to support religious social service organizations, was told to host pre-election events designed to mobilize religious voters who would most likely favor Republican candidates.

The assertions by David Kuo, the former No. 2 official in the faith-based-initiatives program, have rattled Republican strategists already struggling to convince evangelical voters to turn out this fall for the GOP.

Some conservatives lamented Thursday that the book, "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction," also comes in the midst of the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley's interest in male congressional pages, another threat to conservative turnout in competitive House and Senate races. The book is scheduled to hit stores Monday, but the White House responded to its assertions Thursday as excerpts began leaking out.

In the book, Kuo, who quit the White House in 2003, accuses Karl Rove's political staff of cynically hijacking the faith-based-initiatives idea for electoral gain. It assails Bush for failing to live up to his promises of boosting the role of religious organizations in delivering social services.

White House strategists "knew 'the nuts' were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness," Kuo writes, according to the cable channel MSNBC, which obtained an advance copy.

"Sadly, the political affairs folks complained most often and most loudly about how boorish many politically involved Christians were. ... National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous' and 'out of control.' "

It is unclear whether Kuo identifies any specific official as using the dismissive language.

Kuo is scheduled to appear Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes" program as part of a rollout arranged by his publisher, Simon & Schuster, which shares a corporate parent with CBS. Despite a publisher-enforced embargo, a copy of the book was purchased early at a Manhattan bookstore by a producer for MSNBC's "Countdown," a spokesman for the cable channel said. Program host Keith Olbermann began reading excerpts on his Wednesday show.

The White House denied Kuo's account with help Thursday from two former officials popular among the evangelical base -- former speechwriter Michael Gerson and former faith-based-initiative director Jim Towey.

Gerson called Kuo's account "laughable," while Towey cited a December 2002 e-mail from Kuo expressing positive feelings about the program's progress in promoting "compassionate conservatism."He doesn't seem to have been working at the same White House where I worked," Towey said. "I had marching orders from the president to keep the faith-based initiative nonpolitical, and I did."

Still, neither Gerson nor Towey denied Kuo's assertion that politics did factor into the initiative.

Holy crap! Check this out:

Death of a President Trailer


I don't know what to think about this one, but I've got to admit, it did make my heart skip a beat.

Dead Prostitute Found In Bush's Bed

I was watching CNN today, and they were interviewing a group of people in one of the southern red states (I can't remember which one.)

They asked a woman which way she'd be voting in the upcoming election. She said something like "as long as nothing else happens, I'll stick with the Republican candidates."

Umm, "nothing else?" I guess making a complete disaster out of everything just doesn't cut it, in her book.

What's it gonna take? A dead prostitute in W's bed, perhaps?

I couldn't agree more

Latest letter to the editor written by my (awesome) Uncle Richard to the local paper in East Hampton, New York:

Dear Editor,

For at least a year I have been writing to this paper about the utter disgrace and disaster of the Bush administration. The deficit, the tax cuts, the secrecy, the constant and pervasive lying, the name calling of opponents, the disregard of the middle class, the erosion of our civil rights, Katrina, and the hypocrisy in the appointment of political supporters without experience to key positions (not only "Brownie.") And then there is the crazy, irresponsible, stupidity of the Iraq War and its abject failure. And now, in the Woodward book "State of Denial" we see in this fool President and his cohorts in the Administration, as totally living in a bizarro world of denial.

And yet, even with the publication of unquestionably, truthful, fact laden, well researched and documented book after book, the NIE report of all 16 U.S. intelligence Agencies documenting the failure of the war and the war's creation of more terrorists, and the new charges of deviant sexual behavior by a Republican Congressman and its cover up by the Speaker of the House and The Republican House leadership, and the baldfaced selling of legislative votes and favors to cash paying political lobbyists, and learning that present day Iraq is being described like "Mad Max," and the insurgency getting even worse in 2007 of which was covered up with rosy statements by the criminal conspiracy that calls itself the "Bush administration " - there are still people who write to say they are "proud" to be supportive Republicans....WOW!

They must think: screw the nation, screw our dead and wounded youngsters and the thousands of Iraqis --we must retain our hold on Congress.


Thus, what makes most of us sick, is swallowed whole by these right wing , flatheaded disgusting apologists who dare to write in support the out of control criminals in this administration!

Richard H.
East Hampton, NY



Uncle Richard (late 60's/early 70's)

I'll say it in advance - Shut up, Robin.

Real Time with Bill Maher is one of my favorite shows.
Robin Williams is a good dramatic actor.

However, having Robin Williams on Bill Maher's show is always a bad idea. Robin can't help but trample on everyone else's time, and Bill can't reel him in.

Robin is on the panel tonight. Crap.

39%

Upon hearing the news that Bush's approval rating dropped to 39%, Stella couldn't help but smile, however the news didn't do much for Norman.

It's your move, Karl

With all the despicable & criminal acts that we've had to endure over the past 6 years from the absolute power of this Republican party, it appears that the Foley scandal may be the one that finally crushes them. Issues like illegal NSA wiretapping or the National Intelligence Estimate that concluded that we are less safe because of the war in Iraq is too complicated for the general public...but they do understand what Ex-Congressman Foley did.

The question is... what is Karl Rove going to do about it? My prediction? A new threat! In the next couple of days, or weeks, we are going to hear that they've "uncovered" a terrorist plot to take out the Statue of Liberty, or something like it. Our threat level will go to orange and the mainstream media will eat it up. We won't hear about Foley, or the cover-up -- it will be 24/7 reporting of the new threat.

Karl is working on it right now.