Apparently, religious thought is the sole province of the Republican party,
or so they claim.
John Kerry cited a Bible verse to criticize leaders who have "faith but has no deeds," prompting President Bush's spokesman to accuse Kerry of exploiting Scripture for a political attack....
Bush campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt said Kerry's comment "was beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse and a sad exploitation of Scripture for a political attack."
So what is within the bounds of acceptable discourse if you're a Democrat? I'm starting to think the Republicans would cry foul if we rolled over and presented rearly at election time.
I can understand why the Republicans would blow a gasket over this. They feel threatened on nearly every front right now. Employment is down, the stock market is volatile at best, but is still lower than they would like it to be, and Bush's numbers are dropping in the one place he can't afford to lose support--foreign policy and the war with al-Qaeda. The one place they have to figure that Bush is safe is with Christian conservatives, and Kerry just trod onto their sacred ground.
Good work. Every second we make inroads into Bush's base, that's one more second Bush has to spend shoring it up, and one less second he can spend coming after Kerry's base.
But more importantly, good work because the quote was used in context and was appropriate. It bothers me greatly when anyone--but politicians, especially--take portions of the Bible or any other religious text out of context for their own selfish gain. This was dead-on accurate.
Upon further reflection, I'm a little surprised that the Bush campaign didn't fire back with "the Devil can cite scripture to his purpose." I guess maybe some of those swing voter Christians might have taken exception.