Now, upon taking office in 2000, George W. Bush (hereafter noted as GWB), also spoke up about restoring honor and integrity to the Oval Office.
He then proceeded to do his best imitation of a sloth (apologies to the sloth genus) and take no action against his staff for:
* 'outing' the identity of a CIA undercover agent
* no action against his staff for lying to Congress about the cost of the recent Medicare reform bill ($395 million v. over $500 million)
* no action against his Education Secretary for calling the National Education Association a terrorist organization
* no action against major figures in his administration for lying about the troop figures, body armor and vehicle armor needed for the safety of the soldiers in Iraq.
However, GWB did summon the courage to fire:
* National Economic Council Director Larry Lindsay, who had the honesty and integrity to say what he thought the actual financial cost of the Iraq War would be
* U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers, when she spoke about the budget problems making our nation's parks less safe
* His own appointee, Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, from the Council on Bioethics because her views on stem-cell research weren't cloned from the Republican party platform
So, did these three so badly misinterpret the primary tenet of George Bush's faith, Luke 48., when Jesus said "Get thee behind me, Satan for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve"?
Got to serve somebody? Job one is serving GWB, no ifs, buts or right and wrong about it.
Who stays?
People like General William Boykin, devout Christian and deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, most infamous for stating about his battle with a Somali (Muslim) warlord: "I knew that my God was bigger than his God. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."
Boykin has also repeatedly told Christian groups that GWB was chosen by God to be in the White House: "why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."
Guess we can now call those images of Republican operatives James Baker and Ben Ginsberg scurrying around the Sunshine State in November, 2000, during VoteScam, a religious experience. Or, getting more into the spirit, God's Little Helpers in action.
GWB also put to death 131 prisoners during his time as governor of Texas. His stand on that record: "I'm confident that every person that has been put to death in Texas under my watch has been guilty of the crime charged, and has had full access to the courts." Parse that one--"full access to the courts" but yet no mention about the quality of counsel.
One might as well say "I've provided a library card to all illiterates."
Note that one Texas court dismissed a complaint about a lawyer who slept through a trial with the comment that courts are not "obligated to either constantly monitor trial counsel's wakefulness or endeavor to wake counsel should he fall asleep." Yep, don't mess with Texas, even if the person who has been entrusted with defending your life is snoring.
And in one-third of the 131 cases, the legal counsel who represented the death penalty defendant at trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned. These were the ones who could be awakened.
But wait, there's more to GWB's Christian hypocrisy and lack of moral integrity as far too often, he has chosen the antithetical option.
In 2000, after losing the New Hampshire primary to Arizona Senator John McCain, GWB made a desperate rush to Bob Jones University in South Carolina, where the next primary was to take place.
After making goo-goo eyes with Bob Jones, who is most infamous for assailing the Pope as the Anti-Christ and whose school policies included a prohibition on interracial dating, a backchannel effort of Rovian proportions took place to get the word out to Republican voters that McCain was unstable as a result of his time as a POW, that McCain's wife was a drug addict and, to complete the trifecta, that McCain had fathered a black, out-of-wedlock child. (As a side note, just what's wrong with the latter? McCain would have only been emulating the late South Carolina icon, Agent Orange-haired Strom Thurmond?)
When the media pressed GWB after his prom dance with Jones, he responded: "I wasn't very aware of the interracial dating policy."
Ah, the scourge of one's convictions.
When Arizona Senator John McCain confronted GWB about these personal and family attacks during a debate, GWB's compassionate Christian response was: "It's just politics John."
Does anyone recall Jesus, during his crucifixion, being comforted with: "hey, it's just politics"?
Yes, all politicians lie, Democrats, Republicans, even Ralph Nader. The white lie, the Big Lie, call it what you want. Lying abruptly metastasizes throughout the body of most politicians coinciding with the initial announcement of running for office.
But not every politician has so exuberantly described Jesus as his favorite philosopher and the one who so dramatically changed his heart, as George Bush has proudly and gratefully acknowledged.
This raises the ante.
It appears GWB has traveled a very curious road to Damascus. So, just how is one to tell when GWB is acting as a politician versus as a Christian, as he apparently so distinctly delineates the two?
GWB apparently fails to ponder what Jesus would have done in such situations. The guess is that he did contemplate what was best for his political future. Maybe serving God snuck in there somewhere but trace elements of such, as with the WMD's, have yet to be found.
Maybe those Christianity-on-the-sleeve politicians who so publicly profess their religiosity should have to carry around a Jesus-meter so it can be measured when they are living their faith versus when they are slouching towards Gomorrah.
Texans have a saying to skewer imitation cowboys: "big hat, no cattle."
President Bush carries a gleaming public cross but exhibits a countervailing personal history.