Our New GOP Depression - Part 11: What Republicans REALLY Think About Conservative Christians

My husband, Bob U., wrote a series of articles, which I think are really insightful. This is Part 11. I invite your comments.You can visit Bob at http://bobuhlar.gather.com/  

            If you wanted to hire an influential lobbyist in Washington, Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon were at the top of the list. These two partners had served on the staff of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who was the Republican Leader of the House.

            But in 2005, they got busted. Prosecutors claimed that they had evidence Abramoff and Scanlon had been bribing members of Congress to get specific legislation passed that would favor their clients financial interests.

            Both men decided to cooperate with authorities and claimed to have information that could lead to the indictments of more than 50 members of Congress.

            One of their clients was a Louisiana Indian Tribe that was concerned about competition from a proposed casino by a Texas Indian Tribe. Scanlon devised a strategy to get Texas residents to ban Indian Casinos.

            In a memo outlining the strategy, Scanlon revealed what Republicans REALLY think of conservative Christians. The memo was read in a hearing before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November 2005.

"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees. 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."

But the derogatory comments were not limited to Republican lobbyists. David Kuo spent nearly three years as the number-two man in the president's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

In his book Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, Kuo describes White House staffers as rolling their eyes when discussing evangelicals, calling them "nuts" and "goofy." Kuo told Leslie Stahl of CBS-TV's "60 Minutes," "You name the important Christian leader and I have heard them mocked by serious people in serious places."[i]

Specifically, Kuo says people in the White House political affairs office referred to Pat Robertson as "insane," Jerry Falwell as "ridiculous," and that James Dobson "had to be controlled." And President Bush, he writes, talked about his compassion agenda, but never really fought for it.[ii]

What is it going to take for conservative Christians to realize that they have been manipulated? Since 1979, Republicans have promised, "You vote for us and we will give you what you want." All they have gotten in return is laws that favor corporations and the wealthiest Americans.

Tomorrow - Part 12: What Would Jesus Do?

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[i] CBS-TV "60-minutes" on October 15, 2006

[ii] Ibid.