David Kuo
Posted on 10/16/2006 2:09:32 PM PDT by Conservative Coulter Fan
David Kuo |
WASHINGTON – Top White House political advisers embraced evangelical supporters publicly to get their votes while mocking them privately as "nuts" and "goofy," according to a new book by David Kuo, the former No. 2 man in President Bush's so-called "faith-based" initiatives program.
In "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction," Kuo also says it's time for conservative Christians to take a time out from politics and to re-evaluate their priorities. The book hits stores today.
Kuo quit the White House in 2003. Now he accuses Karl Rove's political staff of cynically hijacking the faith-based initiatives idea for electoral gain.
White House strategists "knew 'the nuts' were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness," Kuo writes.
Kuo appeared last night on CBS's "60 Minutes," where he called on evangelicals to back off of politics – to fast and consider what they are doing to help the poor rather than focusing on issues like abortion and homosexuality.
Asked if White House officials really mocked conservative Christians, Kuo told Lesley Stahl, "Oh, absolutely. You name the important Christian leader and I have heard them mocked by serious people in serious places."
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." President Bush, he wrote, talked about his compassion agenda, but never really fought for it.
"The president of the United States promised he would be the leading lobbying on behalf of the poor. What better lobbyist could anybody get?" Kuo wonders.
What happened?
"The lobbyist didn't follow through," he claims.
"What about 9/11?" Stahl asks. "All the priorities got turned about."
"I was there before 9/11. I know what happened before 9/11. … The trend before 9/11 was … president makes a big announcement and nothing happens," Kuo replies.
At the time, Bush proposed for the first time that he would spend $8 billion dollars on programs for the poor.
"I think it's one of the most important political speeches given in the last generation. I really do," says Kuo. "It laid out a whole new philosophy for Republicans."
After the election, to much fanfare, President Bush created the office of faith-based initiatives to increase funds to religious charities.
But Kuo says there were problems right off the bat. For one, he says the office dropped very quickly down the list of priorities.
Kuo was motivated to join the White House team because of the promise of spending $8 billion on programs for the poor. He was disappointed at how little was actually allocated.
He blames evangelicals themselves for the indifference on that issue. He took Stahl to a convention of evangelical groups and walked around the display booths, looking for any reference to the poor.
"You've got homosexuality in your kid's school, and you've got human cloning, and partial birth abortion and divorce and stem cell," Kuo remarked. "Not a mention of the poor."
"This message that has been sent out to Christians for a long time now: that Jesus came primarily for a political agenda, and recently primarily a right-wing political agenda – as if this culture war is a war for God. And it's not a war for God, it's a war for politics. And that's a huge difference," says Kuo.
He said: "God and politics had become very much fused together into a sort of a single entity. Where, in a way, politics was the fourth part of the trinity. God the father, God the son, God the holy spirit, God the politician."
The White House calls Kuo's book "ridiculous," and Kuo's old boss, Jim Towey, who ran the faith based office until this past June, says Kuo is "naïve and simplistic."
"I think it's dangerous to take a snapshot of a few months or even a year and draw conclusions," Towey says. "Ya know, I can look you in the eye and say the president did what he could do."
Kuo says he went to the White House political affairs office, then run by Ken Mehlman, and offered to hold events at taxpayer expense for Republicans in tight races as a way of energizing religious voters.
Kuo says Mehlman, now head of the Republican National Committee, was "thrilled."
Asked if in retrospect this was morally wrong, Kuo says, "I feel like it was more spiritually wrong. You're taking the sacred and you're making it profane. You're taking Jesus and reducing him to some precinct captain, to some get-out-the-vote guy."
"I have this burden on my heart that the name of God is just being destroyed in the name of politics," Kuo says. "I felt like I had to write this."
Kuo says it's time for evangelical Christians to take a step back – "to have a fast from politics. People are being manipulated. Good well-meaning people are being told, 'Send your money to this Christian advocacy group or that.' And that's the answer. It's just not the answer. It's not the answer."
It doesn't surprise me really that the Bush Administration would mock evangelicals...I've never been blind to the reality that Bush just uses conservative Christians...and only throws a bone here and there.
Better watch out for the Christian riots that are going to break out over this!!
You're a big help to the Democrat traitors, David Kuo, and you're trying to split the Republicans apart for the election.
Who do you work for?
Kuo's book has the perfect timing, the perfect unprovability and the perfect message for the Democrats and you're taking all the bait - hook, line and sinker.
Sully the name of Coulter no more.
In all due fairness, if the likes of David Koresh and Jim Jones are perceived by MSM as Evangelicals, then yeah some of them are goofy, nuts and say silly things. I would hope the political advisors are thinking about the likes of THESE and not the middle road base of evangelical christians that voted en masse for W.
Some people will never learn, such as you CCF.
Well, if a political book (put out right before the election) says it, it MUST be true. Boy, now I'm ticked off. I think I'll keep my evangelical butt on the sofa this election. That'll REALLY show the Bush Administration. /s
To the author, Mr. Koh: What do you think Hillary, Bubba and the rest of the loony left crowd call you? I'm sure there are many in the Bush White House who may be skeptical of evangelicals, but on the whole, I would wager a reasonable amount that the reception of evangelicals in the Bush Administration is a bit more positive than in the Clinton Administration, the prospective Demo congress, or anywhere else where Garry Studds and Barney Frank are welcomed and honored.
I agree. But, also in all fairness, we are taking as fact something written in a book and reported by the MSM, who are obviously pulling out all the stops and approaches to depress Republican voter turn-out.
Yep, just doing his part to keep the base home on election day.
From his whining about the "poor," I suspect that he's already a Democrat - and probably a little light in the loafers too. But I repeat myself.
CCF you are a troll if you can not see what is going on.
Believe this guy if you want to. I don't. He's not a conservative Christian. More like a liberal in the Rick Warren mold. This book is another attempt to keep the base home on election day.
Pu-leese. I hate to be so blunt but as my tagline demands: You are the braindead dork the left is counting on. They are making a very transparent attempt at fomenting angst among bedrock conservatives. In today's media nutso world all someone has to do is say it and you can get 15 talking heads hyping and piling on. Pretty soon you have drive by observers commenting like you have commented. And the liberwails will have won an easy victory in human nature 101.
I don't believe this slander for a minute.
ME! ME! ME! Don't worry about wars going on, my little office is more important!
No, the Republican Establishment too often acts more like the Democrat traitors and basically only pays lipservice to the base and I quite frankly the Republicans have no one to blame but themselves for a loss this congressional election cycle.
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