George W Bush on Christian fundamentalists: 'those whackos'

The Telegraph ^ | 5/6/2009 | Damian Thompson

[markomalley]

I've always suspected that George W Bush wasn't really a big fan of Christian fundamentalists: he's an evangelical with Catholic leanings, not a Bible-basher. Now my suspicions have been confirmed by a new book about the worldwide religious revival called God is Back by the Economist's John Mickelthwait and Adrian Wooldridge.

What did Bush really think of Bible-bashers?

In the 2000 campaign, they report, Bush was visiting the Boeing Plant in Washington State when he was asked whether his enthusiasm for free trade with China might cost him the Christian vote. The reporter who asked him the question was from a hotbed of fundamentalism in Texas.

Bush: "You only think that because you live around those whackos."

Those whackos, eh? It's a good job the Democrats didn't broadcast that quote in Florida, where if a few hundred whackos has stayed at home we would have been landed with President Gore.

[markomalley]

I haven't read the book so I don't know if the quote was there or not or if this was in context or not. I further don't know if the authors of the book give an accurate reflection of Bush's words or not.

Have any of you read this book and would be able to say if Damian Thompson (the blogger who reports this) accurately reported what was written there?

If it is accurately reported, though, and accurately written about in that book, it provides an interesting insight.

I couldn't find this quote elsewhere on the web outside of the context of this story; however, Bush did visit the Boeing Plant on 5 May 2000 and trade with China was discussed.

[Doogle]

couldn't find this quote elsewhere on the web outside of the context of this story

..with the hatred of the MSM over the last ten years with GWB, you'd think it would have 23,000 hits on Google

[outinyellowdogcountry]

I don’t buy it.

[ken21]

ditto.

[markomalley]

..with the hatred of the MSM over the last ten years with GWB, you'd think it would have 23,000 hits on Google

I agree.

Having said that, Damian usually is a pretty good reporter / blogger...on the conservative side (as far as Brits go, at least), so I'll try to get to the local bookstore today sometime, in order to look for it and its context in this book.

[wombtotomb]

That was my first thought; A trip to Barnes and Noble is in order.

[RGSpincich]

Who was the reporter and where did he live? Lotta whackos out there Christian or otherwise.

[GreyMountainReagan]

“I don’t buy it.”

---

Me neither. Bush was, and wasn’t, a lot of things but he even spoke graciously about liberals.

Probably whoever wrote it misheard, lied or misunderstood. If Bush responds now it will just accoplish what the left wants. Discourd amoung the right.

The first lie generally wins.

[markomalley]

I didn’t really picture GWB as having especially “Catholic” leanings (other than on abortion / ESCR issues ... which, at least, shouldn’t be an exclusively Catholic issue)

[DocRock]

The only way I would believe this is if Pres. Bush was talking about Fred Phelps and his ilk.

[silverleaf]

I don’t buy it- out of character for GWB, unless said in a way mocking the reporter’s concerns (GW had a dry sense of humor that was used against him) and then used as a straight statement by the reporter to score agenda points.

I hate journalists. And I used to want to be one.

[WoodstockCat]

I have to dispute this account based on a first hand conversation with my pastor who was a W friend.

[CAluvdubya]

Yeah right...Bush is in the middle of a campaign for President and he calls any group of people "wackos" for the news to report about. Sure thing, that makes sense all right...not.

What's the matter, did someone get tired of bashing Palin?

[wombtotomb]

Very true.

[Grampa Dave]

We will have a decade or more of so called comments by GW behind closed doors or supposedly in private to sell books and articles to those stricken with Bush hatred syndrome.

[1rudeboy]

ROVE!!!

[ottbmare]

There is probably no group whose members can’t look around and find another bunch who are a bit further out and can be thought of as “those whackos.” Even the whackos in my community who think there are demons in my house because I have Waterford crystal vases consider the snake-handling churches in West Virginia to be whackos.

Bush’s comment may well have been made in jest, with Bush’s customary lack of verbal dexterity confusing what was intended as a teasing joke. Who among us hasn’t said something that misfired slightly? If every word you said was recorded or taken down, then analyzed and parsed, you might be found to have said something inappropriate or tactless, too.

[SaraJohnson]

I beleive it could happen. He is a Bush. His brother is out there right now taking swipes at Christians with McCain and his dad could barely stand Christians. This is a family that is into the global governance and unity b.s. Christians are against that in a big way. The Bushes are wealthy and worldly. Run of the mill Christians are not a part of that private world.

W was better with Christians politically for a Rino and tended to keep his promises to Christians. He was angry when Christians killed his Supreme Court plans for Myers...and nominating her was a broken promise to conservative Christians.

[King Moonracer]

I bet Bush was thinking about David Koresh types. Wacko could have been Waco. He saved the Clymer comments for the ... Clymers.

[reformedliberal]

Please explain what is thought to be demonic about Waterford?????

I have a house full of figural antique glass and (gasp) Papuan artifacts personally collected by us in the 1970s. I have very dear and close charismatic Christian friends and have had many traditional Christians in my home over the past 35 years. Only one JW ever even looked askance at them and even that person, an employee, never said a word or refused to work here. The Amish who have been here have either said nothing or asked intelligent questions, especially about the glass.

To bring this back to the topic, there was a concerted effort by the DBM to divide W from the Christian base throughout the second term, especially. I can’t ever take one thing those people write or say on face value without hours, if not weeks, of research.

[LS]

Sounds to me like he’s calling the MEDIA “those whackos.”

[LS]

In 2006 I was invited to the Oval Office for an hour and a half with Pres. Bush. When I shook his hand I said, “Mr. President, I pray for you every day,” and he said, “It’s workin’. It’s workin’.” Sorry, but this story doesn’t wash unless Bush meant “those whackos” as “the MEDIA.”

[ottbmare]

Please explain what is thought to be demonic about Waterford?????

It's made of lead crystal, and there are some whackos who think anything made of crystal that's cut to refract light can be used for divination. I had a dear former friend and members of her out-there church tell me quite seriously that I needed to have my beautiful, blessed house anointed with holy oil to purge it of the demons that must necessarily lurk there as a result of the crystal glasses and vases. What can I say?

Point is, there really are whackos out there, and I don't hold it against Bush if he mentions some of them. Some people think my conservative religious beliefs are nuts and I think others are nuts.

[autumnraine]

There are plenty of fundamentalist Christian whackos. Jim Jones was one. Commie or not, he was a Christian wacko. We have the crazy aunt in our attic too.

[Sloth]

I don’t much care one way or the other, since he thought people who believed in fiscal restraint, national sovereignty or Constitutional limitations on gov’t power were also whackos.

[Alex Murphy]

I didn’t really picture GWB as having especially “Catholic” leanings (other than on abortion / ESCR issues ... which, at least, shouldn’t be an exclusively Catholic issue)

I agree with you, but last year at this time some were speculating that (like Tony Blair) Bush was about to convert...

[Salvation]

**he’s an evangelical with Catholic leanings,**

I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he converted to the Catholic Church.

[reformedliberal]

Thanx for the explanation. Of course, by that standard, clear, contained, still water is demonic, too. Although, it might depend upon its mineral content.

I know people who see angels and sense demons. However, I must be fortunate, because they never have condemned anyone because of this. They are more prone to pray for them.

I am just blessed that my Laliques, along with the Papuan *watcher* masks have not been condemned. I do tend to keep my own beliefs, which are unorthodox relative to most religions, to myself. That may help the situation. I really take “judge not, lest you be judged”, seriously.

[markomalley]

I agree with you, but last year at this time some were speculating that (like Tony Blair) Bush was about to convert...

Bush speaks and acts like a good Methodist (and no I don't mean like the new variety of PC, social activist, pro-abortion Methodist...I mean more like the old fashioned variety that I actually had some respect for).

But if he were to convert, I'd hope that he really converted and didn't "convert" in the fashion of Tony Blair.

[tiki]

I agree with you.

[silverleaf]

I never heard President Bush insult ANY group of Americans

This dividing the american people and belittling those who dissent with the WH is a new phenom with TOTUS Soetero

[DouglasKC]

I couldn't find this quote elsewhere on the web outside of the context of this story; however, Bush did visit the Boeing Plant on 5 May 2000 and trade with China was discussed.

I'm not buying the quote as accurate. I can't imagine that if there were evidence that it wouldn't have been blasted all over the media .

[FreeInWV]

Maybe that is the way he feels.

I have long searched the internet for a quote by GWB on the Branch Davidians. He was elected governor of Texas a year after the seige. Planning for the raid occurred during his father’s administration. Waco is the nearest big town to his home in Crawford. The residents were essentially neighbors who he may not have known, but who he must have at least seen or known about.

There were no statements of condemnation. No reform of BATF or FBI occurred under his watch. Nobody was demoted or replaced. People involved were instead given promotions. No investigations occurred other than a handpicked team who was obviously chosen to add legitimacy to the operation. That investigation was blatantly flawed and scientifically proven by others to be wrong (remember the drug nexus, silencers & “glint”?).

If something like this happened to my neighbors and I was elected governor and later president, I would at least comment on it.

[RichInOC]

I’m not going to call this story a lie.

I’m just going to ask folks to consider how likely it is that that quote would have remained a secret to the end of that day, let alone to the end of the 2000 campaign, let alone through the next eight and a half years up until now.

[Antoninus]

The entire Bush family is so dead to me....

[In veno, veritas]

"an evangelical with Catholic leanings"

Is that a Lutheran?

[tpanther]

You’re confused or misspoke. Jim Jones was not a Christian.

I’ve seen arguments made by atheists that Hitler was also a Christian because he quoted scripture.

A Christian, by definition would be someone that has accepted Jesus as their saviour, and has Him in their heart. They’ve literally changed, & “born again”.

Clearly it makes no sense to suggest someone that has poisoned several thousand or murdered several million “has Jesus in their heart”.

(Christian) “Fundamentlaism” is another word with about as many definitions as opinions.

According to Hissy-fit Matthews, anyone that hates science is a Christian fundamentalist.

[tpanther]

Precisely, it’s so much worse than a lie.

It’s liberalism.

[markomalley]

OK, so I went to the bookstore and looked.

Here is the paragraph in question:

Apparently something documented by a couple of reporters who followed Bush during the 2000 campaign.

True or not? Show me the video or let me listen to the audio. I can believe it. But I am very suspect until I can see the evidence.

[annalex]

In the Telegraph we read

Bush: "You only think that because you live around those whackos."

In the book, however, this is preceded by the interjection "Oh yeah". But that changes the tone completely: it becomes clear that Bush is making an off-the-cuff joke.

I agree that, without a doubt, Bush had his reasons to be upset by the religious right (Myers episode comes to mind), but this exchange with a reporter is not an evidence of anything.

[Deb]

What garbage, newbie. I’ll bet you think Ron Paul could fix everything.

[PetroniusMaximus]

“OK, so I went to the bookstore and looked.”

Wow. That’s commitment!

Did you get a coffee?

:)