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Editorial: This is the lowest blow

 

An editorial

September 28, 2004

 

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The Republican National Committee has acknowledged sending mass mailings to voters in at least two states that suggest Democrats would, if elected in 2004, ban the Bible.

 

Literature designed and paid for by the Republican Party and distributed in West Virginia and Arkansas featured an image of the primary text of Christianity and the label "banned." Next to it was an image of a gay marriage ceremony labeled "allowed." The text beneath the images read, "This will be Arkansas ... if you don't vote" or "This will be West Virginia ... if you don't vote."

 

The literature was distributed as part of a campaign to stir fears among evangelical Christians, whose votes the Republican National Committee and the George W. Bush campaign believe could provide the margin of victory for the president's re-election campaign in key swing states.

 

To the view of the people working for the Republican National Committee and the Bush campaign, who are following a god named Karl Rove, this is just politics. Under the influence of the White House political czar who has guided Bush's every step in the electoral arena, they have suspended morality in the pursuit of a win-at-any-cost approach to electioneering.

 

But this is not just politics.

 

This is something much darker, much more troubling.

 

When political operatives begin to tell people that their holy texts will be banned if they don't vote for a particular candidate or party, they enter into a danger zone. People take their religion seriously; history and contemporary experience tell us that they are willing to kill or be killed in order to defend their faith. One of the most powerful recruiting tools for terrorists is the suggestion that one's religion is threatened.

 

Playing with religion is playing with fire. And to do so for political gain is beyond defense.

 

The Democratic candidates for president and vice president, John Kerry and John Edwards, are active members of different Christian denominations. They have not proposed banning the Bible. Nor have other leading Democrats. Nor have the federal jurists who spokesmen for the Republican National Committee claim inspired their fantastical claims. There is no threat to the Bible.

 

But there is a threat. Political operatives who lack any moral compass are stirring dangerous fears. They need to be called to account. Responsible Republicans - and, despite the foul actions of the Republican National Committee and the Bush campaign, it should be remembered that there are still many responsible Republicans - should call upon their party apparatus and their president's campaign committee to cease all appeals to religious bigotry and fear.

 

Democrats and independents, along with thoughtful religious leaders, have already objected to the GOP mailings. "What they are doing is despicable," Interfaith Alliance leader Don Parker says of the Republicans. "They are playing on fears and emotions." The Charleston Gazette newspaper in West Virginia complained of the "childish allegations that Democrats want to ban the Bible."

 

But, ultimately, this is not a mess that will be cleaned up by religious leaders and newspaper editorial pages. This is an issue that responsible Republicans must, themselves, address. They should do so by quickly and loudly condemning those political operatives who, in their ham-handed attempt to mingle religion and politics, have found the low ground and occupied it.

 

Published: 8:20 AM 9/28/04

ill tell you right now whats going to happen:

kerry is going to either blow bush out of the water and get elected.

or its going to be close and bush is going to win.

word to allah.

hahaha. ban the bible. that's awesome.

so i guess all you need is a diploma from clown college to become a politician in the good ol' US of A these days huh?

*edit. maybe if i went to clown college i could at least spell correctly

thanks effyoo, i usually do that but it slipped my mind.

Republicans now-a-days are making it so difficult to respect opinions. Before I didnt give a shit if some one was a Republican or a Democrat or whosits, but now when I see one of them "Bush Cheney 2004" stickers on peoples cars and doors it just gets on my nerves.

Originally posted by T=E=A=S=E

ill tell you right now whats going to happen:

 

kerry is going to either blow bush out of the water and get elected.

 

or its going to be close and bush is going to win.

 

word to allah.

lol

Banning the Bible huh?

November should just pass now.

Originally posted by T=E=A=S=E

ill tell you right now whats going to happen:

 

kerry is going to either blow bush out of the water and get elected.

 

or its going to be close and bush is going to win.

 

word to allah.

Or its going to be really close and Kerry wins. Or Bush is gonna blow Kerry out of the water....

or nader will win because everywhere was bombed except for sonoma, california.

Originally posted by T=E=A=S=E

ill tell you right now whats going to happen:

 

im going to blow bush out in the water and get erected.

 

and then im going to stick it in his butt and make him eyyyawwww like

 

a donkey. yeeeeehaw

Originally posted by TURBOCAPSLOK

HAHAHA

They have my vote

wow, thats just fucked up...and I'm not even religous.

I've been in southern arkansas...some of those people would swallow that hook, line and sinker.

So I was around the corner from this dunkin donuts last night Where a kid and his brother argued with this murdapan dude and charged him murda pulls a heater and blows the top of the wig off this one dude and beats the other with the handle. hence the pistol whip. somehow they beat murda down and the kid lived who caught the slug.. much like my old boy who caught a 22 slug through his eye and went into his spine yet the great beyond felt the need to pull him off the earth last week in a car wreck.

"if you don't vote, this will be Arkansas"

i cannot believe people still support this administration.

i've said it before that there are parts of the conservative point of view that i understand, some i even agree with! but to have this guy representing the U.S. to the world is a travesty.

we are practically living under a puppet dictatorship.

aargh.

of course, if bush wins, america may very well be brought to where she needs to be: her knees

they threatened a terrorist attack, and now bible banning if bush loses.

hahahaaaaa.

all the people who fall for this deserve a moron like bush running them into the ground.

*rant*

http://www.regent.edu/news/hannity_sean2.jpg'>

FUCK YOU LIBERALS!!!

Originally posted by SayOne

http://www.regent.edu/news/hannity_sean2.jpg'>

FUCK YOU LIBERALS!!!

This guy is a fucking moron.

On an unrelated note:

http://www.kak.ru/images/archive/17/polygraf/diplom/disc-aquarium_cover.jpg'>

i asked my friend yesterday if she was voting, and if so who was she going for... her reply was Bush, i paused, and asked why?

i couldn't believe was she said next..her reply was "Because he is the most Christian."

i was utterly disgusted..i just let her go..

i wanted to put this in the thread "stupid shit people say" or something like that, but i couldn't find it.

yea, but if bush wins this election..like homeboi said people like my friend deserve bush running this country

single issue voters will be the death of this election.

I saw some show the other night that was talking about a study done on married vs single voters. Single voters were something like 58% in favor of Kerry and 42% in favor of bush. the married ones were 56% in favor of bush and 42% in favor of Kerry. Single voters are widely considered to be unreliable in elections. I'm hoping there are enough pissed off single people out there to actually make a difference.

Originally posted by SteveAustin

single issue voters will be the death of this election.

 

I saw some show the other night that was talking about a study done on married vs single voters. Single voters were something like 58% in favor of Kerry and 42% in favor of bush. the married ones were 56% in favor of bush and 42% in favor of Kerry. Single voters are widely considered to be unreliable in elections. I'm hoping there are enough pissed off single people out there to actually make a difference.

word*

i was thinking, i hope all the young voters, and non-voters, vote this election...therefore together we can kick the senior citizen's asses ...

that shit would be so cool:lol:

Originally posted by OcToBeR

i couldn't believe was she said next..her reply was "Because he is the most Christian."

this is the wierdest shit to me.

bush started a fucking war that has slaughtered THOUSANDS of innocent iraqis.

how could he possibly be christian?

he is a lot richer than jesus ever was.

what happened to blessed are the poor, the meek?

burn in hell.

I'm not religious but...I think if there is ever going to be a return of Jesus it is going to be so that he can duplicate the events leading to his death but this time at the hands of his so called followers...

on a side note read this:

ACTION ALERT:

Brokaw Broadcasts "Bible Ban" BS

 

September 28, 2004

 

(NOTE: Please read the update to this alert.)

 

On the September 24 NBC Nightly News, Tom Brokaw gave this brief report:

 

"The Republican National Committee now has acknowledged sending mass mailings to two states that say liberals want to ban the Bible. Republican Party officials say the mailings in Arkansas and West Virginia are aimed at mobilizing Christian voters for President Bush. Some Christian commentators say liberal support for same-sex marriage could lead to laws that punish sermons denouncing homosexuality as sinful."

It's clear how one should describe the claim that "liberals want to ban the Bible": It's a lie, and a blatant and incendiary one. But not only does Brokaw not tell his viewers that the RNC smear isn't true, he gives "Christian commentators" a chance to justify that deceit with another, that gay marriage could lead to censorship of sermons. Why does such an unsubstantiated and frankly bizarre claim deserve space on a national newscast?

 

Meanwhile, the victims of the lie don't get any chance to speak in Brokaw's report; the entire item is sourced either to Republicans or to the religious right.

 

It's a crucial function of journalism during an election campaign to expose and correct political distortions. Brokaw's report did nothing to set the record straight, however, but simply served to amplify the RNC's dirty tricks, while lending to the false claims whatever credibility NBC has. The election is too important for this kind of lazy and destructive journalism.

 

If you want to see scans of the actual mailings, check 'em here:

http://www.steveclemons.com/GOPMailer.htm