Sunday, August 15, 2004
Bush weasels with the base to try to pick up those moderates
We've been working out questions to ask Bush (back). Looks like the base has been working out some awkward questions for Inerrant Boy, all on their own:
What a profile in courage!
Those poor people. Don't they feel used?
[A]lthough the president does not usually shy away from discussing his personal faith, he sometimes found himself in an awkward position — trying to validate his supporters' views without endorsing them in a way that would alienate more-moderate swing voters.
Typical was an exchange at a packed high school gym in Beaverton, where a woman lamented, "I've heard through the grapevine that Oregon is one of the most unchurched states in the union. And I really feel like it shows up in every walk of our society."
She asked Bush, "Could you take a moment to pray for Oregon, for us, right now?"
"I appreciate that," the president replied, declining to take up her invitation.
What a profile in courage!
Instead, to her apparent surprise, he offered a defense of the separation of church and state: "I think the thing about our country that you must understand is that one of the most valuable aspects of America is that people can choose church or not church, and they're equally American. That is a vital part of our society."
Bush strategists have long considered religious conservatives to be the president's electoral base. Churchgoing Protestants, mainly evangelicals, accounted for 40% of the president's voters in 2000.
Doug Wead, who served as campaign liaison to evangelicals the first President Bush, said the rough rule of thumb then was that for every evangelical vote gained in a public appeal, two moderate votes were lost.
That calculus has shifted somewhat in recent years, as the number of evangelicals has grown to somewhere between 20% to 25% of the population and their beliefs have become increasingly mainstream. But the dynamic has not gone away.
Which is why the president deflected the comment with a joke when a 60-year-old man in Niceville, Fla., said Tuesday, "This is the very first time that I have felt that God was in the White House."
"Thank you. Thank you all. Let me ask you a question: Do you like Jeb?" Bush asked
(via a real newsgathering organization, the Los AngelesTimes)
Those poor people. Don't they feel used?
