Oh, to be a fly on Jerry Falwell's wall right about now. President George W. Bush afraid to pray in public because it might cost him a few votes. What would the good Lord - or the good Reverend - have to say about that? Well, it shouldn't shock them. This is a president who has made it painfully clear that after four years of courting the religious right he's now terribly afraid of even being seem with them in public (thus the reason no one even vaguely religious-right is speaking at the convention, and certainly none of them during prime time). Bush has realized that the mainstream Americans don't like these intolerant bigots. It's only a question of how long before the intolerant bigots catch on that Bush is using them.
Oh, and here's an interesting aside. Bush wasn't afraid to pray in public when it was a Muslim prayer at the White House.
"I particularly want to thank Imam Faizul Khan, who will lead us in prayer."I doubt Jerry Falwell is going to miss that little contradiction - Muslim prayer good, Christian prayer bad? :-) Here's the Wash Post's reporting on Bush's prayer-o-phobia:
Bush had to calm the ardor of the crowd at Southridge High School in Beaverton. One woman noted that Oregon has one of the nation's highest percentages of "unchurched" citizens and asked the president to "take a minute to pray for Oregon."Isn't that interesting. A president who wants to put prayer in school finds prayer inappropriate at a campaign event. A president who quotes the Bible when attacking gays from the White House runs from the his own Christianity at a campaign event. And a president whose attorney general holds prayer groups in his government office is now afraid of prayer when it might cost him a few votes with moderates.
Bush, who had won loud applause earlier when noting his Christian faith, told the woman "I appreciate what you say" but then seemed to rebuke her statement. "People can choose church or not church, and they're equally American," he said, adding that it is important that "we jealously guard" the tradition of protecting religious freedom.
The crowd, seemingly surprised by Bush's refusal to endorse the woman's statement, responded with only a smattering of applause.
For a president who is so fond of the Bible, and fond of using it to bolster his policies and his popularity, he sure doesn't heed the Bible's lessons on denying thy God in order to save thy own skin. It seems that Bush is only a flaming Christian when he thinks it will get him votes - when he fears his faith will cost him votes, Bush runs for the atheist hills.
