Bush Actually Dismissive of Religious Right
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:46 am
DOUG
David Kuo was the second-in-command of the White House's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives for several years. He resigned, disgusted with the White House's dismissive treatment of the religious right behind the backs of their leaders. (HIS BOSS RESIGNED in disgust TOO, stating that politics drove everything at the White House.)
Now Kuo has written a tell-all book: Tempting Faith.
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Kuo... says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”
“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.
More seriously, Kuo alleges that then-White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman knowingly participated in a scheme to use the office, and taxpayer funds, to mount ostensibly “nonpartisan” events that were, in reality, designed with the intent of mobilizing religious voters in 20 targeted races.
According to Kuo, “Ken loved the idea and gave us our marching orders.”
...In fact, the Bush administration often promoted the faith-based agenda by claiming that existing government regulations were too restrictive on religious organizations seeking to serve the public.
Substantiating that claim proved difficult, Kuo says. “Finding these examples became a huge priority.… If President Bush was making the world a better place for faith-based groups, we had to show it was really a bad place to begin with. But, in fact, it wasn’t that bad at all.”
In fact, when Bush asks Kuo how much money was being spent on “compassion” social programs, Kuo claims he discovered “we were actually spending about $20 million a year less on them than before he had taken office.”
The money that was appropriated and disbursed, however, often served a political agenda, Kuo claims.
“Many of the grant-winning organizations that rose to the top of the process were politically friendly to the administration,” he says.
More pointedly, Kuo quotes an unnamed member of the review panel charged with rating grant applications.
“But,” she said with a giggle, ‘When I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero … a lot of us did.’”
“Tempting Faith” contains several other controversial claims about Kuo’s office, the Bush White House and even the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress.
See the rest of the story here.
David Kuo was the second-in-command of the White House's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives for several years. He resigned, disgusted with the White House's dismissive treatment of the religious right behind the backs of their leaders. (HIS BOSS RESIGNED in disgust TOO, stating that politics drove everything at the White House.)
Now Kuo has written a tell-all book: Tempting Faith.
====
Kuo... says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”
“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.
More seriously, Kuo alleges that then-White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman knowingly participated in a scheme to use the office, and taxpayer funds, to mount ostensibly “nonpartisan” events that were, in reality, designed with the intent of mobilizing religious voters in 20 targeted races.
According to Kuo, “Ken loved the idea and gave us our marching orders.”
...In fact, the Bush administration often promoted the faith-based agenda by claiming that existing government regulations were too restrictive on religious organizations seeking to serve the public.
Substantiating that claim proved difficult, Kuo says. “Finding these examples became a huge priority.… If President Bush was making the world a better place for faith-based groups, we had to show it was really a bad place to begin with. But, in fact, it wasn’t that bad at all.”
In fact, when Bush asks Kuo how much money was being spent on “compassion” social programs, Kuo claims he discovered “we were actually spending about $20 million a year less on them than before he had taken office.”
The money that was appropriated and disbursed, however, often served a political agenda, Kuo claims.
“Many of the grant-winning organizations that rose to the top of the process were politically friendly to the administration,” he says.
More pointedly, Kuo quotes an unnamed member of the review panel charged with rating grant applications.
“But,” she said with a giggle, ‘When I saw one of those non-Christian groups in the set I was reviewing, I just stopped looking at them and gave them a zero … a lot of us did.’”
“Tempting Faith” contains several other controversial claims about Kuo’s office, the Bush White House and even the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress.
See the rest of the story here.
