Land o'Goshen -- Bush's "faith" finally questioned

Wow, Somerby is bowled over by pundits beginning to question the genuiness of Bush's faith, what God he believes in (not one I recognize), and what the point of a politician's religious faith is, anyway.

So am I.

On Monday, the debate entered Day 3, with Scarborough himself presiding. Cable conservative Shmuley Boteach was on hand, prepared to dispense scripted cant (Boteach is a rabbi). But land o’ goshen! The times were a-changed! O’Donnell even fought against that!

BOTEACH (10/17/04): People like Lawrence O‘Donnell—and Lawrence is a fine man, I know him...believe that religion is actually a lobotomy. It makes you into a moron, that the fact that Bush is stupid, it’s actually because he has this faith, which makes him silly enough to see the world in black and white. I would rather have us dumb men of faith, who see that Bush is good and Saddam is evil. I would rather have us than have a guy like Kerry, that couldn’t get it right in Vietnam, saying that our troops were evil and the communists were good.

O’DONNELL: What does this have to do with prayer? What does this have to do with religion? What are you talking about?

BOTEACH: What I’m talking about is that religion gives you the vision to know what‘s right. What Bush prayed for before that war was can I remove a tyrant, so that he doesn’t gas Kurdish children in their homes?

O’DONNELL: “Gives you the vision to know what is right.” Did religion give him the X-ray vision to see the weapons of mass destruction? What did he pray for that was right? [Somerby's emphasis]

And O’Donnell, piling heresy high atop outrage, even slammed Democratic pols, men whom he knows personally. “I think the Kerry references to God are phony. I think every reference Bill Clinton ever made to God was phony. I think every reference Jimmy Carter made to God was political and phony and designed to trick people who believe in God to believe in them.” At this point, O’Donnell’s host restored order. “Well, you know what?” he said. “ We will be right back. I will tell you what—that’s inflammatory language for a lot of us in Scarborough Country!”

Inflammatory it was—and long overdue. For decades, secularists and religious moderates have stood aside as the Robertsons, the Boteachs and yes, the George Bushes have offered their versions of public piety. Everyone agreed not to notice the more absurd aspects of their professed faith. As they stared off into air, secularists and religious skeptics had a plainly mistaken belief. They believed that they had won a war some time after the Scopes monkey trail—that society had driven a brand of religious simplist [sic] into the fringe and into the corner. But those religious simplists didn’t give up, and it’s fairly clear that they’re now back in power.

Bush's boy in the bubble act and inflated reputation for having God's cell phone number may actually begin a debate in this country regarding the role of religion in politics. Is wearing your religion on your sleeve appropriate, or even a positive thing. As our great religious crusade goes badly, perhaps we'll stop assuming God is on our glorious side.

Perhaps, but then I remember I'm a part of the reality-based community and know that the simpletons are a cohesive bloc.