Monday, December 29, 2003
I walk in from London, get my mail and pull out the latest issue of The New Republic. Howard Dean’s smile face greets my groan, although the title intrigues me. It reads Howard Dean’s Religion problem. The introduction reads “Everyone knows Howard Dean’s opposition to the Iraq War could hurt him against George W. Bush. But, politically, Dean’s biggest liability isn’t his dovishness. It’s his secularism.” Hmmm… Interesting horserace argument, but this actually doesn’t matter even a tiny bit to me since I’m a firm believer that the separation between church and state results in both the state and church being more responsive to their callings. Maybe I’ll read it later once I finish Reformation: Europe’s House Divided 1490-1700 by Diarmaid MacCulloch (released English Addition).
Then I’m searching the news to catch up on what happened in the world of politics in my absence and run across this story in the Miami Herald. Titled, “Dean Starts to Talk Religion,” I immediately winced. Yes, I know that I have argued this guy has no core values over and over given he changes his mind continually to meet his constituency, but this is ridiculous.
The article states, “Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean peppered an attack on Republican leaders yesterday with religious references, the first showing of what he promised last week would be a broader introduction of religion into his talk on the stump.”
So the question becomes, did Dean get religion over the TRN article or losing the Madonna endorsement to Clark (because she liked his spiritual nature)?
Eeeeuuukkk.
But then he changes course again within the same speech and states the following.
"I think religion is important and spiritual values are very important, which is what this election is really about. The line that drew applause, though, was this: "I am pretty religious. I pray every day but I'm from New England, so I just keep it to myself."
Stop the presses! Now this line is a blatant rip-off of what John Kerry said in the Iowa undecided voter session when asked about his personal faith. He mentioned his strong Catholic faith and prayer, but added given where he is from (New England) people don’t talk about it in a public way. Gesshh, you’d think someone in the press would pick up on this.
Then I’m searching the news to catch up on what happened in the world of politics in my absence and run across this story in the Miami Herald. Titled, “Dean Starts to Talk Religion,” I immediately winced. Yes, I know that I have argued this guy has no core values over and over given he changes his mind continually to meet his constituency, but this is ridiculous.
The article states, “Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean peppered an attack on Republican leaders yesterday with religious references, the first showing of what he promised last week would be a broader introduction of religion into his talk on the stump.”
So the question becomes, did Dean get religion over the TRN article or losing the Madonna endorsement to Clark (because she liked his spiritual nature)?
Eeeeuuukkk.
But then he changes course again within the same speech and states the following.
"I think religion is important and spiritual values are very important, which is what this election is really about. The line that drew applause, though, was this: "I am pretty religious. I pray every day but I'm from New England, so I just keep it to myself."
Stop the presses! Now this line is a blatant rip-off of what John Kerry said in the Iowa undecided voter session when asked about his personal faith. He mentioned his strong Catholic faith and prayer, but added given where he is from (New England) people don’t talk about it in a public way. Gesshh, you’d think someone in the press would pick up on this.
# posted by AB @ 10:43 PM 
