woops, he did it again

[sisyphusshrugged]

Another hamhanded attempt to manipulate religion on behalf of the Bush campaign (remember when the Pope was gonna tell the american Bishops to get in line behind Our Fearless Leader?) has sputtered

The Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative denomination closely aligned with President Bush, said it was offended by the Bush-Cheney campaign's effort to use church rosters for campaign purposes.

"I'm appalled that the Bush-Cheney campaign would intrude on a local congregation in this way," said Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

...

Campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said the document, distributed to campaign staff, was well within the law.

"People of faith have a right to take part in the political process, and we're reaching out to every supporter of President Bush to become involved in the campaign," Stanzel said.

One section of the document lists 22 "coalition coordinator" duties and lays out a timeline for various activities targeting religious voters. By July 31, for example, the coordinator is to:

* Send your church directory to your state Bush-Cheney '04 headquarters or give to a BC04 field representative.

* Identify another conservative church in your community who we can organize for Bush.

* Recruit 5 people in your church to help with the voter registration project.

* Talk to your pastor about holding a citizenship Sunday and voter registration drive.

...

On Friday, Land said: "It's one thing for a church member motivated by exhortations to exercise his Christian citizenship to go out and decide to work on the Bush campaign or the Kerry campaign. It's another and totally inappropriate thing for a political campaign to ask workers who may be church members to provide church member information through the use of directories to solicit partisan support."

The Media, cynical creatures that they are, seem to suspect that the Southern Baptist Convention was reluctant to give the Bush/Cheney campaign access to their directories, insofar as it would make it easier for Bush/Cheney and the rest of the Republican party to bypass the Southern Baptist Convention and go directly to their members.

Bad, bad move.

Comments

[dabroots.livejournal.com]

Yes, I hope they continue offending the Southern Baptists in this way. It's one thing for the leadership of the convention to declare endorsements, but it's another thing for Republicans to move into the social halls in church basements.

[hephaestos.livejournal.com]

I find it interesting that every late Republican presidential nominee has almost acted like they didn't want it (to my mind; Dole, Bush Sr.).

I mean, they've already pissed off every decent Catholic.