RAT religion and politics

[Joel Mckean <iketips@earthlink.net>]

>From today's NY Times

LIBERTIES / By MAUREEN DOWD




A Match Made in Heaven


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ASHINGTON -- As though this presidential campaign did not already have enough
father-son drama, now comes the mother of all contests between Father and Son.

The main battleground state is the state of grace. Democrats and Republicans
are seeking a geographical advantage, but it is celestial. Both sides seem
weirdly obsessed with snagging a divine endorsement.

W. brazenly tried to lay claim to the Son, accepting Christ as his personal
savior and favorite political philosopher, and proclaiming June 10 Jesus Day in
Texas.

The vice president chose to contest this holy ground by revealing that he was a
born-again Christian who often asked himself "W.W.J.D. -- What Would Jesus Do?"

But with the two sons fighting over the Son, Mr. Gore decided to find a running
mate with direct access to the Father. The usually cautious Mr. Gore made an
inspiring and brave choice of a senator named Lieberman, the first Jew on a
major party's national ticket and a believing and practicing Jew who regularly
invokes God.

In his Nashville debut yesterday, Mr. Lieberman mentioned God 13 times in 90
seconds.

The last pol to break a religious barrier, Jack Kennedy, always played it
coolly secular. He would never have prayed in a campaign speech, or conceded he
might be tied up with religious rites on weekends.

Forty years ago, J.F.K. promised to keep religion out of politics. Now
candidates promise to drench politics with religion.

Trumpeting values and godliness is the way these boys of summer promise to
exorcise the frisky ghosts of Bill and Monica from the sacred Oval Office.

Bill Clinton dominates the race he is not in. In '92 he chose Mr. Gore as his
running mate because he needed the Tennessee senator's Dudley Do-Right image.
Having a Vietnam vet and a family man beside him allowed Mr. Clinton to seem
less slippery.

Only eight years later, Mr. Clean found himself in need of a Mr. Clean.

Al Gore has come away from the White House sex and money scandals with a patina
of grime. The vice president who was chosen for rectitude, not geography or
charisma, felt he needed to choose a running mate for rectitude, not geography
or charisma.


After defending the beleaguered Mr. Clinton as "one of our greatest
presidents," Mr. Gore had to make up for that ill-considered moment by choosing
a new partner whose piety offset his old partner's hedonism.

Mr. Lieberman, the first Democratic senator to denounce Mr. Clinton as
"immoral" during the Monica megilla, saw the offer from Mr. Gore as comparable
to being "called to the ministry."

The vice president is in a bitter competition with the first lady for campaign
money and attention, and yet he has ended up picking someone who might help her
in New York. (Hillary wasted no time in trying to co-opt Mr. Lieberman to
campaign with her, noting demurely, "but I can't be greedy.")

The new Democratic ticket must take care not to overdo the sanctimony as they
run away from the lame-duck rogue.

Al must sweep into Hollywood with a guy Hollywood can't stand. Mr. Lieberman
has teamed up with the conservative Bill Bennett to castigate Hollywood for its
moral "toxicity," saying the town "doesn't understand piety."

He has excoriated the NBC megahit "Friends" as too sexy for prime time and
suggested that the F.C.C. review the content of programs when renewing
licenses.

In Nashville, the senator hailed Tipper for the puritanical crusade that the
Gores have spent years begging Hollywood to forget.

Although the Bush team praised the selection, we must keep an eye on that nasty
Republican fringe.

When the going gets tough, the hardball henchmen around the Bushes have a way
of exploiting differences and craftily implying that anyone who is not like us
is not "on the American side," as Bush Père put it at the flag factory during
the Willie Horton campaign.

The McCains are still seething about Bush supporters in South Carolina
spreading word of their dark-skinned adopted daughter from Bangladesh. And in
'88 Michael Dukakis, with his Greek roots, was treated as an exotic. On the
Bush bus, Loretta Lynn complained of Mr. Dukakis: "Why, I can't even pronounce
his name!"

We can only dread what will happen when this crowd wraps its tongue around
Hadassah.