Losing Faith in the President

[cal04]

Critical Book by Ex-Staffer in Religion-Based Effort Is Out
White House officials realized they had a problem, former staffer David Kuo writes in his new book, "Tempting Faith," when they saw how a panel rated the first applications for grants under the "faith-based initiative," President Bush's vaunted effort to help religious charities.

On a scale of 1 to 100, respected national organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America scored in the mid-70s to mid-80s, "while something called Jesus and Friends Ministry from California, a group with little more than a post office box," scored 89 and Pat Robertson's overseas aid organization, Operation Blessing, scored 95, according to Kuo.

"It was obvious that the ratings were a farce," he writes, adding that he and other White House aides feared that if the list became public, "it would show once and for all that the initiative was purely about paying off political friends for their support."

Portions of Kuo's explosive book, which formally went on sale yesterday, were leaked last week by MSNBC. They brought heated denials from White House press secretary Tony Snow and other current and former Bush administration officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/16/AR2006101601101.html

[Paranoid Pessimist]

1. He was on 60 Minutes last night

Very sane well spoken young man, did not come across as having any kind of agenda or score to settle. Mostly disappointed because he said he really believed GWB meant it when he talked about mobilizing the churches to help the poor. Says that Bush staffers mocked and joked about the Religious Right in private while pandering to them with no-followthrough bullshit promises (he didn't say it that way; he's a genuinely religious guy).

The White House press office is issuing so many "heated denials" they may spontanously combust. That's all they do. Heated denials.

The thing that scares me is that 32% of the American people still aren't appalled and disgusted by the Bush regime.

[Demeter]

2. Thanks for the Excerpt

Very revealing--these guys are toast, as long as the heat is on!