Crusader-in-Chief

[G_j]

Crusader-in-Chief
by Richard Blow
     Losing the argument over war in Iraq, the White House launches a culture war.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/10031

The other night on the Bravo program "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," the Fab Five helped a young man prepare for a wonderful and momentous event: He wanted to propose to his girlfriend, but he needed their help first.

It was a poignant episode, and not just because of the proposal. What made it particularly moving was the fact that the Fab Five were helping prep someone for a social ritual that they can't partake in—and that President Bush wants to deny them permanently.

On the other side of the cultural spectrum was this week's release of "The Passion of the Christ," Mel Gibson's movie about the crucifixion of Jesus.

By all accounts the film is almost obsessively violent, bloody, difficult to watch and surprisingly not spiritual; I've seen it described several times as "sadistic." Nonetheless, with his declaration that he wants a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, President Bush has thrown himself squarely on the side of "The Passion" and its true believers—the conservative Christians to whom Gibson has heavily marketed the film. Along with Catholic voters, it is they who most vehemently oppose gay marriage, and Bush needs them to win this fall.
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