Seeking a new emphasis, Dean touts his Christianity

[tbeatty]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/359/nation/Seeking_a_new_emphasis_Dean_touts_his_ChristianityP.shtml

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Presidential contender Howard B. Dean, who has said little about religion while campaigning except to emphasize the separation of church and state, described himself in an interview with the Globe as a committed believer in Jesus Christ and said he expects to increasingly include references to Jesus and God in his speeches as he stumps in the South.

Dean, 55, who practices Congregationalism but does not often attend church and whose wife and children are Jewish, explained the move as a desire to share his beliefs with audiences willing to listen. His comments came as a rival, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, chastised other Democrats for forgetting ''that faith was central to our founding and remains central to our national purpose.''



See link for full story.

Democratic candidates are moving to the right.

[Bucky]

1. Believing in God is "moving to the right"?

Balderd__h! F*ddlest*cks! Complete and utter b__lshit!

It may look a bit like pandering, but certainly Dean can profess a belief in God without being called a conservative. Sheesh. God's not right wing. His hippie son is probably a Democrat.

[w13rd0]

2. His hippie son probably the one....

...that could pull off communism, being free of greed and all...

[tbeatty]

4. I didn't say conservative...

but you have to admit that this kind of pandering is an attempt to move to the right from where he is. Lieberman is more to the right than Dean, but Lieberman is not a conservative.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. South Crhistian Right

Trying to get some of Bush's base away from Bush....

That is bright, now here is something I did not expect, wife and son are Jewish...

[Blue_Chill]

5. Good, it will get him a few more votes

As long as he doesn't go on a rant about how non christians are bad I see nothing wrong with this.

[DuctapeFatwa]

6. It's a shrewd move, and dovetails nicely with his support for sharon

which was another shrewd move - nobody in the bush regime was expecting a Democrat to say bush doesn't support sharon ENOUGH :)

In the coming weeks, I would expect to see all the moneyed candidates focus increasingly on the Big 3:

1) Stress their strong (and as genteely fundamentalist as they can muster) religious faith

2) Be more "Tough on Terror" than the next guy.

3) Put to rest rumors that they "oppose" the war. Get out the message that THEY are the ones to run it :)

[madrchsod]

7. this post should be placed

in gd 2004. dean is an idiot if he thinks that the "christians" are going to buy it, he`s wrong- his wife is a jew-that`s enough for them. i`d explain but it`s christmas...

[w13rd0]

8. Quite frankly, he professes he doesn't even attend church that often...

...it's not so much he's saying "look at me, I'm a Christian", he's saying, "Would THIS (lying to get us into a war) be Christian?" "Wouldn't THIS (health care for children for instance) be more in keeping with the teachings of Christ?" All that is needed is to place the seeds of doubt. If religious faith is but a trapping for George, why not vote for ones own self-interest, or in keeping with one's faith? Why simply take the word of a proven liar like George W Bush? How many people have you heard parrot, "I like George, he's a good Christian man." To which I respond, "And why do you believe that? What empirical evidence do you have to that effect?"

[WindRavenX]

9. I think he's addressing something else

Republicans always bash Democrats for being "godless", and here we have Dean addressing that issue. Good for Dean.
Religion, IMHO, won't influence my vote...I just want a good liberal. I don't care what religion you are...if you're liberal, I'll vote for you.

[DFLforever]

10. Rove is getting ready to identify Dean as the 'secular' candidate

as opposed to the 'true believer' who dwells in the White House. David Brooks tested this description out on PBS's News Hours about a week ago.

Dean is not willing to let himself be defined by the reThugs...he's busting a hole in their portrayal of him.

[Moderator]

11. Locking

This belongs in the GD 2004 Primary Forum. However, there are already quite a few threads discussing the subject over there. Therefore, I will lock this and ask that you please continue the discussion in this existing thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=26003

DU Moderator