Onion Pirates
27-10-2004, 21:20
Here is MSN's impartial lowdown on the tactics Cheney & Rove plan to use for a GOP win.
Gee, to me it looks like fear, hate, lies and intimidation.
Gosh.
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toThe Voters: Shepherding the Flock
In Missouri, the faithful are doing their part to see that the GOP hits its goal of maximizing turnout for President BushBy Rebecca Sinderbrand
NewsweekNov. 1 issue - If America's Bible belt has a buckle, it just might be the Central Assembly of God, in Springfield, Mo. John Ashcroft used to pray in this massive, high-ceilinged church, and the congregants are, by and large, a lot like him: deeply religious, deeply conservative and deeply committed to re-electing George W. Bush. On a recent Wednesday night, the church's head pastor, Jim Bradford, devoted his sermon to the presidential race, something he says he'll keep preaching about until Election Day. "Our elected officials are servants of God. He places people in these positions," Bradford told his mostly white flock. "Four million evangelicals didn't vote in the last election. The church ought not to lag."
Bradford doesn't come right out and say the words: vote for Bush. He doesn't need to. The congregation understands him well enough. And they are listening. "A high, high, percentage of our members will be voting for President Bush," says Pastor Hubert Morris. They are doing more than that. Many congregants are enthusiastic volunteers in Bush's all-important drive to get evangelicals to the polls.
• Kuntzman: Bush Cousins Who Back Kerry
In Missouri, where more than a third of the residents described themselves as "born-again" Christians in one recent survey—and in swing states around the country—evangelicals are now some of the GOP's most devoted foot soldiers. They knock on doors, hand out voter-registration forms at church events and work long hours on the Bush-Cheney phone banks, where they deliver "value-based" appeals to people on the campaign's growing list of evangelicals. The lists themselves are generated by churchgoers, who sign up their neighbors, who sign up their neighbors in turn.
The result: thanks in part to a strong push by evangelicals, Kerry's 10-point margin with women in Missouri has evaporated. Bush has established a five-point edge statewide, according to recent polls, and both campaigns have pulled their television advertising. Still, Kerry is making a late push for believers, especially in cities like Kansas City and St. Louis. He asked David Keyes, a Missouri-born minister and old antiwar buddy, to remind people that "God doesn't belong to any political party." But even Keyes knows he can only do so much now. "I do wish we'd started six months earlier," he says ruefully.
The Bush camp started well before that. Karl Rove was already hard at work courting Missouri's Christians last year. He had some unexpected help. "This decision is just so simple for me this year," says Ruth Anger, a Bush volunteer. "Because my life is grounded in Biblical principles, like marriage between a man and a woman."
Gay marriage has motivated millions of evangelicals in a way that even abortion never did. In August, voters here overwhelmingly approved a proposed amendment to the state's constitution banning gay marriage. Kerry's opposition to a federal constitutional amendment is a deal-killer for many evangelicals.
And not just in Missouri. Anti-gay-marriage proposals are on the ballot next month in Michigan and Ohio, two other states with large Bush evangelical operations. In Ohio, the Christian Coalition mailed out 2 million voter guides, and urged ministers to make registration drives part of Sunday-morning services. In West Virginia and Arkansas, evangelical volunteers received GOP-sponsored pamphlets warning that Bible-reading could be banned if John Kerry won.
"The Republicans go into churches and use inappropriate tactics to bully and intimidate," says Keyes. The Bush camp wouldn't describe it that way. But David Flower, a Central Assembly member, admits his fellow congregants are serious about turnout. "There's been a strong move to almost embarrass church members if they don't vote this year," he says. Somewhere, Karl Rove is smiling.
Gee, to me it looks like fear, hate, lies and intimidation.
Gosh.
******************************************************
toThe Voters: Shepherding the Flock
In Missouri, the faithful are doing their part to see that the GOP hits its goal of maximizing turnout for President BushBy Rebecca Sinderbrand
NewsweekNov. 1 issue - If America's Bible belt has a buckle, it just might be the Central Assembly of God, in Springfield, Mo. John Ashcroft used to pray in this massive, high-ceilinged church, and the congregants are, by and large, a lot like him: deeply religious, deeply conservative and deeply committed to re-electing George W. Bush. On a recent Wednesday night, the church's head pastor, Jim Bradford, devoted his sermon to the presidential race, something he says he'll keep preaching about until Election Day. "Our elected officials are servants of God. He places people in these positions," Bradford told his mostly white flock. "Four million evangelicals didn't vote in the last election. The church ought not to lag."
Bradford doesn't come right out and say the words: vote for Bush. He doesn't need to. The congregation understands him well enough. And they are listening. "A high, high, percentage of our members will be voting for President Bush," says Pastor Hubert Morris. They are doing more than that. Many congregants are enthusiastic volunteers in Bush's all-important drive to get evangelicals to the polls.
• Kuntzman: Bush Cousins Who Back Kerry
In Missouri, where more than a third of the residents described themselves as "born-again" Christians in one recent survey—and in swing states around the country—evangelicals are now some of the GOP's most devoted foot soldiers. They knock on doors, hand out voter-registration forms at church events and work long hours on the Bush-Cheney phone banks, where they deliver "value-based" appeals to people on the campaign's growing list of evangelicals. The lists themselves are generated by churchgoers, who sign up their neighbors, who sign up their neighbors in turn.
The result: thanks in part to a strong push by evangelicals, Kerry's 10-point margin with women in Missouri has evaporated. Bush has established a five-point edge statewide, according to recent polls, and both campaigns have pulled their television advertising. Still, Kerry is making a late push for believers, especially in cities like Kansas City and St. Louis. He asked David Keyes, a Missouri-born minister and old antiwar buddy, to remind people that "God doesn't belong to any political party." But even Keyes knows he can only do so much now. "I do wish we'd started six months earlier," he says ruefully.
The Bush camp started well before that. Karl Rove was already hard at work courting Missouri's Christians last year. He had some unexpected help. "This decision is just so simple for me this year," says Ruth Anger, a Bush volunteer. "Because my life is grounded in Biblical principles, like marriage between a man and a woman."
Gay marriage has motivated millions of evangelicals in a way that even abortion never did. In August, voters here overwhelmingly approved a proposed amendment to the state's constitution banning gay marriage. Kerry's opposition to a federal constitutional amendment is a deal-killer for many evangelicals.
And not just in Missouri. Anti-gay-marriage proposals are on the ballot next month in Michigan and Ohio, two other states with large Bush evangelical operations. In Ohio, the Christian Coalition mailed out 2 million voter guides, and urged ministers to make registration drives part of Sunday-morning services. In West Virginia and Arkansas, evangelical volunteers received GOP-sponsored pamphlets warning that Bible-reading could be banned if John Kerry won.
"The Republicans go into churches and use inappropriate tactics to bully and intimidate," says Keyes. The Bush camp wouldn't describe it that way. But David Flower, a Central Assembly member, admits his fellow congregants are serious about turnout. "There's been a strong move to almost embarrass church members if they don't vote this year," he says. Somewhere, Karl Rove is smiling.