Bush Hates Freedom, And Christmas
The White House Christmas card, according to WaPo, fails the “Christmas Friend or Foe” litmus test.
President Bush sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy “holiday season…”
“This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture,” said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.
Bush “claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn’t act like one,” said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. “I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it.”
Religious conservatives are miffed because they have been pressuring stores to advertise Christmas sales rather than “holiday specials” and urging schools to let students out for Christmas vacation rather than for “winter break.” They celebrated when House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) insisted that the sparkling spectacle on the Capitol lawn should be called the Capitol Christmas Tree, not a holiday spruce.
Then along comes a generic season’s greeting from the White House, paid for by the Republican National Committee. The cover art is also secular, if not humanist: It shows the presidential pets — two dogs and a cat — frolicking on a snowy White House lawn.
“Certainly President and Mrs. Bush, because of their faith, celebrate Christmas,” said Susan Whitson, Laura Bush’s press secretary. “Their cards in recent years have included best wishes for a holiday season, rather than Christmas wishes, because they are sent to people of all faiths.”
Well said, Susan. Not surprisingly, Falwell, who spearheaded the campaign, proves to be a flip-flopper when it comes to his beloved presidential puppet:
The current Bush has straddled the divide, offering generic greetings along with an Old Testament verse. To some religious conservatives, that makes all the difference.
“There’s a verse from Scripture in it. I don’t mind that at all, as long as we don’t try to pretend we’re not a nation under God,” said the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
There’s something deeply wrong with someone who throws away a Christmas card for not being Christmas-y enough.
The guy’s probably still pissed he didn’t get the bike he wanted when he was ten.
Never in my life have I witnessed such nonsense going on in this country of ours. As if we aren’t divided enough, now we got X-mas to divide us as well. We’re in such sorry shape, man, let me tell you.
Shit, I’m an atheist and I celebrate X-mas. (The holiday holds no religious significance for me. Besides, Dec 25th is the Roman Sun God day, not the day of Jesus’ birth. Thank the Roman Empire for that one. What better way to bring in the pagans to the then new religion?)
This culture is in serious need of one giant enema! Celebrate or don’t celebrate. Do what you want.
Oh, by the way….Falwell is an ass anyway so who cares what he thinks.
I’m a Christian, and I don’t understand the zealous obsession with forcing all stores, all schools, and all persons to celebrate Christ-Mass. The government shouldn’t be spending cash on particular religious celebrations. If these neo-cons were serious they’d promote the introduction of hannukah light shows with a giant menorah, but instead they’re only interested in the government using tax payers money to promote private interests.
Why they think that their religious interests alone ought to get special treatment I don’t understand.
Because in America these days, it’s all about everyone’s particular “special interests”. It’s not only conservatives and neo-cons but liberals as well. Everyone seems to think their interests are more important than anyone else’s.
As far as religion goes…I know it’s cliche, but mix religion with politics and you got yourself a pretty big powder keg. Not a new phenomenon by any means but still true, regardless.
I say, do what you wish to do and the hell with everyone else. Celebrate if you want or not. Believe in God if you wish, or not. The most important thing is to live your life the way you want to live it without having to put up with someone poking their face in and trying to tell you how to do it.
Something not easy these days…coming from both sides of the aisle.
Ian–
I’m going to address your final sentence: “Why they think that their religious interests alone ought to get special treatment I don’t understand.”
Let me clear this up for you– They don’t actually care about religious celebration, or religion in general. They know that most people have a deep investment in their beleifs, and that chuches (“mega-churches” in many areas) hold a great deal of influence over many communities. The appeal to the populace over religion is a string they pull to get people to vote for them. It’s a sham. George W. Bush, William Donohue and Joseph Fereh are no more devout Christians than I am. Their only god is the dollar sign.
They use the words, they manipulate the people, and the people end up voting for policies and politicians who don’t give a fig what they believe in, as long as no one questions the rapaciousness of big buisness, and these creeps desire to get more and more power.
Religion is a string they pull to make the puppets jump. It’s a cheat, a lie. And when you attempt to cut the strings, and expect people to stand on their own– that’s when they get REALLY angry…