Church of Bush

A number of conservatives treat George W. Bush with what appears to be almost religious reverence - no matter how often his actions conflict with his words, they insist on believing that his words reflect the "real" Bush and that his actions are misunderstood (or not his fault). Why is that?

Rick Perlstein attended a couple of “Parties for the President” to gauge what committed conservatives think about President Bush and writes about his experiences in The Village Voice:

Says Delores: "There is an agenda—to get rid of God in our country." Chirps the reporter: Certainly not on the part of John Kerry, who once entertained dreams of entering the priesthood.

I'm almost laughed out of the room.

I ask why Kerry goes to mass every week if he's trying to get rid of God. "Public relations!" a young man calls out from across the room. "Same reason he does everything else." Cue for Delores to repeat something a rabbi told her: "We have to stand together, because this is what happened in Europe. You know—once they start taking this right and that right. And you have the Islamic people . . . " She trails off. I ask whether she's referring to the rise of fascism. "We're losing our rights as Christians: yes. And being persecuted again."

Again? When was the first time that American Christians were persecuted?

I ask Tom what role he sees in America for nonbelievers. "Well, if people are of an opinion that their God is supreme and are willing to burn your house down to prove it or dismantle your car to prove it or make all sorts of loud noises, disturbing the peace, and say that they have a right to do that in the name of God. . . ." he begins, in his best Mr. Rogers voice. Later I parse out what the hell he was talking about. I was asking about atheists. But Tom understood "nonbeliever" according to the premise that God is exclusively Judeo-Christian. It wasn't about whether you believe in anything, but whether you dared diverge from his belief.

Daring to diverge from accepted beliefs seems to have been a common theme that Rick encountered: whatever the issue, dissent and disagreement were simply not well tolerated. I’m still not quite sure why that is...

Read More:

• 2004 Elections
• Election Polls
• George W. Bush
• John Kerry