Comments by President Bush about God published in Bob Woodward's new book, "Plan of Attack," are drawing scathing criticism from his political enemies, while defenders rush to the commander in chief's side.
In Woodward's book, he quotes the president as saying he prayed "for the strength to do the Lord's will" when committing the nation to go to war in Iraq.
Such a comment doesn't sit well with his detractors, however, including presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who called Bush "unstable."
In an interview with the Christian Science Monitor, Nader said, "We are dealing here with a basically unstable president. … We are dealing with a messianic militarist. A messianic militarist, under our constitutional structure, is an unstable office-holder. Talk about separation of church and state: It is not separated at all in Bush's brain, and this is extremely disturbing."
The Catholic League pointed out in statement that in today's Washington Post, columnist Richard Cohen picks up on this subject by saying that Bush is convinced he is "a servant of God and history." In today's Philadelphia Inquirer, a Catholic University professor, John Kenneth White, is quoted as saying that Bush is "coming to the very edge" of the "very fine line between church and state."
William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, countered Bush's critics:
"Bush mentions Jesus as his favorite philosopher, and the secularists go mad," Donohue said. "The president turns to God for wisdom, and the elites get nervous. There is more than a phobia at work here – it's a deep-seated hostility to any public expression of religion."
Donohue says Nader's comments amounted to demagoguery.
"Nader is not decent enough to simply disagree with Bush; he must label him as unstable," said Donohue. "As for the 'messianic militarist' tag, Nader should be careful: He has done more to earn his stripes as a messianic militarist – in service to the Leviathan – than any American."
Continued Donohue: "Separation of church and state has nothing to do with 'God talk.' In fact, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And that is why attempts to censor the free-speech rights of any candidate for public office must be resisted. Persons of faith, comprising 94 percent of Americans, will not be silenced in this election."
Woodward has come under fire from Bush administration officials for some of the contentions he makes in his book.
Secretary of State Colin Powell labeled as "silly" a claim that Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan knew of U.S. plans to go to war before Powell did. Also, officials have denied that Bandar gave the administration an assurance to increase production of crude oil before the U.S. presidential election to curb rising gasoline prices.
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