David Morgan, Reuters WASHINGTON (July 1) - President Bush, seeking to mobilize religious conservatives for his reelection campaign, has asked church-going volunteers to turn over church membership directories, campaign officials said on Thursday. "I would not want my church directories being used that way." -The Rev. Richard Land In a move sharply criticized both by religious leaders and civil libertarians, the Bush-Cheney campaign has issued a guide listing about two-dozen "duties" and a series of deadlines for organizing support among conservative church congregations. A copy of the guide directs religious volunteers to send church directories to state campaign committees, identify new churches that can be organized by the Bush campaign and talk to clergy about holding voter registration drives. The document, distributed to campaign coordinators across the country earlier this year, also recommends that volunteers distribute voter guides in church and use Sunday service programs for get-out-the-vote drives. "We expect this election to be potentially as close as 2000, so every vote counts and it's important to reach out to every single supporter of President Bush," campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel said. But the Rev. Richard Land, who deals with ethics and religious liberty issues for the Southern Baptist Convention, a key Bush constituency, said he was "appalled." "First of all, I would not want my church directories being used that way," he said, predicting failure for the Bush plan. The conservative Protestant denomination, whose 16 million members strongly backed Bush in 2000, held regular drives that encouraged church-goers to "vote their values," said Land. "But it's one thing for us to do that. It's a totally different thing for a partisan campaign to come in and try to organize a church. A lot of pastors are going to say: 'Wait a minute, bub'," he added. The guide surfaced as a spate of opinion polls showed Bush's reelection campaign facing a tough battle. A Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed Bush running neck-and-neck with Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry among registered voters, 47 percent of whom said they now believed the president had misled Americans about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. The Bush campaign has also been spending heavily on television ads, only to see the president's approval ratings slump to new lows. Stanzel said the campaign ended the month of June with $64 million on hand. He had no figures on how much Bush has raised in June. At the end of May, Bush had raised $213.4 million and spent all but $63 million. The latest effort to marshal religious support also drew fire from civil liberties activists concerned about the constitutional separation of church and state. "Any coordination between the Bush campaign and church leaders would clearly be illegal," said a statement from the activist group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. 07/01/04 19:30 ET
Wow! They've blown that much already?? And for fvck all. Is Halliburton handling the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign as well?
Does anybody in Bush's innercircle ever stop to think about these things? Or are they just blind to how the rest of the world works? As for the money they have spent...wouldn't it be ironic if they ran out in late October?
Excuse me, is this pew taken? They cannot spend any of this money after Bush accepts the party's nomination at the Republican convention. At that point they are limited to Federal funding laws. Back to the church data fiasco, this is just another example of the Bush government trampelling on civil liberties. So much for getting the government out of our personal lives. Bush wants to be in the pew and bedroom with you.
There really isn't much left to say. They are finally offending the last group they can possibly offend. I thought it was shameless when Bush lobbied the Vatican last month, but this even goes beyond in terms of tactlessness.
I just read this and rushed over here to make sure somebody had posted about it. This is unbelievable. Most churches will already tell their parishioners to get out and vote. Some maybe even partisanly/illegally so. But for one of the two parties to actually request parishes to turn over membership directories to them is appauling.
It kind of makes me think that the churches that actually do turn over their membership info should lose their tax exempt status as they should be considered political in nature.
The Bushies aren't asking the churches directly. They're asking a member of each church to betray the rest of the congregation and give them the directories. My church has a directory, and I'm sure yours does too. They're looking for copies of this. On a side note...once the Bushies piss off the Southern Baptists, there's only one consituency left to antagonize. The rich.
I doubt seriously that more than a small percentage of the people involved will even mind. And frankly, if you allow your name to be published in a directory that is distributed among an entire membership, you're pretty much leaving yourself open for this kind of thing. Yeah, it's sorta icky but it would be a lot ickier if they were actually asking churches to reveal their membership rolls.
You mean, constitution as in 'guts'? I actually am amused by you SF liberals. Especially when a guy like Michael Savage drives you nuts.
Explain how it's a "good" thing, please, for reasons other than, "I'm a Republican, and this sounds like a smart way to try to win votes." Strategic, yes. Potentially helpful in terms of getting mailers to voters, yes. Serious potential to backfire, yes. On shaky ethical ground, yes. Good? Only if you're a pragmatic Republican not concerned about the separation of Jeebus and state AND you think this will work and not backfire.
What's the big deal? Is this distasteful, yes, but isn't this pretty similar to how the NAACP marshalls their voter base at election time? At least the Administration isn't providing bussing and handing out vote cards. Yet.
I'm pretty sure you're wrong. I can tell ya, my church, which I guess is at least 2/3 Republican, would be in revolt. Any member who did this would likely be asked to leave the congregation.
I was gonna make a sarcastic remark, but then I realized that you can't possibly be comparing a person joining the NAACP, which has a pretty explicitly political message, and someone joining a church, which (normally) has an entirely different set of concerns.
I'm talking about how, in both cases, a political group is working hand in hand with churches to further mutual interests. I'm first to admit I haven't been around much. Does this not happen in North Carolina?