Tempting Faith

Critics of the Bush administration have long maintained that it pays lip service to the needs and issues of the evangelical movement without ever actually delivering on its promises — part of a duplicitous Karl Rove campaign strategy to get out Christian voters on election day, only to dismiss them the day after.

But few thought such criticisms would come from the former number-two man in Bush’s own Office of Faith-Based Initiatives. Yet that’s exactly what David Kuo is charging in his new book, “Tempting Faith.”

Kuo, himself a conservative Christian, ultimately left the Bush administration in disgust. He now says that the White House publicly praised the evangelicals for campaign purposes, only to play them for suckers after election day.

Case in point? According to Kuo, which of the following was among the derogatory descriptions that Bush administration used to describe evangelical Christians?

A. “The nuts”
B. “Ridiculous”
C. “Out of control”
D. “Goofy”
E. All of the above



ANSWER
E: All of the above. Kuo’s conclusion? “[The White House] was mocking the millions of faithful Christians who had put their trust and hope in the President and his administration.”