Newsweek Magazine has reported that the Democratic party has decided to try to link the so-called “religious right” in America with the practices of the Taliban. They reportedly will attempt to weaken President Bush and reduce his favorable ratings by forcing him to defend religious conservatives.
Here’s why I think this is a bad strategy. First, many Evangelical Christians are Democrats. In the past, conservative Republicans have been able to speak to them through the language of faith, which most Democrats do not know. Clinton and Gore regularly misquoted scripture and Clinton's attempt to portray himself as a Southern Baptist fell flat because of his personal behavior and his attendance at Hillary's liberal Methodist Church.
Democrats also risk further erosion in the South, where they desperately need votes in order to win presidential elections. Rrepublican's have virtually controlled the South since Richard Nixon began prying them away from Democrats. Clinton won enough Southern states because he was from the deep South, but a political attack on the Christian's faith might well do in Democrats.
As presidential aide Karl Rove noted, an estimated four million of fifteen million Evangelical voters did not vote in the 2000 election. Attacking their faith may cause them all to turn out in 2004. I’m Cal Thomas in Washington.
