I'm sure evangelicals could find a shelter...

Like Urkel in a Tyson fight, the blows just keep landing and landing and landing.Today, news hit about a book written by David Kuo, former deputy director of the Faith-Based Initiative, "Tempting Faith" in which Kuo says that White House workers rolled their eyes and called evangelicals and conservative religious leaders "nuts" after giving them hugs and support and openly scorned them and used them for political value.Says Kuo, "National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person, and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' 'out of control' and just plain goofy. The leaders spent much time lauding the president, but they were never shrewd enough to do what Billy Graham had done three decades before, to wonder whether they were being used. They were.”
Kuo points out how easy it was for Bush and his administration to manipulate the evangelicals. Of course, coming three weeks before an election where Republicans only hope is the evangelical vote, this book is a kick straight in the political nads. But what I find more fascinating, is the reaction by evangelical leaders.Everyone else inside the Beltway pretty much snoozed at this announcement. It wasn't a surprise to anyone who knows how Washington works. But evangelicals rushed to defend Bush, and, without knowing what happened, and despite the fact that Kuo wanted the White House to be MORE Christian and focus MORE on faith-based initiative, they claim Kuo must have turned sides to the liberals and is just plain lying.The reaction reminded me of something, and it took a while for me to figure out what it was: an abused wife.If you've ever seen testimony from an abused wife being confronted about her husband's violent behavior, it has the same feel that the response from evangelical leaders to these new revelations has.Focus on Family, for example, called Kuo's descriptions "mischaracterizations" despite the fact that they have no information about what he did or didn't hear, and they certainly weren't in the White House behind the scenes. Pat Robertson also came out, saying the claims "did not compute" and deriding them.It sounds so familiar, and so sad."No, officer, he didn't hit me. I believe him when he says those panties are his sisters'."It's sad, but the proof is enough to have any doctor pull the patient aside for a heart-to-heart. Bush dropped support for actually funding the Faith-based Initiative once the issue got conservatives into the voting booth. He rallied evangelicals on the gay amendment issue, then dropped it one week after the 2004 election results. He only put forward a more conservative Supreme Court candidate after a huge cry from conservatives over his first pick. Kind of like the husband apologizing after the wife starts to call the police. "Hey, baby, I just get emotional, that's all..."But while evangelical leaders, like an abused wife, may think this is the best man they can find and they should take a few licks when they burn the meatloaf, I'm not so sure the average voter thinks so. Not saying that they'll suddenly vote democrat, but when election day comes, a lot of evangelicals are going to find it hard to stomach coming out of the voting booth claiming they "just fell down the stairs."