Holy Cross

It turns out that the only thing the Bush administration was interested in getting out of the Religious Reich was their votes and political clout, according to David Kuo, the former second-in-command at the White House's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.

He says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”

“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,’” Kuo writes.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of backlash this could have at the polls in November. The fundies were already feeling queasy about the Mark Foley story, but they were able to rationalize it as just one queer who snuck into the party. But when it dawns on them that they've been played for patsies by the folks who brought them to the dance, well... they should have paid attention in high school when they were assigned Elmer Gantry.