The Ninth Commandment

Posted on October 6, 2004 in Campaign 2004 Morals & Ethics Secularism

I didn’t watch the debate, but I did read the transcripts. The Bush-Cheney campaign wants to style itself as the Party of God or, at least, the Christian Party against Kerry/Edwards and the “godless” Democrats. It’s a chip they’re counting on, hoping that the Fundamentalist vote will pull them over the top in November. Unfortunately, there are problems with the assessment, the first of which is that God does not make explicit political endorsements despite what Falwell and Robertson claim. The second is that both Kerry and Edwards are Christians. Perhaps Bush has succeeded in drumming up some of the good old fashioned anti-Catholicism against John Kerry — he doesn’t even have to mention this for it to work. But John Edwards poses a different problem. Which is why Dick Cheney needed to lie about not meeting Edwards before the debate.

If Cheney — the President of the Senate — has not met or spoken with Senate before this, one must ask “What have you been doing with your time? Why aren’t you doing your job?” The Senate only numbers 100 members: it should strike any reasonable person as odd that two people who have spent many hours together in the same room over the last four years have never met. But then there is proof of direct meetings: first, Edwards escorted Elizabeth Dole to the podium to be sworn in by Dick Cheney when she became Junior carpet-bagging Senator from North Carolina.

It’s the second occasion which is more damning because it undermines the message of the Libertines: Cheney and Edwards were at the 2001 National Prayer Breakfast together. Cheney even greeted Edwards by name:

“Thank you very much. Congressman Watts, Senator Edwards, friends from
across America and distinguished visitors to our country from all over the world, Lynne and I are honored to be with you all this morning.”

And C-Span caught them on stage together:

There’s also a video of them shaking hands.

It is imperative for the Bush-Cheney campaign to pretend that these meetings did not happen because they can’t afford to acknowledge Edward’s Christianity. The behavior of the Bush-Cheney administration is anything but Christian. They have waged war against the impoverished of this earth, stolen from the poor to give to the rich, misadministered their stewardship over the earth (which they stole), absconded with the office rightfully belonging to President Al Gore, and lied. The Beatitudes have been ignored. The ideals of the prophets mocked. And the ministry of Christ deliberately countered in every act and every statement they make in defense of the war and the hideously wealthy.

They have made Christianity the Issue. And so it is fair to measure them by it. By denying that they have ever met, Cheney bore false witness against his neighbor at the National Prayer Breakfast, John Edwards. They don’t want you to know that Edwards is a Christian. Measured by the Fundamentalist standard of mere declaration of one’s love of Jesus, Edwards is a Christian. Measured by the higher standards of the Beatitudes, Kerry-Edwards does not fully measure up, but Bush-Cheney do oh-so-much-worse. Whatever private sins Bush and Cheney may have committed — whatever fornications, drug or alcohol abuse, or gambling — do not matter. What we have here is a very public sin, a bald-faced lie designed to support another lie: that Bush and Cheney manage the government in accord with the words of Christ. They do not.

For a fuller account of Cheney’s deceptions, click here.