Dems attempt to woo religious constituency

The big lesson of the last election, as reported in the media, was that values still count for something. In fact, they still count so much that they made the difference between a win for Bush and a loss for Kerry. All the media outlets were abuzz with the "hard data" of the exit polls: what mattered most to people was values. Moral values. Religious values. Traditional family values. All across the country, following the election, there have been Democratic Party town meetings to discuss "What went wrong?" The conclusion? We neglected values. What can we do to win in 2008? We gotta get them values. How do we do that? Start talking about them. Make them personal. Family values. Moral values. Above all, religious values.

Well, it seems Hillary Rodham Clinton has found it expedient to "find religion" and go public with it. On this topic, an article in the Jan. 20, 2005 issue of the Boston Globe by Michael Jones reports:

On the eve of the presidential inauguration, US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton last night embraced an issue some pundits say helped seal a second term for George W. Bush: acceptance of the role of faith in addressing social ills.

In a speech at a fund-raising dinner for a Boston-based organization that promotes faith-based solutions to social problems, Clinton said there has been a "false division" between faith-based approaches to social problems and respect for the separation of church of state.

"There is no contradiction between support for faith-based initiatives and upholding our constitutional principles," said Clinton, a New York Democrat who often is mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008.

Addressing a crowd of more than 500, including many religious leaders, at Boston's Fairmont Copley Plaza, Clinton invoked God more than half a dozen times, at one point declaring, "I've always been a praying person."

She said there must be room for religious people to "live out their faith in the public square."

Caveat emptor ("Let the buyer beware"): Some Dems peddling religion must be counting on our not knowing the difference between chicken soup and chicken spit. Read more, if you can stomach it, here.