What Does George Bush Believe?

Here's the background... Abdul Rahman is a citizen of Afghanistan who converted to Christianity years ago. This is a crime under Sharia law and Rahman is facing trial and possibly could be sentenced to death. His case has created a major global uproar.

This also shows our 'success' in liberating Afghanistan and removing the Taliban was widely overhyped.

President Bush was asked about this man's plight in yesterday's town hall meeting. This question was going to be tricky for the President, since has previously praised the Afghan constitution (after having been warned earlier that it would institutionalize a 'Taliban-lite' government), stating in 2004 that "We’re making good progress, we really are, in parts of the world. Afghanistan has now got a constitution which talks about freedom of religion and talks about women’s rights."

The President's response yesterday about the Rahman case was:

"I'm troubled when I hear, deeply troubled when I hear, the fact that a person who has converted away from Islam may be held to account. That's not the universal application of the values that I talked about. I look forward to working with the government of that country to make sure that people are protected in their capacity to worship."

The President's history of (in)action and indifference betrays him here.

Michelle Malkin immediately decried his mealy-mouthed answer... wow! Perhaps Ms. Malkin's opinion in this matter would be better received if she didn't have a history of anti-Muslim hatred and general support for the mealy-mouthed President.

This "mealy-mouthed" response was not an anomaly either; it is actually rather typical of the President. Another recent example came this past Monday. A woman asked him about a popular belief among fundamentalist Christians. She asked-

"[Author Kevin Phillips] makes the point that members of your administration have reached out to prophetic Christians who see the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism as signs of the apocalypse.

Do you believe this, that the war in Iraq and the rise of terrorism are signs of the apocalypse? And if not, why not?"

The President responded with fear and caution, mumbling-

"Um... uh... I... The answer is, I haven't really thought of it that way," he finally spit out. "Here's how I think of it. The first I've heard of that, by the way. I guess I'm more of a practical fellow."

As Jon Stewart noted on the Daily Show (video- 'Rambling Man'), Bush was asking himself "Well let's see, I got a Christian base, I gotta take care of. Well I also need to look sane. Well, hmmmm."

Arianna Huffington also looked at the incident: Apocalypse What?

I think these two examples prove how genuinely duped the President's base is, particularly his hardcore Christian base. The Karl Rove strategy, which has been successful, was to convince this base that George W. Bush was their political savior- the man who would take their beliefs into the Oval Office and make them the law of the land. But the extent to which he believes this things is a well-guarded secret (outside his belief that his mission in the Middle East is a divine one); it was mostly an easy way to scam votes off an extremely ideological and well-organized movement. His religion is power. His base gets some token gifts in return (an abortion ban here, some anti-gay legislation there), but they don't get their ultimate wish... a Pat Robertson-esque end-of-days validation.

I don't believe that the President really believes or cares about any of this stuff. He's certainly not a Christian by any stretch (Christians don't torture and kill and promote intolerance). I don't believe he cares what an awful state Afghanistan is still in. Or what happens to Mr. Rahman. And who knows whether he really believes the fundamentalist Christian stuff he uses to shore up votes. George W. Bush is, in the end, a very clever salesman who has no real use for the products he sells other than to collect his earnings from them.

Christians are a huge part of the President's remaining base. The question is how long it'll be before they realize they are simply being used a pawn in the White House's game. Or do they not care either?