Red Morals & W’s America
This bit from Atrios would be funny, if it wasn’t also so sad.
Family Values
Bush introduced Mike and Sharla Hintz, a couple from Clive, whom he said benefited from his tax plan.
Last year, because of the enhanced the child tax credit, they received an extra $1,600 in their tax refund, Bush said. With other tax cuts in the bill, they saved $2,800 on their income taxes.
They used the money to buy a wood-burning stove to more efficiently heat their home, made some home improvements and went on a vacation to Minnesota, the president said.
“Next year, maybe they’ll want to come to Texas,” Bush quipped.
Mike Hintz, a First Assembly of God youth pastor, said the tax cuts also gave him additional money to use for health care.
He said he supports Bush’s values.
“The American people are starting to see what kind of leader President Bush is. People know where he stands,” he said.
“Where we are in this world, with not just the war on terror, but with the war with our culture that’s going on, I think we need a man that is going to be in the White House like President Bush, that’s going to stand by what he believes.
A Des Moines youth pastor is charged with the sexual exploitation of a child.
KCCI learned that the married father of four recently turned himself in to Johnston police.
Rev. Mike Hintz was fired from the First Assembly of God Church, located at 2725 Merle Hay Road, on Oct. 30. Hintz was the youth pastor there for three years.
Police said he started an affair with a 17-year-old in the church youth group this spring.
And these are the people who want to dictate our morality. Just goes to show, we’re only as sick as our secrets, or so the saying goes.
December 7th, 2004 at 1:59 pm
* sigh * I am sure there will be people who praise him for “turning himself in” and all that crap and totally look past or make excuses for his imoral acts. I also doubt that the media will want to REALLY touch this and and any Bush connection for fear or reatliation.
December 7th, 2004 at 2:54 pm
I am sure there are a hundred examples just like Hintz. There are sure to be, not because those Reds are so dispicable, but because there are so many ‘moral’ failings everywhere. And there are so very many Reds.
I’m a Zennist. A few years ago, Zen leaders were being ousted right and left for behaviors that were corrupt or bizzare or, most often, involved inappropriate sexual daliances. In addition there has been quite a bit of alcoholism that gets overlooked.
I think that one example, or even a bucket of examples like Hintz might not be enought to make an indictment of a class of folks that are the majority in America.
IMHO, we should be careful with our “these people”-type righteous finger pointing, lest we become exactly that which we mock.
December 8th, 2004 at 4:52 pm
Tom is right — we do need to be careful about “these people” categorizations. Its an artificial polarization of people into camps, and it can just as easily be done against us. In fact, it has, and it will be done again. But we have to be careful about too broad a stereotyping of Bush’s followers!!!!
Now with that said–wow, what a delicious little irony. Hope it bit W in the ass.