Despite being ushered to the sidelines during the GOP Convention,
evangelicals believe that they, not the moderates on-stage in New
York, stand to benefit the most from a second Bush term.

According to the Christian Coalition president Roberta Combs, as
evangelicals, she says, "We still own the president."


http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/083104Z.shtml

Why won't the Republicans tell us who they really are and what they
really stand for? What are they ashamed of?

Harry

Despite being ushered to the sidelines during the GOP Convention,
evangelicals believe that they, not the moderates on-stage in New
York, stand to benefit the most from a second Bush term.

According to the Christian Coalition president Roberta Combs, as
evangelicals, she says, "We still own the president."


http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/083104Z.shtml

What You Won't See at the Republican Convention

By Scott Galindez
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Tuesday 31 August 2004


Republicans are doing their best to keep evangelical Christians - a
"core part" of Bush's base - hidden during the upcoming GOP Convention
in New York.

Instead the party will focus on courting swing voters, by featuring a
slate of speakers representing views opposite to those of the
president's: pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control and
anti-death penalty.

Religious conservatives are disgruntled by being brushed aside, while
moderates receive higher profile roles at the national convention.

Ultimately, the masquerading at the convention does little to shield
the scope of influence evangelicals have with the Bush White House.

After four years of pandering to his right-wing base, Bush is
attempting to push them aside for four days in New York, although
their influence and presence remain widely known.

And simultaneously, the Bush White House continues to do right by its
big-business, big-industry cronies, and as a result, do harm to
America's workers and families.

Bush began courting evangelicals and conservative Christians during
his father's 1988 campaign for president, in which he served as the
GOP liaison to religious conservatives.

According to the Los Angeles Times, "That experience gave 'Junior,' as
he was then known, exposure to two forces that would prove enormously
important to his own political rise: the evangelical movement, which
has become a core part of his political base; and an emerging style of
hardball campaigning, which he used to defeat Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) in the 2000 Republican primaries and has unfurled against
his presumed 2004 Democratic opponent, Sen. John F. Kerry of
Massachusetts."

Despite being ushered to the sidelines during the GOP Convention,
evangelicals believe that they, not the moderates on-stage in New
York, stand to benefit the most from a second Bush term.

According to the Christian Coalition president Roberta Combs, as
evangelicals, she says, "We still own the president."

The Bush Administration's connections to Corporate America will also
not be highlighted on the stage at Madison Square Garden.

Bush has rolled back and eliminated a series of important regulations
designed to protect the health of families and workers.

The Bush administration has taken the most aggressive anti-regulatory
posture in memory, fighting back against important rules to side with
business interests.

Bush is not only trying to raise taxes on middle-class families, he's
trying to undermine important protections that save lives.

The Bush administration has altered the rule-making power of the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration in order to promote the
interests of business over workers.

In the past 3 1/2 years, OSHA, the branch of the Labor Department in
charge of workers' well-being, has eliminated nearly five times as
many pending standards as it has completed.

It has not started any major new health or safety rules, thereby
setting Bush apart from the previous three presidents, including
Ronald Reagan.

And of course the "War on Terror" has turned into a huge "corporate
welfare" program, with corporations like Halliburton and Bechtel
getting the lion's share of contracts for projects ranging from
housing and feeding our troops to reconstruction in Iraq and
Afghanistan.

We will not see any speakers from ENRON or El Paso Energy who crafted
the Bush-Cheney Energy Policy.

We will not see any speakers from Halliburton or the Carlyle Group who
have become the beneficiaries of the administration's "War on Terror."

To see the true power brokers behind the Bush-Cheney machine, stay
tuned to t r u t h o u t' s coverage of the Republican National
Convention - we will show you the parties behind the scenes where the
real power in the Republican Party will be visible.

___________________________________________________________

Why won't the Republicans tell us who they really are and what they
really stand for? What are they ashamed of?

Harry