It's pretty much an open secret in Washington that the Republican establishment really does not like the Religious Right. They court their votes, to be sure, but when the lights go down, at best the pols forget them, at worst they ridicule them. Behind closed doors, the politicians backed by the rural, Christian right look a lot more like the dreaded "intellectual elite establishment" than they do the rural folks that support them.
The Foley scandal has cast a harsh light on all this, of course. These guys, or their staff, spend their days writing "pro family" speeches and legislation, while many of them spend their nights in leather bars, or worse.
A new book by George Bush's former head of the faith-based initiative office not only confirms this, but adds many gallons of fuel to the fire. And the guy has religious, conservative credentials that can't be touched. I haven't read it yet, it's just coming out, but Olberman has been quoting it for the past two nights, and the quotes I heard are devastating.
Surprise, surprise, the Bush admin plays religion for politics. But the scorn and ridicule heaped on the religious right by this admin (Karl rove in particular), and the depth of the cynicism and manipulation, truly is startling.
