With less than four weeks to go before the Iowa Caucuses, Governor Rick Perry’s fumbling presidential campaign appears desperate. The Perry folks unveiled an ad today I assume is targeted at the most fervent base of the Republican Party, Christian conservatives. It is likely most of them will find Perry’s ad offensive, or at least I hope they do.
Apparently, Mr. Perry thinks tossing up divisiveness and hate might just be the fabled “Hail Mary pass” he needs to get back in the game. Hopefully, voters will reject such pandering to the closed minded, yet politically active.
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Here is the complete text from the ad, “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can’t openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school. As President, I’ll end Obama’s war on religion. And I’ll fight against liberal attacks on our religious heritage. Faith made America strong. It can make her strong again.”
Mr. Perry’s accusation that President Obama has instigated a war on religion is nearly as detestable and destructive as his linking the sexual orientation of servicemen and women to his ridiculously fabricated prohibition of Christmas.
Something is wrong, Mr. Perry, when a candidate seeking the presidency has such a feeble understanding of the fundamental building blocks of American democracy he thinks incendiary language such as this has a place in political discourse.
Equality and religious freedom are cornerstones of our nation requiring mutual respect among countrymen. Mr. Perry has shown he lacks that respect and he should be ashamed.
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Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com
This entry was first published as a Des Moines Register blog entry.
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