Richard Clarke part LII

After a long delay, I am blogging about Richard Clarke. and, in particular, his book "Against All Enemies." He wrote something very relevant to the a Time magazine poll about people's perceptions of politicians' religious faith. The article charmingly starts "The hoary joke that a "religious Democrat" is more of an oxymoron than "jumbo shrimp" couldn't be more wrong in this election cycle". Right, this time Democrats are religious unlike Jimmy Carter or Joe Lieberman. I should have guessed immediately that the author is Amy Sullivan who keeps discovering the idea that maybe democrats should explain that they are in fact religious and stop lionizing outspoken atheists like the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

Now I have nothing against the irreligious, being an atheist, but facts are facts and a lot of US adults are confused about Hillary Clinton.

according to the new TIME poll, only 15% of registered voters believe that Hillary Clinton is "strongly religious," compared to 22% for John Edwards and 24% for Barack Obama. Perhaps more problematic for Clinton is the fact that nearly one-quarter of respondents (24%) say they know she is "not religious" — that's almost twice the nearest candidate, Rudy Giuliani (13%).

I strongly suspect that many of those 24% are intolerantly religious and disapprove or Clinton as a result and that this helps to explain her very high negatives. They are also wrong on the matter of fact as Clarke proved in his book. He describes how when a 747 blew up over the Atlantic (a fuel leak not terrorism) the Clintons went to comfort the bereaved in Kennedy airport (the airline had flown them there in a very bad p.r. move). Clarke happened upon Hillary Clinton all alone in the airport's shrine praying. Thus we know that she prays when she is alone, so she must be religious (I have never prayed whether alone or in public).

Amy Sullivan notes "Now Senator Clinton, the lifelong Methodist and one-time Sunday school teacher, is in a bind: So many voters think they "know" she can't possibly be religious that when she speaks about her faith, they interpret it as pure political posturing." I blogger before reading the whole article (oops).

Also oh my oh my who has the highest favourable minus unfavorable differential in red states ? Barak Obama. Yes red states, Barak Obama.

the lack of excitement about the Republican field may help Obama as well. His general favorability rating amongst red state voters equals that of Rudy Giuliani at 56%. And because Obama has a relatively low unfavorable rating in red states (30% versus Giuliani's 35%), his net favorability rating among red state voters (+26%) is actually better than any of the Republican candidates. Nor do his Democratic opponents come close — Edwards' net rating is +13 and Clinton's is zero, with 48% of red state voters on each side of the question.

Praise the Lord (if you believe in Him).