Dole's "Godless" Ad and McCain's Reluctance to Attack on Faith

there's a pattern here: faith-based attacks tend to come from Republicans who are religious and who've incorporated their faith into their political personas, e.g. Dole and Palin.

A very interesting observation. It makes a lot of sense to me.

I remember thinking, after the choice of Gov. Palin for VP, that we (ostensibly a Christian nation?) pushed them to announce their Christianity, as though it were a prerequisite to qualify to run for President. Poor John McCain, he never wanted to talk about it, for him it was personal. He is an Episcopalian attending a Baptist church with his wife, give the man a break. Remember, the Constitution says that to qualify to run for President, one must be at least 35 years of age and be born in the US.

I didn't mean to digress and I guess that 2012 will be even worse than 2008.

I never thought that Elizabeth Dole was be so utterly classless and demagogic. This is beyond shameful.

I happen to be an Obama backer who still hopes that the Democrats do not get a veto-proof majority, because I prefer a divided government that has to find bipartisan solutions and doesn't give one part carte blanche.

I am also a Christian and a pastor (I'm even a United Methodist, as is Mrs. Dole) but I sincerely hope she goes down in flames for this shameful tactic. It is beyond disgusting.

You do what you can to stay alive. In North Carolina the shoe has always been on the other foot and at a safe distance.
Also Elizabeth Dole's storybook career from Red Cross head to Reagan cabinet official has always been appointments-much like Robert Kennedy- which is why Lyndon Johnson always hated him, because Kennedy could get the cushy jobs, while he had to struggle in elections against really good opponents, but I digress-so Dole, is up for her first reelection, and she's just using what works and what has worked for other politicians. When you think of that way, instead of sinking to new lows, it becomes very reasonable. Especially when its a monster Democratic year.

As an agnostic, I treat the views of atheists as I do any other faith. It might be true there is no God, it might be true there is. I think beyond the falsehood of claiming Ms Hagen is an atheist when she is obviously not one, the more distasteful aspect of Dole's ad is the implication that not believing in (her) God and/or believing in the separation of church and state somehow make one a bad person. This country was founded on the freedom of religion -- in my opinion that includes the religion (faith-based belief) of atheism -- and the separation of church and state. The latter expressly because the government endorsing a specific religion is contrary to that freedom. Dole's ad indicates her lack of respect for the freedom of others and lack of suitability to hold a position of power over them.

Dole learned dirty campaign tactics from a master--her husband. This does not surprise me one bit.

Article VI says only that the state cannot bar a candidate from running based on her religious views; it does not say that voters cannot take a candidate's religious views into account, or that voters cannot be urged to do so.

This is a good thing. I will be very hesitant to vote for a candidate who believes in voodoo magic or snake handling as a religious practice, and would not object to an ad alerting me to such beliefs. Where do we disagree?

Nothing unamerican about being an atheist. We are free to believe or not believe in this country and all should be treated equally. The biggest and least discussed part of this story is that open bigotry against atheists shouldn't be tolerated. It is unamerican and unchristian.

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