Oh for God's Sake!

Literally.

Not content with pissing away a blog entry in her Political Aims space at the Gadflyer on cheerleading for David Brooks specious claim that the Kerry campaign has abandoned references to religious faith, today she devotes a full column to the same prattle.

Aping the SCLM punditocracy, she makes a series of unsourced and non-specific claims about Democrats and religion, claiming, for instance, that "...too many national Democrats still run the other way when the topic of religion comes up."

That begs the question how many are, in fact, too many, but "many" is about as precise as you'll get from Ms. Sullivan, as in "...many Democratic operatives still think of religion mostly as a constituency problem." Really? Many? Or some? How about naming a single one.

Her advice to Kerry isn't bad, really. Under the heading "Why Did Kerry Stop Talking About Faith?" she writes

"A candidate doesn't have to hit people over the head with "Jesus talk" to do this. He doesn't have to use exclusive language and he doesn't have to parade his piety. What he can do is frame his message in moral terms. Even better, Kerry already did this early in his campaign as the presumptive nominee, drawing a clear distinction between those who talk the talk (an indirect but pointed jab at Bush) and those who walk the walk. Yet that kind of language has all but disappeared from his speeches."

Fair enough, except she's wrong. If she hasn't heard "that kind of language" in Kerry's speeches, she's simply not listening. Beyond framing his message in moral terms, which has been virtually a constant theme throughout the campaign, he regularly uses 'God,' if not 'Jesus' talk in his speeches, not just the obligatory "God bless Americas" in conclusion, but specific allusions to God and prayer in the body of his remarks.

He did it at the end of March

But even more, time to build up the things of the spirit that lift us up-the sense that no matter where we come from, what we have or what we lack-- we are all God’s children, linked together by the dignity of each and the shared destiny of all.

and in early April

...I want to honor the sacrifice made by the brave American soldiers who gave their lives in Iraq over these last difficult days. Our prayers and our thoughts are with their families...

through the end of April

Under the heat of fire and the fog of battle, our mission became crystal clear - and color, religion, and background melted away to an understanding that we were all simply “Americans.” All of us fighting under the same flag, praying to the same God.
...
Instead of leaving millions of children behind, we can make our schools stronger so that every child has a chance to reach their God-given talents.

and into May, again

I am running for President to renew that idea and spirit again. With God's blessing, America will stand as strong and reach as high as we're willing to ask of ourselves and hold ourselves accountable.

and again

Brown summoned our country to make real the ideal of one nation and one people. A nation where one day all of God’s children would live in the light of equality whether we are new immigrants or our descendents came here on the Mayflower or were brought here on a slave ship in shackles … when we fight side by side in places like Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re all Americans sacrificing for the same country and praying to the same God.

and didn't stop in June

They, like all veterans of wars past, deserve our prayers and then, when they come home, they deserve the respect and support of a grateful nation.

although I haven't found an example more recent than Monday.

We were just a band of brothers who all fought under the same flag, and all prayed to the same God. Today, we’re a little bit older, we’re a little bit greyer. But we still know how to fight for our country. And what we’re fighting for is an America where all of us are truly in the same boat.

Sullivan asks "Why did Kerry stop talking about faith?" I wonder when that's supposed to have happened.

Of course, she concedes that

"None of that means that Kerry is insincere when it comes to faith. Nor should it matter. Because voters don't need to know how often their political candidates read the Bible or pray or attend church.

What they do need to know is that their candidate understands that religion is an important part of many Americans' lives."

Of course, they'll never know if they don't listen, and neither will she. But for those who have ears to hear, the message is pretty clear.

(by the way, welcome Eschaton readers! Please poke around, kick the tires and consider a bookmark for a struggling blogger - and thanks Atrios, I thought you'd never notice!)