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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (49539)	5/25/1999 1:42:00 PM
From: MulhollandDrive	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 67261

Michelle, "The Democratic Party is going to take back God this time" Fanatics to the left, rabid radicals to the right, there you are stuck in the middle again...... Gore pledges to embrace faith-based programs, work with religious leaders By Sandra Sobieraj, Associated Press, 05/25/99 04:09 ATLANTA (AP) - As part of a ''new partnership'' between church and state, President Gore will ''dare to embrace'' faith-based programs with public funds and set policy with religious leaders at the table. Such was the pledge Vice President Al Gore made Monday as he further fleshed out an agenda for Campaign 2000 that he hopes will both set him apart from President Clinton and bring him close enough to his opponents - chiefly Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Bill Bradley - to neutralize any ''values'' debate. Today, he and Clinton appear together at an economic development conference in Texas before Gore resumes campaign fund raising. Three events Monday bagged him $600,000. ''The moment has come for Washington to catch up to the rest of America,'' the congressman-turned-senator-turned-vice-president said in tones borrowed from a Washington outsider. ''And Americans profoundly, rightly believe that politics and morality are deeply interrelated.'' Speaking at a Salvation Army drug rehabilitation center, Gore said places like that and Christ House and Christian Women's Job Corps have some of the most effective programs dealing with homelessness, addiction and mental illness precisely because of their religious bent. ''To the workers in these organizations, that client is not a number but a child of God,'' he said. ''We should explore carefully tailored partnerships with our faith community, so we can use the approaches that are working best.'' His plan essentially would expand conservative Republican Sen. John Ashcroft's ''charitable choice'' provision of the 1996 welfare overhaul that allowed government money to fund faith-based groups helping to move people from welfare to work. Gore was short on specifics - communications director Laura Quinn called it a ''broad idea'' at this point - but he insisted no government-funded program would ''promote a religious view or try to force anyone to receive religion'' and that secular alternatives would be available. Three times he said he believes in the separation of church and state. But Terri Schroeder, a First Amendment legal analyst at The American Civil Liberties Union, said Gore's plan raises troubling questions. ''How can a religious institution counsel without proselytizing? How can you provide juvenile services without some level of coercion? How can we have any accountability for how our money is spent given the traditional separation of church and state?'' Schroeder asked. For Gore, the political benefit of religious talk is twofold: It sneaks some ground out from under Republicans who have long dominated the morals debate; and, less overtly, may serve to disassociate him from Clinton's personal scandals. ''It's taken too long for candidate Gore to join Republicans in recognizing the rightful role of churches and religious organizations in solving society's most challenging and pressing problems,'' said Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee. At the same time, he welcomed Gore's ''change of heart.'' A senior policy adviser to Gore, Elaine Kamarck, told The Boston Globe over the weekend, ''The Democratic Party is going to take back God this time.'' Aboard Air Force Two on Monday, vice presidential spokesman Chris Lehane shook his head at Kamarck's candor. He refused to speak to the politics of Gore's new emphasis on spirituality and rejected the notion that Republicans have cornered the market on religious voters. ''I don't think God is partisan,'' Lehane said. Beyond current-day political expedience, Gore can lay claim to a religious and spiritual grounding. As a young man returning from Vietnam, he studied at Vanderbilt's divinity school. And in his 1991 book, ''Earth in the Balance,'' Gore wrote of his ''deeply personal'' relationship with Christ. Still, said Lehane, the vice president has never been someone to ''wear God on his sleeve'' and doesn't plan to now that he's running for president. On other questions of church and state, the vice president opposes organized prayer in public schools during the school day, and he opposes using public dollars to send children to parochial schools, Lehane said. On Monday, Gore offered a pledge to the clergy and community activists gathered at The Salvation Army: ''If you elect me president, the voices of faith-based organizations will be integral to the policies set forth in my administration.'' If this is true, Gore is toast, his base, the liberal left will stay home on election day. I pointed out months ago that he had his work cut out for him on that front with Tipper at his side. <vbg> bp