Bush takes on Sharon (finally) and then Evangelicals start taking shots at his Israeli policy.
Pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon regarding his country’s position on the Palestinians could incur the wrath of the 50 million-strong evangelical community in the U.S. the president hopes will "turn out in record numbers next year," observes the newsweekly.
It describes the evangelical Christian-Jewish alliance as a "typical marriage of faith, principle and convenience," but adds that "mere politics is involved, too." For conservative Christians want to "shed their image of intolerance." "Newsweek" reports that conservative activist Grover Norquist says evangelical believers are "tired of being branded anti-Semites."
One-time presidential nominee candidate and Christian campaigner Gary Bauer told the magazine that Bush’s failure to call for the ouster of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and his sending Secretary of State Colin Powell to meet with Arafat, was "more than those of us who support Israel could take."
Bauer recently organized a protest letter signed by two dozen evangelical leaders that warned President Bush against being soft with the Palestinians. Speaking at a Zionist conference earlier this month, "The Washington Times" said, Bauer said: "The land of Israel was originally owned by God. Since He was the owner, only He could give it away. And He gave it to the Jewish people."
Groan. Now if Bush is successful he gets points from me. Hell he gets points now for pushing Sharon to do the right thing. Sharon admitted the other day that overseeing Palestineans is bad for his democracy and he is right (well way right, but that is a different story). Actually it is the same story. Most Israelis are to the left of Sharon–maybe not far left, but if he is willing to move on creating a Palestinean state with guarantees of Israeli security, what exactly is there to be upset about?
For some-rapture politics. Bauer himself isn’t such a person, but many evangelicals think the West Bank must be under Jewish control for the Second Coming and so they don’t want the President to push for an independent Palestinean state.
On one hand you can dismiss these views as those of kooks-and be correct–James Inhofe is a kook. On the other hand, a significant group of evangelicals believe it. Will it hurt Bush in the election? Probably not–with even Bauer not arguing that position, Bush is relatively safe. The danger is death by paper cuts if Evangelicals get in minor, but repeated piques over issues. For references see the Green Party.