Doc talks about how Dean’s “rant” on Monday night has everybody talking about how “unpolitician-like” he sounded. Doc recognizes that yes, this was not a positive thing in mthe minds of many. He recognizes he’s not the best looking or best sounding candidate (speech and mannerisms) , but that this is not , after all, what really helps us. (It actually hinders us from actually seeing and immersing ourselves in , what is , after all , the whole point of politics: The Conversation. But our politics today is not about conversation, sadly. It’s about posturing, and sound bites. It bristles me to hear the media, from both left and right, talk about Dean’s comments on his faith. Both sides seem clueless. I for one, didn’t respond too positively to the “portions” I heard where Dean responded to those questions. But I also wonder how well I’d do. I would certainly say that MY FAITH has EVERYTHING to do with my decisions on what is POLITICALLY the right thing to do. I also know that I would rush to say that “Faith-based Political strategy” is certainly not well-represented these days. The ones we hear about are the ones I fear most: the right-wing Theocracy seekers. Their idea is to impose a right-wing “Biblical” theocracy. The Southern Baptist’s ransacking of their own denomination and their own missionaries is the best evidence of what their “Kingdom of Righteousness” represents.

Jimmy Carter stands as the lone representative of a “moral and decent man” in the presidency that I have seen in my lifetime (since I was old enought to know know what a president was). But it seems that one also has to “play the system” and “grease the right wheels” in order to “make it through”. He is, therefore as a result of his inabilty/unwillingness to do so, widely considered to have been one of the most ineffective presidents. But when I see his “post presidency” life, one that sees him working with Habitat for Humanity and working for peace in times when a mediator is needed, I become more convinced that it’s just those “moral people” like that who have the smallest chances of succeeding (as the world sees “success”) in politics

Jim Wallis is the best one I know to speak intelligently. Whenever he’s on TV, it seems, some conservative, obnoxious pundit is put oppostite him who won’t even let him finish a sentence (I’m rememebering an incident during the Gulf War).