Continuing its practice of creating opposition-research websites, the Republican National Committee has some new offerings on the religion front, knocking John Kerry as being "wrong" for Catholics and for evangelicals. (So far, the RNC has held off from setting up sites implying Kerry is "wrong" for Buddhists, Hindus, Jews or Muslims. But stay tuned.)

Both sites throw the same charges at Kerry (most of the sites' text is identical), and give the impression that the issues of most pressing concern to Catholic and evangelical voters are those pertaining to abortion and gay rights. And even there, the "evidence" against Kerry is pretty unimpressive.

For example, there's these August 2003 quotes:

"The Vatican's call for Catholic politicians to fight gay marriage is an 'inappropriate' violation of the separation of church and state in America, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said Friday. 'I believe in the church and I care about it enormously,' said the Democrat from Massachusetts, a Catholic who is running for president. 'But I think that it's important to not have the church instructing politicians. That is an inappropriate crossing of the line in America.'"

"[Kerry] said political concerns are secondary to his moral outrage over Thursday's Vatican statement on gay marriage. 'Our founding fathers separated church and state in America. It is an important separation,' he said. 'It is part of what makes America different and special, and we need to honor that as we go forward and I'm going to fight to do that.'"

It's interesting that the RNC thinks those comments should hurt Kerry among evangelicals, given that numerous evangelical Christian groups campaigned against John Kennedy with the specific threat that he would let the Pope interfere in U.S. politics. And, as previously noted, a recent Time poll found more than 70 percent of Catholic voters don't want the church telling candidates what positions to take.

Kerry is further quoted as saying he could see supporting euthanasia "under extreme circumstances," saying he opposes gay marriage but agrees with certain rights for gay couples, and correctly pointing out that the phrase "partial-birth abortion" is a misleading scare tactic. The RNC also criticizes Kerry for voting against various tax credits and opposing voucher programs, though the included Kerry quotes on the latter make a salient case against the president's views on education:

"We need a president who will tell the truth about vouchers - that they weaken public education, make it harder to build good citizens, and hurt those most in need. Don't cry crocodile tears for inner city kids while trying in effect to destroy inner city schools. Vouchers aren't choice; they're a bad choice that would leave even more children behind."

Also, the RNC bizarrely uses a series of quotes that, while designed to show Kerry contradicting his own criticisms of using religion on the campaign trail, also state the case against Bush in religious terms designed to reach the very people the RNC is targeting. Like this example from an Associated Press story:

"Kerry cited Scripture in his appeal for the worshippers, including James 2:14, 'What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?' 'The Scriptures say, what does it profit, my brother, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?' Kerry said. 'When we look at what is happening in America today, where are the works of compassion?'"

Or this one from the Boston Globe:

"Sen. John F. Kerry, speaking at a Roxbury church, complained yesterday that some of his fellow senators profess Christian beliefs while voting in ways that contradict those ideals... 'To be candid, I struggle when I sit next to someone who says they're born again, but votes against child care, votes to cut 12- to 18-year-old kids off Medicaid,' Kerry said."

Strengthening Kerry's point, the site conspicuously avoids any of the issues on which the Pope or moderate Protestant leaders have been vocally critical of President Bush -- notably the death penalty and the war in Iraq. There's also no mention of the president's approach to helping the poor, which the founder of Christianity considered more than a little important.

Bush already has a large lead among evangelicals, which is just as well, since the arguments this strategy makes against Kerry seem pretty weak. As for Catholics, the RNC's odd choice to highlight both candidates' inconsistencies is an odd way to try driving them away from the candidate who shares their faith toward a born-again Methodist.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/blog/index.html#1