k wrote:
] ] "We are definitely going to do religious
] ] outreach. We're definitely going to reach out to the
] ] evangelical community," he said.
]
] What part of standing up for what we believe in puts reaching
] out to authoritarian christians at the top of the list? The
] actual priority for the party is "attempt to emulate the other
] guys because they are doing so well right now."
]
] [ Yeah, that doesn't make me happy, though I didn't like the
] other guys any better. Still, I was kind of hoping he'd roll
] in there and say "Will we court religious voters? Of course,
] because religion in america is important, but we don't believe
] in exploiting religion in the service of politics, and we will
] not do that." Pandering to the fundie element -- and yes, I
] am making an equivalence relation between evangelicals and
] fundies -- should never be part of the democratic platform.
] -k]

//You guys are actually both missing the context of the quote, I believe. I was at that speech at Capital City Brewing on Wednesday night and he was mentioning the fact that there are things which we and the evangelicals have in common. For instance, his example was defending what Hillary Clinton said the other day-- Democrats are not pro-abortion, we all hate it. But, being pro-choice and their being pro-life, we are never going to change each others mind. Therefore, we must reach out in order to find the common ground-- why don't we work to minimize the number of abortions which occur in this land.

In addition, I heard Dean speaking tonight on Capitol Voices on NPR here in D.C., and he was referring to outreach to Catholics (I know, not the same as evangelicals [former recovering catholic]). His comments were directed to a part of Catholicism that I have never been ashamed to be affiliated with-- its central tenets of social justice and service, which is something that the Democratic party has and should stand for. -r//