>
> Asked at a televised debate during the Iowa primary in 2000 to name
> his favourite philosopher, he said, instantly, "Christ" - explaining
> how, through Christ, he had become a new man.
I've always wondered just how deep this religiosity is.
At the debate in question (in December 1999), the moderator asked each of the candidates about his favorite political philosopher or thinker. Until the questioning got to Bush, the answers were serious. Steve Forbes thought that Locke and Jefferson provided the philosophical underpinnings of the American Revolution. Alan Keyes thought that all of the authors of the Constitution were equally important. Orrin Hatch praised Abraham Lincoln, for his quest for equality and freedom, and Ronald Reagan, for his stance against the Soviet Union. John McCain responded that Theodore Roosevelt stood for both reform and national greatness.
Bush said that Jesus Christ was his favorite political thinker "because he changed my heart." When pressed, he continued, "when you turn your heart and your life over to Christ, when you accept Christ as a savior, it ... changes your life and that's what happened to me." Bauer at least quoted scripture and pointed to Christian obligations to unborn children and the poor.
In December 2001, Newsweek published a slobbering profile of the Bushes.
It did have one telling bit. When asked about the Methodist minister whose church they attend when at Camp David, Bush could not recall any particular sermon. He did know that "he's just down to earth and doesn't try to get too fancy."
If I went to a weekly lecture on my favorite political thinker, one who changed my heart, I would expect to tell you more about the class than whether the professor was pretentious.
--tim francis-wright