[Apologetics] FW: Former aide to Miers claims his Christmas message was too Christian for her!

[Art Kelly]

Please see the important item, Former aide to Miers claims his Christmas
message was too Christian for her, in which Harriet Miers would NOT approve
a Christmas message for Bush to sign (that was actually LESS Christian than
ones previously signed by President Clinton) because it might offend people
of other faiths!

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: enews at thehill.com [mailto:enews at thehill.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 06, 2005 9:13 PM
To: enews-html at thehill.com
Subject: The Hill e-News




      The Tipsheet for October 7, 2005

      Conservative grassroots groups mobilize for Katrina offsets
      More than 750 national, state, and local organizations are adding
their voice to the growing call for spending cuts to offset the cost of
hurricane relief to the Gulf States. The Coalition on Human Needs, as the
broad alliance calls itself, sent a letter Thursday to all members of the
Senate and House urging them to "oppose cuts in Medicaid, Food Stamps, and
other vital assistance that would lead to reduced help for low-income
people, and to focus instead on policies that will help people move out of
poverty." Spurred by conservatives lead by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.),
chairman of the House Republican Study Committee, Republicans are coalescing
behind spending cuts to pay for hurricane damage. In a Rose Garden speech
this week, President Bush said federal relief should be accompanied by cuts
and that he would work with lawmakers to identify offsets. Conservatives
have identified increased Medicaid co-payments, Medicaid block grants, and
increased Medicare premiums as potential offsets. On Wednesday, House Budget
Committee chairman Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) suggested an across-the-board 2
percent cut on all discretionary spending.

      Pro-life groups say they did not organize against Dreier
      Republican aides across Capitol Hill said they were overwhelmed by
phone calls from conservative activists last week following the indictment
of Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and the subsequent leak that Rules Committee
Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) would temporarily replace him as majority
leader. The callers were protesting Dreier's centrist voting record,
particularly his recent vote in favor of a stem-cell measure, as well as his
vote against the federal marriage amendment. The rapid flurry of activity
prompted a number of staffers to conclude that some of the conservative
right-to-life groups had set up phone banks to pressure leadership against
the selection. Peter Brandt, a senior policy director of the Colorado-based
Focus on the Family, vehemently disputed this claim last week. Brandt
conceded that Focus founder James Dobson may have spoken with House Speaker
Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) during the course of that afternoon, but he said no
one in his office could confirm the Dreier selection nor did Focus ever
reach out to its constituents in an effort to pressure Hastert not to name
Dreier. "We did not bring our constituents in," Brandt said, adding, "When
Focus weighs in, hopefully folks will know." In fact, Focus did not receive
a single email about the presumed selection of Dreier, Brandt said.
Similarly, a spokeswoman for American Values President Gary Bauer said her
boss did not rally supporters against a Dreier selection. Asked whether
Dreier would be an acceptable member of leadership, Brandt said, "He
wouldn't be a real favorite of ours."

      Former aide to Miers claims his Christmas message was too Christian
for her
      Writing for www.christianworldviewnetwork.com, a Christian Evangelical
website, a young social conservative expressed his frustration and doubt
about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers' conservative credentials based on
an incident when their paths crossed early on in the Bush administration.
Ned Ryun is a 30-something conservative activist who heads Generation
Joshua, a group that encourages young, Christian conservatives to get
involved in politics. He wrote correspondence for Bush when Meirs served as
Bush's staff secretary (the staffer responsible for reviewing the paperwork
that presidents review and approve). In 2001, Ryun was assigned to write the
President's Christmas message. "After researching Reagan, Bush, and
Clinton's previous Christmas messages, I wrote something that was well
within the bounds of what had been previously written (and in case you are
wondering, Clinton's messages were far more evangelical than the elder
Bush's)," he wrote, adding that his immediate superiors approved the
message. But Miers had a problem with it because "the message might offend
people of other faiths, i.e., that the message was too Christian. She wanted
me to change it. I refused to change the message (In my poor benighted
reasoning, I actually think that Christmas is an overtly Christian holiday
that celebrates the birth of Christ and the beginning of the redemption of
man.)," Ryun wrote. Ryun said he took his complaint to Ken Mehlman, who is
Jewish and served as the political director at the time. "He was not
offended by it in the least. Miers insisted that I change the tone of the
message. I again refused, and after several weeks, the assignment was taken
out of my hands," Ryun wrote. "I was later encouraged to apologize to Miers.
I did not apologize." Ryun uses the incident to illustrate why the
conservative base is less than thrilled with Mier's nomination. He concludes
that, "Some will probably write that incident off as an insignificant,
almost meaningless, occurrence. And perhaps it is. But Miers purposefully
sought to dilute the Christianity of the message, thus revealing to me at
least a willingness to compromise unnecessarily without outside pressure.
That is my opinion based off that experience and I would be more than happy
to be proved wrong."

      NAM jumps the gun on Gov. Bush's drilling plan
      Whoops. It seems that the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM),
one of the capital's most influential trade groups, spoke too soon in
congratulating Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) for his endorsement of a House
Resources Committee plan to lift moratoriums on gas drilling in portions of
the outer continental shelf. NAM President John Engler, who recently agreed
to take on a new role as spokesman for the Alliance for Energy and Economic
Growth, a pro-OCS lobbying coalition, participated in a conference call with
reporters during which he referenced Gov. Bush as having toned down historic
opposition to drilling off Florida's eastern coast. But, according to a NAM
statement, Engler had been misinformed by a Wednesday report in the Orlando
Sentinel. "The Governor's office contends that the headline is inaccurate,
the article is misleading and the opening paragraph misstates the governor's
position on the bill," Bush communications director Alia Faraj wrote in a
memo distributed to the media. As Gov. Bush worked to reiterate his
opposition to mining for oil and gas within 100 miles of the Florida
coastline, which could fly in the face of Bush administration efforts to
increase offshore coastal drilling, Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Michael
Bilirakis (R-Fla.) continued to negotiate with House Resources Chairman
Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) on removing the gas moratoriums provision from the
committee's bill.

      Gas bill attracts support of electric utilities
      House Republicans Friday will push the Gasoline for America's Future
Act, a measure that seeks to expand the nation's oil refining capacity to
reduce--though not immediately--prices at the pump. But the measure also has
the support of interests outside of oil and gas companies. The Edison
Electric Institute, or EEI, for example, has urged its electric-utility
member companies to lobby in favor of the bill. The group supports the
measure, being pushed by Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas),
because it would codify an administration rule allowing utilities to conduct
significant improvements on plants without installing anti-pollution
controls, unless the plant is going to emit more pollution per hour. Critics
say the changes - to a section in the Clean Air Act known as New Source
Review - will lead to the release of more emissions. "What he's doing would
be like raising the speed limit, and then arguing people won't drive
faster," says Frank O'Donnell of Clean Air Trust. But an EEI point paper
distributed on Capitol Hill says that emissions will be capped by a variety
of rules that "impose far greater controls and reductions than the outdated
NSR program." Barton's bill is expected to pass the House, but its future in
the Senate is less clear.





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