God and the Presidential Election

You've got to hand it to the committed left media, they are ruthless and fanatical — much more so than the relatively few right-wingers currently inhabiting America's newsrooms. The latest leftist tactic is to put the "hypocrite" label on any Republican presidential candidate who dares mention his "faith."

Leading the charge is The Washington Post, a newspaper that is densely populated with secular progressives. Their chief anti-religion hatchet man is columnist Harold Meyerson, a self-proclaimed "non-believer" who routinely smears public people who demonstrate spirituality.

Earlier this month, Meyerson wrote a column entitled "Hard-liners for Jesus," and it was a beauty. The lead paragraph went like this: "As Christians across the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, it's a fitting moment to contemplate the mountain of moral, and mortal, hypocrisy that is our Christianized Republican Party."

But Meyerson was just warming up. He then went on to assassinate the characters of GOP politicians, including the president: "Bush whose catechism is a merry mix of torture and piety..."

Blood dripping from his keyboard, Meyerson ended his brutal diatribe with: "The most depressing thing about the Republican presidential race is that the party's rank and file require their candidates to grow meaner with each passing week. And now, inconveniently, inconsiderately, comes Christmas, a holiday that couldn't be better calibrated to expose the Republicans' rank, fetid hypocrisy."

Joy to the world, Harold. Right?

The strategy here is obvious. Any Republican who dares mention God or faith on the campaign trail will be vilified as full of "fetid hypocrisy" if he has ever done anything wrong in his entire life. Using this tactic, the secular American media hope to get any faith-based issues out of the campaign.

That would be good news for Democrats, of course, because a Pew Research study shows that only 29 percent of Americans believe the Democratic Party is friendly to religion.

But there is a larger issue at play for The Washington Post, The New York Times and other committed left media. Standing in the way of gay marriage, legalized drugs, unfettered abortion and other sacred liberal causes, are people of faith. They are the primary opposition to the social liberal agenda fervently embraced by the leftist press. If you can demonize (sorry) people of faith, if you can shut them up by playing the hypocrisy card, then say hello to a Swedish social system.

Ah, Sweden, a country of nine million people enjoying, perhaps, the most "progressive" political system on earth. The quasi-socialist government provides cradle-to-grave entitlements, most people never get married and just about anything goes socially. By the way, about 85 percent of Swedes do not believe in God.

Harold Meyerson would love Sweden. The Washington Post should begin publishing there. What a country! None of this God stuff, none of this vile "fetid hypocrisy." Just an enormously high suicide rate while everybody does his or her own thing.

But back to the USA. In the months to come you will hear and read countless news commentaries about the moral hypocrisy of the GOP. The secular-left media will hammer Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee, et al., while Senators Clinton and Obama will get a pass. Unless, of course, they start up with this God stuff. Then all bets are off.

So a word to the wise: The upcoming presidential election will not only be about important issues facing America. It will also be a test of faith.

Veteran TV news anchor Bill O'Reilly is host of the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" and author of the book "Who's Looking Out For You?" To find out more about Bill O'Reilly, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. This column originates on the Web site www.billoreilly.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 BillOReilly.com.