The White House and politics

CBS' 60 Minutes tonight offered an inside look at the way the White House views some religious leaders.

David Kuo is an evangelical Christian and card-carrying member of the religious right, who got a job in the White House in the president’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He thought it was a dream-come-true: a chance to work for a president whose vision about compassionate conservatism would be matched with sweeping legislation to help the poor.

But Kuo says the so-called compassion agenda has fallen short of its promise and he blames President Bush for that in his new book.

As correspondent Lesley Stahl reports, he also says the White House was a place that cynically used religion for political ends and that White House aides ridiculed the very Christian leaders who helped bring Mr. Bush to office.
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This has been gnawing at both him and his wife since 2003, when he learned he had a malignant brain tumor, and left politics for good. Now he has written his book, "Tempting Faith," published by a CBS sister company.

The entire story is here.