Bush: A Christian Man of Principle

The November Vanity Fair presents a long article on how Bush's supporters did McCain dirty in the South Carolina primary 41/2 years ago....

After McCain's surprise victory in the 2000 New Hampshire primary threatened to derail Bush's march to the nomination, the Bushies made phone calls and sent out leaflets in South Carolina spreading rumors that McCain had fathered a black child, that wife Cindy was a drug addict and other slanders.

Bush ended up winning the state and securing his political future....

Francis Marion University political scientist Neal Thigpen recounted that shortly before the primary election, he received a phone call from a man who said "he was on leave from Gov. Tom Ridge's staff in Pennsylvania and down here working on the Bush campaign."

"The man said, 'I understand you're for McCain,' and I said, 'Yes,' " Thigpen recounted, "and he proceeded to tell me that Cindy was a drug addict and this kind of stuff."

Christian Coalition official Roberta Combs admitted to [VF reporter] Gooding: "I make a lot of things happen behinds the scenes and under the radar ... It doesn't matter who gets the credit, the main thing is just winning. But, yeah, we had some fun during that primary ..."

(link)