"Arnold Vinick" on a candidate's religion

[question everything]

Arnold Vinick, of course, was the Republican Presidential candidate on "The West Wing." Many of us liked his no-nonsense approach and knew that he was a fictional character; that the Republicans would never select someone like him as their candidate.

With Romney and Huckabee falling over each other putting Jesus on their sleeves, I found these classic quotes by Vincik:

"I don't see how we can have a separation of church and state in this government if you have to pass a religious test to get in this government. And I want to warn everyone in the press and all the voters out there if you demand expressions of religious faith from politicians, you are just begging to be lied to. They won't all lie to you but a lot of them will. And it will be the easiest lie they ever had to tell to get your votes. So, every day until the end of this campaign, I'll answer any question anyone has on government, But if you have a question on religion, please go to church."

http://westwing.bewarne.com/sixth/620wetrust.html

[Hekate]

1. Thanks for the reminder. In many ways, West Wing showed us our governement as we would wish it to be

...including the Republican side. "Arnold Vinick" and the Speaker of the House character -- those were honorable men. That show really made me wistful at times.

Hekate

[question everything]

2. Indeed. And the "Matt Santos" character

proudly declared himself a liberal, not "progressive."

"Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things ­ every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator. Because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor."