If David Kuo's reason for getting into politics was helping the poor...

[LostInAnomie]

... why would he have joined with the Republicans? It doesn't make any sense. It is no secret that the Republican party does not help the poor, but has a visible disdain for the lower class. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Call me cynical, but I seriously doubt his intention was to ever help the poor. It may have been a latent goal, but I feel his manifest goal was to funnel poorly regulated money into Christian churches.

What do you think?

[Redbear]

1. He was suckered in by Bush's "compassionate conservatism."

He bought it hook,line, and sinker. He admits he was naive.

He thought he could be part of the GOP machine AND help poor people at the same time.

[Freedom_from_Chains]

3. That's like saying you are going to join the shark club to help

the small fish. You help them all right, into you're belly.

[calimary]

5. I wish I could feel truly sorry for him. But his naivete was astounding.

Even back then, when bush had more people snookered. Hey, WE knew. I mean, to trust, that wholeheartedly, someone belonging to a political party that cares more than anything about being stingey with tax money and maintaining LONGTIME and LONG-ESTABLISHED loyalties to the have's - at the expense of the have not's - amazing. Wasn't he around during the Reagan "and the rich get richer..." administration?

[Eric J in MN]

Most Republicans became Republicans the same way...

...most Democrats became Democrats: they're parents were.

[Selatius]

2. We will have to look at what he does with his time.

His actions in office will be the ruler by which we measure. That's my opinion, anyway.

[mark414]

4. on some news show last week, a guest claimed to be a good friend of his

she seemed like she was a left of center kind of girl, but she said that that was the truth about david. that he's a true believing, god fearing conservative christian...and what the first post said, he bought into that compassionate conservative crap.

i have a lot of sympathy for this guy, and i think he's sincere, even if i don't agree with a lot of his politics.

[tuvor]

6. I think he would have made better-informed choices...

...if he'd had something like DU when he was making some of his life's bigger decisions.

Other than that, I'm not going to guess at what was in his heart, unless they're borne out by his actions.

[babylonsister]

7. Hearing him, I think his whole raison was to help the poor, and that is

his biggest criticism of this admin. They can throw money around,
disparage all kinds of people who will still 'take it', but I think
Kuo really had/has a belief that helping people in need is the right
way to go.
So you think the money was so poorly regulated that he wrote a book to
diss that? He exposed a republican scam. Money was funneled to churches,
but not enough given the promises. It sounded like lotsa bucks to me, but
then the blivet and co. played games.

[autorank]

8. I think it's OK. Now he's focused on the truly needy...

The Majority of Americans who need Bush to retire soon...

I remember hearing Carter talk about his negotiations with the Serbs, Croats, and others in the nation formerly known as Yugoslavia. The host said, "What's it like dealing with the Serbs, that must be awful." Carter responded, "You may not approve of what they do but they don't see themselves as awful."

It's fine to work for the poor in a conservative fundamentalist group. No problems.

What timing this whole thing displays...fortunate for us.

[rhiannon55]

9. Most Republicans think Republicans are the good guys

They think they're on higher moral ground than everyone else. So David Kuo probably bought the propaganda for a while that he could be both Republican and help the poor; it probably didn't occur to him how oxymoronic this was.

[Bucky]

10. Actually, lots of churches do help the needy. It makes sense to help them.

I don't have a problem with churches aiding the poor or the government aiding churches in their aiding of the poor. Churches tend to be close to the community and tend to be networked with other social services that can help those in need get the full range of services they need to become self sufficient. Before Bush came along, the government only required that there be a wall between service delivery and prosylitizing. That system worked and under Clinton we were winning the war on poverty.

I agree that Democrats do a better job of aiding the needy and giving people the bootstraps they need to pull themselves up by. I disagree that all people who are Republican somehow are insincere in wanting to help the needy. They may be in denial about what the current leaders in their party are actually going to do about it, but many conservatives are genuine Christians in their desire to help their fellow man. I don't castigate them; I only suggest that they open their eyes to which party produces results.

[spag68]

11. church and poor

I have a problem with gov. helping churches, you remember separation of church and state. They already get many tax breaks, and who decides which church gets the money.

[Bucky]

14. I remember separation of church and state; and so did Clinton's policy

As I stated, there was a wall between service delivery and evangelizing activities. You couldn't preach Jesus, Moses, or Mohammed to people if you took federal money to feed them. Programs I worked with took care not to violate those standards. The moneys specifically supported feeding or housing the needy, which is not support of a church. It's just not treating the church different than any other community help organization.

Who decides who gets the money depends on who applies and can meet federal guidelines. It was a fair, objective process under Clinton's HUD and HHS departments--as well as under those departments when Carter, Reagan, and Poppy were in charge. Church groups who violated these regulations got in trouble; but such violations rarely happened.

[tomreedtoon]

12. David Kuo's only failing: he TRUSTED.

He trusted the hype the Republicans were putting out. He trusted the preachers that told him that this was important. Very simply, he trusted without verifying.

I don't know him, I haven't found his book yet, but there was a similar case. I ran across a book called "Don't Call Me Brother" that had a similar disillusioned man.

http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Call-Brother-Ringmasters-Pentecostal/dp/0879755075/sr=8-1/qid=1161059978/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8053127-8599235?ie=UTF8

He wasn't burned by Republicans, but by the Pentecostal Church and Jim and Tammy Bakker. He wound up completely disillusioned by his church and the people running it. I'd be very surprised if Mr. Kuo wasn't suckered the same way.

[RamboLiberal]

13. I was perusing his book tonight - actually he came from a family

where his mom was liberal and his dad was conservative. He wasn't even that big in to Christianity till later. Early in life Kuo admired Reagan, but then he worked in Gary Hart's campaign. He also interned for Ted Kennedy and greatly admired at the time the good work Kennedy did for people and the Kennedy family.

He attended a lecture by Chuck Colson and really admired what Colson had to say. What turned him was the Pro-life movement and he thought Kennedy and liberals sold out to the Pro-choice movement.

But at least he's a guy who thinks for himself and didn't allow himself to be completely blinded. He's an idealist and he started seeing how many of the big name preachers and politicos might talk the talk but they sure weren't walking the walk. And he started thinking that much of the Christian right agenda was crazy when there were problems to be solved like poverty, HIV/Aids, genocide, war, etc.