Bush Placed by God?

A letter I sent to Sullivan

This is regarding [your blog post about] the religious right and George W. Bush. [*link dead]

I am an orthodox Jew and I have heard some in the right-wing Jewish community say similar things to the quote you had from CNN:

"There are some people, and I'm one of them, that believe George Bush was placed where he is by the Lord. "

Whenever I hear someone say something like that I invariably reply, as an amateur theologian, "yes, Bush was placed as president by the Lord... but as a punishment."

The scary thing is that I don't know anymore if I am joking.

All the best for a good, new year

When I was a rabbi in NYC I heard this a lot after 9/11 - that it was better to have Bush in office than Gore because Bush is an uncomplicated thinker and a man of action. I argued that he was an idiot and it's never good to have idiots in charge, even if - by pure chance - they do something you agree with. I also said, and I have witnesses, that since he was immoral, it was dangerous to support thugs because of the inevitable backlash.

I also pushed back against the idea that Gore-Lieberman wouldn't have done the right thing after 9/11. Does anyone believe that anymore?

Backpost put up 2009-12-08.