God & The Presidency:
An In-Depth Examination Of Faith In The Bush White House

Democracy Now
20 October 2004 2004

Journalist Ron Suskind examines how Bush's belief in God has impacted his presidency, how some of Bush's supporters believe he is an instrument of God and the growing concern among many non-Evangelical Republicans. One former Reagan/Bush official says, "Just in the past few months. I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do." We also speak with Esther Kaplan author of the new book, "With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, and Democracy in George W. Bush's White House."

We are also joined by Ron Suskind, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "The Price of Loyalty: George W Bush, the White House and the Education of Paul O'Neill." His latest piece in The New York Times Magazine is called "Without a Doubt," which is about the role of faith in the Bush presidency. Our discussion includes clips from the recent film about President Bush's religious beliefs, entitled: George W. Bush, Faith in the White House distributed widely by the "Religious Freedom Coalition."

To begin with we will play an excerpt from the final presidential discussion at the University of Arizona on October 13, when the candidates were asked by moderator Bob Sheiffer of CBS News about the role religion plays in their lives.