Biblical Politics

Howard Fineman's latest piece in Newsweek deals with upcoming legal battles over the Ten Commandments and other values issues and how the Dems could reconnect with the voters on these issues (yeah, right). He sums up the article this way (hat tip RealClearPolitics.com):

As for the Democrats, there’s no reason they can’t make the Ten Commandments, and the Bible, their own. These days everyone wants to talk about values. But there is plenty in the Old and New Testaments—and in the commandments themselves—for them to cite. End Social Security as we know it? How does that “honor thy father and thy mother”? If the Lord wanted to honor His own creation—and wanted us to do so, too—by observing the Sabbath, what should that say about our respect for His handiwork (a k a the environment)? And of course there is a whole party platform in the social ministry of Jesus—if the Democrats would only get over their reluctance to talk about it.

Ironically, the GOP began connecting to the Bible Belt at precisely the moment when faith-based claims were making their deepest impact on the Democrats. In 1964, the emerging conscience of the Democratic Party was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The civil rights movement he led was based in the churches. Democrats weren’t afraid of that link then, and they shouldn’t be now.

The fact is, Biblical values are not part of the core beliefs of the leadership of the Democratic Party. They may occasionally be able to fake an interest in red state values, but in the long run, they can't pull it off.