NC GOP Head Has Her Own Version of Reverend Wright

By Lee Russ

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 08:01 PM

Yet more evidence that you really can't spell hypocrisy without GOP: turns out that Linda Daves--the NC GOP Chair associated with the ad attacking two Democratic candidates for NC state office based on their association with Obama, who, of course, is associated with Reverend Wright--is a member of a church which recently defunded some local charities because they had the audacity to work with Catholics.

And the NC GOP appears to be aware of the hypocrisy, judging from the fact that Daves' bio once proudly proclaimed that "being an active member of the Central Church of God in Charlotte" was one of her hobbies, but now contains not a single sign that she is or was associated with that church.

So why the scrub-a-dub-dub of her connection to a large NC church? Because the church made a couple of moves that certainly have to rival anything Wright has said:

One of Charlotte's best-known churches has withdrawn support for a food pantry that serves the needy because the pantry works with Roman Catholics.

Central Church of God explained its decision in a letter March 1 from minister of evangelism Shannon Burton to Loaves & Fishes in Charlotte: "As a Christian church, we feel it is our responsibility to follow closely the (principles) and commands of Scripture. To do this best, we feel we should abstain from any ministry that partners with or promotes Catholicism, or for that matter, any other denomination promoting a works-based salvation.

The Rev. Tony Marciano, executive director of Charlotte Rescue Mission, said Burton told him the church could no longer support the agency after it allowed three Muslim students from UNC Charlotte to help serve a meal at the uptown ministry in November. Founded in 1938 by eight businessmen, including Charlotte-born evangelist Billy Graham's father, Charlotte Rescue Mission offers Christ-centered residential care for people fighting drugs and alcohol.

In the letter to Loaves & Fishes, obtained by the Observer, Central's Burton tried to end on a positive note:

"I hope and pray you receive this as intended -- in love," Burton wrote. "Thank you in advance for your understanding in this matter, and if you should have any questions, feel free to give me a call.

We refuse to be associated with you because we love you. Sounds very Republican to me.

Once the public outrage over their policy hit the fan, the church backtracked on funding two of the three charities, but remained firm in disassociating itself from the Charlotte Rescue Mission which had committed the unpardonable sin of allowing Muslim students help serve a meal.

But wait, the Central Church of God has demonstrated its affinities and priorities even further. Allowing Muslim students to serve a meal to the needy may be verboten, but it is just churchly fine for the church to have the infamous General Boykin as a guest speaker. From The church's own web site:

2007-07-29-1030 Lt. General William G. Boykin (retired) is a guest speaker for Central Church of God for the 10:30 morning service July 29th, 2007. He gives his personal testimony of how he prayed with his men before each mission for God's protection as they were deployed in several armed conflicts in the middle east. God protected them from almost certain death on several missions.

Scripture Ref: Isaiah 6:8

Topic: Personal Testimony

Remember Gen. Boykin? Sure you do. He's the military genius who, not long ago managed to offend just about every Muslim in the world with access to a newspaper, radio, television, or the internet:

On October 15, NBC Nightly News released film footage of Deputy Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Lt. Gen. William Boykin speaking, often in uniform, at American evangelical churches and describing the U.S. led “war on terror” as a battle between Christ and Satan. Boykin, who as head of military intelligence is responsible for tracking high level figures such as Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, spoke to Christian groups around the country, and said that radical Muslims hate America because “we’re a Christian nation, because our foundation and roots are Judeo-Christian and the enemy is a guy named Satan.” Referring to a conversation he had with a Muslim warlord in Somalia in 1993, Boykin also said: “I knew that my god was a real god and his was an idol.” He also remarked that the fact that Al Gore received the majority of votes in the 2000 election and was nonetheless defeated is proof that the Bush election is divinely ordained.

Yes, Boykin the Magnificent, the man who said: "[Bush is] in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."

And need I add that this absurdity in the past of Linda Daves has not stirred anywhere near the public controversy that has followed Reverend Wright? Not even after the live feed for Ms Daves mysteriously failed at just the moment that MSNBC's Contessa Brewer has asked Daves why, if as Daves had said, the NC ad referencing Reverend Wright really was intended to attack the two state Democrats for failing to address the issues, the GOP ad itself rather obviously was irrelevant to any campaign issues in NC. Watch the video at the link. As the question is asked, Daves' face goes blank. Then the screen goes black. Then, once the feed is "restored," Daves has a canned and rehearsed response to the question.

I see little discussion or even mention of Daves and her hypocrisy and her miracle of an interruption to the live feed. I can't turn on a television or open a newspaper without reading a nauseating analysis and reanalysis and re-reanalysis of exactly what Reverend Wright said, parsed to within an inch of its life, with comments from every pundit capable of making speech and eye contact at the same time.

Would just one mainstream journalist with a real platform kindly ask Daves why her official GOP bio was scrubbed? Why Boykin's comments are okay but Wright's comments are fodder for vilification not only of Wright, but of everyone who came within two degrees of him? Why it is okay to cut charitable funding because three Muslim students tried to be decent members of society, but not okay for Wright to notice that this country has a history of racism which has not yet gone away? Why it was okay for her church to refuse to deal with Catholics, then change its mind, but it's unforgivable for Obama to merely have sat in the audience while Wright made statements that mainstream Americans find shocking?

Damned liberal media.