There’s an article in the Washington Post today about how Obama is trying to bring evangelicals into the Democratic party. Fantastic. There’s gotta be a segment of the evangelical population who would rather help the downtrodden than murder abortion doctors. As could be expected, Republicans aren’t quite sure what to do about this:

It’s a move that’s caught some conservative evangelicals off guard. They say they are surprised and dismayed to see a liberal-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has done little to court their affections.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like it before,” said evangelical author Stephen Mansfield, who wrote “The Faith of George W. Bush” and has a forthcoming book about Obama.

“To be running against a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and to be reaching into the Christian community as wisely and knowledgeably as (Obama) is — understanding their terms and their values — is just remarkable.”

Oh no! He’s conscripting our troops! Who will we get to protest the funerals of gay teenagers?

Thankfully, the liberal media is right there to show us there are two sides to every story:

Still, some religious leaders wonder whether Obama’s Christian-focused outreach might alienate Jewish and Muslim voters, for example, not to mention the Democratic Party’s large secular wing.

“You really have to consider the question: What message does this send to people of other faiths?” said the Rev. Romal J. Tune, a Washington pastor who works on religious outreach with the Democratic National Committee.

So, Republicans have owned Evangelicals for the last God-knows-how-many years, but the second Obama makes the (incredibly wise) move of trying to include them, he gets criticized for disenfranchising Jews and Muslims. Here’s a little tip for reading articles like this: whenever a reporter uses a nonspecific phrase like “some religious leaders,” it generally means “we found one guy who expressed doubt.” Sometimes it means “we couldn’t find anyone who expressed doubt, but there’s probably someone out there who feels this way.”

Along these lines, I was at the gym yesterday when I saw footage from a press conference that Mike Bloomberg gave in Florida explaining to “a Jewish group” that Obama is not actually a secret Muslim. Now, really. I don’t mean to stereotype, but it seems to me that Jews tend to be more educated than the general public. The people who believe the Obama Muslim rumors aren’t Jewish voters in Boca Raton, they’re undereducated rednecks who are just itching for a reason to not vote for a black guy. And I don’t really think the mayor of Queer and Degenerate-ville USA is the best person to convince them otherwise. Now, if we could get Larry the Cable Guy to spread the good word, that would be a coup.