Will Christmas Holiday Cards Cost the White House Its Base?

From WaPo:

Many people are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter what the greeting inside. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.

"This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture," said William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. . . .

"It bothers me that the White House card leaves off any reference to Jesus, while we've got Ramadan celebrations in the White House," [American Family Association President Tim] Wildmon said. "What's going on there?"

At the Catholic League, Donohue had just announced a boycott of the Lands' End catalogue when he received his White House holiday card. True, he said, the Bushes included a verse from Psalm 28, but Psalms are in the Old Testament and do not mention Jesus' birth.

"They'd better address this, because they're no better than the retailers who have lost the will to say 'Merry Christmas,' " he said.

Will the Fox News Pundits who have manufactured this "War on Christmas" attack the Bushes as vigorously as they have gone after Target?

Elsewhere in the article, Bob Edgar―president of the National Council of Churches (NCC), United Methodist pastor, and former Christian Dissent Live guest―throws down his books and says, "Let's go then":

"I think it's more important to put Christ back into our war planning than into our Christmas cards," said the council's general secretary, the Rev. Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman.

While I agree with Edgar, I'm not sure what war planning has to do with any of this. I guess Edgar didn't want to pass up an opportunity to alienate the millions of members of NCC-affiliated congregations who oppose the war, in some cases for noble reasons (and in some cases out of fear that disagreeing with President Bush is somehow un-Christian). Then again, I'm glad that someone quoted in the article was wise enough to point out how this Christmas card debate is nothing more than a distraction from more pressing matters.