Stealthy or just nasty?

Some years ago, the Christian wingnuts of the right adopted a tactic of "stealth" candidacies in which they deliberately concealed their true beliefs and objectives because they knew that honesty would result in their defeat. I've wondered of late whether George Bush was the most successful such candidate or is he just so wrapped up in his own power trip that he amorally will go with whatever grouping seems to his personal advantage.

Washington, D.C., December 23 - All images of gay gatherings at national sites, including the Millennium March on the Washington Mall have been ordered removed from videotapes that have been shown at the Lincoln Memorial since 1995 according to a civil service group.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) says that the directive came from National Parks Service Deputy Director Donald Murphy. Murphy is said to have been concerned about pictures in the video that showed same-sex couples kissing and holding hands after conservative groups complained. ...

Also ordered cut from the tape were scenes of abortion rights demonstrations at the memorial, and anti-Vietnam War demonstrations "because it implies that Lincoln would have supported homosexual and abortion rights as well as feminism."

In their place, the Park Service is inserting scenes of the Christian group Promise Keepers and pro-Gulf War demonstrators though these events did not take place at the Memorial in what Murphy calls a "more balanced" version.

"Disappearing" dissent and promoting reactionary events through lies (by placing them where they did not occur) as "balance." Yeah, that sounds about right - in more than one sense of the word - for the Shrub team.

But balance, of course, is not the real issue. PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch accuses the Bush Administration of "sponsoring a program of Faith-Based Parks." He notes that this fall, the Park Service approved a creationist text, "Grand Canyon: A Different View" for sale in park bookstores and museums while blocking publication of guidance for park rangers and other interpretative staff that labeled creationism as lacking any scientific basis.

These days I'm afraid I'm leaning to the "stealth candidate" side.

Foornote: PEER's press release can be found here.

Update: Apparently there's been a change of heart.

Footage of gay rights demonstrations will not be removed from a videotape shown at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C, according to spokespeople from the National Park Service and the Human Rights Campaign....

"We have been assured that they are redoing the tape, but are not stripping out scenes of gay and lesbian events at the Lincoln Memorial, because to do so would be historically inaccurate," said Winne Stachelberg, political director at the Human Rights Campaign, a national gay rights group.

However, they apparently still are going to insert scenes of right-wing demos, even though they didn't take place at the Memorial or even on the Mall. So much for "historical accuracy" being the driving consideration.