The FundamentaList

By Sarah Posner - American Prospect
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 - Web Link
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May 7, 2008

1. Former Bush Confidant Continues to Defend Televangelists

Appearing on televangelist and Grassley target Kenneth Copeland's program last week, former Bush family confidant and televangelist advocate Doug Wead once again defended his friend from that "elitist," Sen. Charles Grassley.

Wead, the architect of the evangelical outreach efforts of both presidents Bush, is intimately familiar with the theological disagreements among American evangelicals. Though he defends Copeland's prosperity gospel, he is also well aware of how doctrinally controversial it is. (Although Wead's tactics helped Bush get elected and reelected, he fell out of favor with the Bush family in 2005 after he released secretly-taped conversations in which George W. Bush admitted to marijuana use.)

Copeland played a key role in Wead's strategy. As I detail in God's Profits, in 1985 Wead compiled a list of 1,000 "targets" -- religious leaders of influence that the elder Bush should become friendly with for political reasons. Copeland was in the top dozen, along with Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell. Wead, in fact, seemed to think Copeland was more useful than Robertson and Falwell because they were divisive while he was more "discreet." And when George W. Bush was contemplating his own presidential run thirteen years later, Wead told Karl Rove that Copeland "is arguably one of the most important religious leaders in the nation."

On the program last week, Copeland made sure that his viewers understood the political connections he and Wead share, somehow evading the obvious contradiction inherent in the idea that Copeland is at once under siege by an elitist senator and a confidant of presidents. "I had the privilege of discussing different things with you when you were an adviser in the Bush campaign and later in the Bush White House," he reminded Wead. Wead replied that Copeland has also met with presidents, but that few people know this "because those were meetings you kept private, and what was shared you kept private, but you've had your impact on this country, Kenneth, impact for good."