One day back in the mid-1990s I was at the U.S. Capitol for meetings for Oregon's Congressional delegation to speak with our representative about the devastating cuts to programs for the poorest Americans being pushed by the U.S. House Speaker New Gingrich and his Republican majority.
Those cuts and the economic policies pushed by Gingrich - and later enacted by President Bush and the Republican Congress - pushed poverty levels up and led to economic ruin.
I happened to run into the Speaker during that trip and explained to him how his policies were increasing homelessness among working families with children.
Churches and non-profits have been left without much help to try and clean-up the mess left by Gingrich and Bush. Were fortunate that we now have an ally on many critical issues in President Obama.
So it was ironic today to hear Gingrich declare today that the president had started a "war against churches." Gingrich has pursued policies that have been opposed by everyone from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to the United Church of Christ on everything from efforts to fight poverty to the war in Iraq.
The reality is that Gingrich has long fought churches and the values they advocate - in both his personal and professional life. He has no moral standing on which to criticize the president.
