Hot Air’s Ed Morrisey has posted a copy of Obama campaign literature from Kentucky (pictured below) that shows him in front of a beaming cross (it’s literally covered with glowing bulbs) beneath the words “Faith,” “Hope,” and “Change.”
Given the national controversy unleashed Mike Huckabee’s alleged use of the cross in a Christmastime ad, Morrisey asks where the outrage is this time around:

Remember when Mike Huckabee offered an innocuous and pleasant Christmas ad, only to be accused of Christianism for supposedly having a floating cross in the background — which turned out to be a bookshelf? Well, apparently the cross has suddenly become cool for politicians. Barack Obama has made it the centerpiece of his appeal in Kentucky ….
Given the hysteria generated by Governor Huckabee’s Christmas greeting, we should see at least three of the ten plagues of Egypt accompanying such a “Christianist” advertisement for a presidential candidate.

Doesn’t Morrisey have a point? Isn’t there a double standard here? And might it extend well beyond this Obama literature? Republicans have long claimed that the media beats up on them as dangerously theocratic whenever they get even mildly churchy.
That’s why Republican candidates, particularly at the national level, steer clear of church appearances, though they’re a staple of Democratic campaigning. Even as George W. Bush rallied the Christian Right to tremendous effect in 2004, for instance, he never did campaign stops at churches. John Kerry, meanwhile, made numerous appearances in front of African American congregations.
The same thing appears to be happening again this cycle, with Obama frequently popping up in pulpits. Has John McCain made such appearances?

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