THE ROCK UPON:

God save America ...: The race for the White House will be decided by fundagelicals. That's good news for twice-born George Bush (John Sutherland, May 3, 2004, The Guardian)

The word "fundagelism" has never appeared in the columns of this newspaper. The term is, however, current in the blogosphere - that cyberforum which nowadays carries the most interestingly paranoid political debate. "Fundagelism" is not a word that trips easily off the tongue. It's a crunching together of the even more mouth-boggling compound "fundamentalist evangelism".

George W Bush is a fundagelist. Dad wasn't. George H Bush (not renowned for his Wildean wit) delivered his most memorable wisecrack on walking into a room full of fundagelists: "Gee! I'm the only person here that's only been born once."

His son is truly twice born, with two dads. Nor are the parents equal in the eyes of their son. The journalist Bob Woodward, as he recalls, asked the current president if he ever turned to the ex-president for help. "Well, no," replied Bush Jr: "He is the wrong father to appeal to for advice. The wrong father to go to, to appeal to in terms of strength. There's a higher father that I appeal to."

There are, it is estimated, 90 million evangelical Christians in the US. If they can be mobilised, they will form a rock-solid foundation for November victory for the Republican incumbent. Chads need hang no more.

Unfortunately there are more like 50 million than 90 million.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 3, 2004 8:22 AM