Editorial: They’re complaining about this?

Saturday, Dec. 10, 2005 | 7:11 a.m.

This year there has been a renewed push by right-wing talk show hosts and leaders of some conservative Christian groups to get people to boycott stores that use "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" in their marketing and promotions. (And we thought Christmas was about celebrating the birth of Christ -- not shopping 'til you drop. But what do we know?)

Now some of these individuals have set their sights on someone else who, believe it or not, they say is trashing Christmas -- George Bush.

The president's offense? He has sent out 1.4 million end-of-the-year cards to supporters and friends, wishing them a happy "holiday season." Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com, told the Washington Post. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it." What a forgiving, charitable act this time of year. William Donohue, president of The Catholic League, didn't understand why Bush shied from saying "Merry Christmas." "The president of the United States, we thought, is one of us," Donohue told CBS News.

Basic human decency and religious tolerance seem to be foreign concepts to Farah and Donohue. Lost on them is the fact that the president represents all of us -- not just those from one faith.