WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. senators from the electoral battleground states of West Virginia and Arkansas slammed the Republican National Committee (news - web sites) on Thursday for a pamphlet that suggested liberals would ban the Bible.
"Two weeks ago, the Republican National Committee sent a mass mailing to West Virginians suggesting that liberals -- in other words, everyone but Republicans -- are out to ban the Bible," Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), a West Virginia Democrat, said on the Senate floor.
"What a ridiculous claim! It is a flat-out, no-doubt-about-it, silly, sophomoric charge," Byrd said. "The Republican National Committee is spreading this tripe to smear Democrats, and the president ought to demand that the Republican National Committee apologize to the people of West Virginia."
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat from Arkansas, said the same mailing was sent to Arkansans.
"I hope that there will be an apology for their claims that Democrats want to ban the Bible and the inference that Democrats for some reason cannot have a faith as close or as deeply held as the other party," Lincoln said on the Senate floor. "I find that to be the pit, the absolute bottom of what is wrong in the political process."
A spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee confirmed the mailing was sent to Arkansas and West Virginia, stressing it addressed the issue of "activist judges."
"When the Massachusetts Supreme Court sanctioned same sex marriage and people in other states realized they could be compelled to recognize those laws, same sex marriage became an issue. Activist judges also want to remove the words 'under God' from the pledge of allegiance," spokeswoman Christine Iverson said in an e-mail.
The e-mail noted the mailing did not mention the word "Democrats."
Without providing details about the pamphlet, the e-mail did not dispute press reports indicating the pamphlet included a graphic showing a Bible with the word "banned" across it, and a graphic of a man placing a ring on the hand of another man with the word "allowed" across it.
