How is this for downgrading the importance of elections: "Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He's in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this."

That's from the man newly appointed as deputy undersecretary of defence for intelligence, Lt Gen William Boykin, talking about Bush.

And here he is talking about Allah (who he seems to be under the impression is somehow a different God from the Christian and Jewish God): "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real god and his was an idol."

Or: "Our religion came from Judaism and therefore [Islamic] radicals will hate us forever." (Apparently unaware that Islamic religion has its roots in Judaism, and is a lot closer to Judaism in all kinds of way than Christianity is.)

Here is a story in the Daily Telegraph (which in England is as right-wing as a quality paper can be, in case anybody thnks it might have been slanted in a "liberal" direction: God put Bush in charge, says the general hunting bin Laden (You might need to register to read this, but it's free)