Op-Ed Columnist: Job and Dean

Ouch... I think I just lost a few ounces of respect for Howard Dean:

From William Safire in today's Times: "As he heads into what H. L. Mencken called the 'Bible Belt,' the candidate moved to plug an apparent hole in his resume about an interest in religion. After hearing Dean's observation beginning 'If you know much about the Bible - which I do,' a reporter asked about his favorite New Testament book. Dean named Job, adding, 'But I don't like the way it ends . . . in some of the books of the New Testament, the ending of the Book of Job is different . . . there's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later.'"

Bad enough that Gov. Dean appears to know little at all about the Bible. (Job is in the Old Testament, there are no "alternate endings" to it in the New Testament, and he's probably thinking of the Gospel of Mark, which appears to have two additional endings that were "tacked on later." Mark and Job, however, are not easily confused books.)

But to brag about "knowing much about the Bible" like that is just plain hubris. If you don't read it and aren't familiar with it, friend, just say so. Be a secular humanist or whatever... most folks will forgive you. But you look like a darn fool saying things like that, especially to people who happen to have both read and cherished the Scriptures.