"Rome was a wealthy country that left Jesus and Mary and Joseph, in a sense, homeless," he complained. "He was born an at-risk baby."

The GOP-bashing Democrat said that while Bush's re-election campaign had been successful in "marketing the language of religious values," the Bush White House isn't practicing what it preaches.

Jackson charged that under Bush's policies, the U.S. "appears to be indifferent toward the poor as we seek tax cuts and no-bid contracts for the wealthy; as we engage in wars of choice - driving our nation into isolation."

"Today we are celebrating the wealthy and war, not the poor and peace," he contended, while urging the Bush administration to "restore the Lyndon Baines Johnson vision where we wipe out poverty - not wipe out the poor."

Editor's note: