Lighting up the chilly night with a resolute flick of a switch, House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Thursday night illuminated this year's Capitol Christmas — not "holiday" — Tree, reinstating its religious title for the first time in years.
Known as the Capitol Holiday Tree since the 1990s, the Engelmann spruce towering over the Capitol's West Lawn became a symbol of the Republican-led Congress's resolve on the matter of holiday wishes. The issue touched the White House when some Christian conservatives expressed anger over the cards they received from President Bush and his wife, Laura, wishing them a pleasant "holiday season."
Hastert, who made clear in a letter last month that he intended to light a Christmas tree on the Capitol lawn, on Thursday flicked a switch that illuminated the 65-foot spruce dressed up with 10,000 lights and 3,000 ornaments. It will shine nightfall to 11 p.m. each day through Jan. 1.
NewsMax.com
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