It's the context. When you sprinkle stuff like that in the middle of a bunch of other statements that actually do have to do with public policy, there is a certain implication there.
TC - It's one of those things I think where it's a lot more difficult to see if you actually agree with it. Imagine if there was another libertarian-leaning Senator, doing a speech where he covers a number of public policy points, and sprinkled among those policy points, he brings up how America needs to come back with a revival to the teachings of the Vedas, and how no secular government can claim the same motivation as Ghandi; making constant references to Hinduism, no references to any other belief systems, and not taking any care to let the audience know when he is only expressing a personal opinion? How confident would you be that this Senator would keep government out of the business of imposing religion?
