Yep, among all the interesting ways that one could ask a candidate claiming faith about ultimate authority, showcasing the guy waving the bible ranks pretty low.

As Walter Shapiro writes in Salon:

And, please God, no more debate questions about the Bible. Somewhere in the dim corridors of memory, I recall being taught (admittedly under the liberal Earl Warren Supreme Court) that there were no religious tests for holding public office in the United States. The theology was getting so thick onstage Wednesday night (with Huckabee, a Baptist minister, all but offering to give Scripture lessons to Rudy Giuliani) that I imagined that instead of commercial breaks, CNN might interrupt the debate for two minutes of public prayer.

If this is really destined to be the God-help-us election, then maybe we should all stop worrying about all those other issues, including fringy Republican causes like the so-called fair tax. Instead, let a civic-minded network like CNN sponsor a debate on a single topic of vital importance. What I am, of course, suggesting -- and it certainly is what the Founding Fathers imagined -- is a free-wheeling two-hour face-off on the Bible and only the Bible. Or better yet, confine it to a single topic like the Book of Revelation.

Dan and Alex et. al:
Progressive Baptist editor JPierce has good blog on Bible and GOP today at www.bteditor.blogspot.com
I think you will want to look at it. And your friends at ethicsdaily have great story on Hbee today and I have blogged with good links on same in last couple days.
Incidentally, Joy Behar of the View roughly agrees with you Alex; though I think an exhaustive analysis of how HBee came out in the wrong side of the SBC Takeover in the context of the wisdom of Garry Wills and Randall Balmer could be a teachable moment for the country and its ideological guts.
That could be the best thing to come out of the candidacy of Hbee and Romney.
Wills has gone a long way in that direction if there was just a way to get more than the so called elites to gain from his wisdom and insight.
I realize that in part is what this site is about.
To that end GodSpeed to us all.

Thanks for the tip, Fox.

What really frustrates me about that Bible question is that it makes asking GOOD questions about religion more difficult. The more this kind of ridiculousness crops up the more people want to wall off religion and politics all together. For me, I don't think the details of how somebody interprets scripture is really my business (interesting as it might be) unless it affects policy. So, I would have preferred a question more along the lines of, "Does your interpretation of scripture affect your policy objectives? If so, how?" But I guess that's not as entertaining as waving around a Bible...