Moral Values
Many on both the Left and Right have examined with great interest the fact that exit polls show that the biggest issue on people's minds for the election, at least, the most agreed upon, was "moral values." Of course, many on the Left took this to mean that hatred of homosexuals and anti-choice sentiment was the reason behind this. They fail to examine in full what was meant by " moral values." It could mean that, the passage of bans against homosexual marriage in 11 states is some evidence to advance that. However, they fail to take into account what else "moral values" implies. I suspect that many who mentioned that meant far more than just "God, Gays and Guns" as some have said. Rather, I suspect that many people felt:
A) The right to self defense was a moral issue. They felt that the President was far more likely to take a moral stand to defend the American people.
B) The President was more likely to do what he felt was right than what was politically expedient. Many in Flyover Country disliked the habit of Bill Clinton to poll on everything. They wanted someone who did something that he felt was right, not that he felt was popular. I suspect more than a few disagreed with the Presiden't decisions on Iraq. However, they felt that what Bush did, he did because he believed it was right. That, I suspect, was on more than a few minds. Changing rationale afterwards isn't like saying you were against the war, when you were in fact ahead of the issue before the administration.
C) Also, I think that many Americans believed Kerry to be a hypocrite, in that he was a pro-choice Catholic, when such a thing is in many ways a contradiction. They felt he used his religion for personal gain, and that, unlike Bush, he really didn't believe in much. Except himself.
Its not just the 3 Gs. Yet I see that many on the Left don't see this. So I begin to wonder just what the Democratic party will look like in 2008.
Note: For those who accuse Bush of being on the leash of the Evangelicals, what, exactly, has he done for them? Faith Based initiatives. Thats it. And that likely won't last past the next serious budget session. Bush did not, repeat, did not bring up the issue of Same Sex Marriage. The Left did, with the Massachussettes court incident and the San Francisco incident. He had, in fact, deliberately avoided dividing issues like that ever since 9/11. However, when the Left decided to make SSM an issue, then he was forced to respond. And he did so weakly, at that. His support of FMA was a joke. Token support, if that. He really wanted the issue to be off the table. However, it didn't go, and ironically enough, it probably gave Bush both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote.
Update: Roger L Simon has a good post about this. He mentions moral clarity when it comes to spreading liberal values throughout the world. You can count that as reason D. Check out his post.
Update 2: This post at Powerline and its attending links seems to indicate that the issue of gay marriage actually had a relatively small role in the election. Interesting. It appears there are far more 9/12 Bush supporters than the Left would have you believe.
A) The right to self defense was a moral issue. They felt that the President was far more likely to take a moral stand to defend the American people.
B) The President was more likely to do what he felt was right than what was politically expedient. Many in Flyover Country disliked the habit of Bill Clinton to poll on everything. They wanted someone who did something that he felt was right, not that he felt was popular. I suspect more than a few disagreed with the Presiden't decisions on Iraq. However, they felt that what Bush did, he did because he believed it was right. That, I suspect, was on more than a few minds. Changing rationale afterwards isn't like saying you were against the war, when you were in fact ahead of the issue before the administration.
C) Also, I think that many Americans believed Kerry to be a hypocrite, in that he was a pro-choice Catholic, when such a thing is in many ways a contradiction. They felt he used his religion for personal gain, and that, unlike Bush, he really didn't believe in much. Except himself.
Its not just the 3 Gs. Yet I see that many on the Left don't see this. So I begin to wonder just what the Democratic party will look like in 2008.
Note: For those who accuse Bush of being on the leash of the Evangelicals, what, exactly, has he done for them? Faith Based initiatives. Thats it. And that likely won't last past the next serious budget session. Bush did not, repeat, did not bring up the issue of Same Sex Marriage. The Left did, with the Massachussettes court incident and the San Francisco incident. He had, in fact, deliberately avoided dividing issues like that ever since 9/11. However, when the Left decided to make SSM an issue, then he was forced to respond. And he did so weakly, at that. His support of FMA was a joke. Token support, if that. He really wanted the issue to be off the table. However, it didn't go, and ironically enough, it probably gave Bush both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote.
Update: Roger L Simon has a good post about this. He mentions moral clarity when it comes to spreading liberal values throughout the world. You can count that as reason D. Check out his post.
Update 2: This post at Powerline and its attending links seems to indicate that the issue of gay marriage actually had a relatively small role in the election. Interesting. It appears there are far more 9/12 Bush supporters than the Left would have you believe.
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