National Review: we won on culture

They have a front-page editorial saying they’ve established a “post-WWII consensus on terorrism,” of course. But look what the actual commentators are saying:

http://www.nationalreview.com/kudlow/kudlow200411031343.asp

Who would have thought that lying exit polls, socially conservative Democrats, and Evangelical Christians would have dwarfed traditional issues like national security and economic prosperity on Election Day 2004. But — at the margin and in important ways — the exit polls and the Evangelicals may have pushed President George W. Bush over the victory line.

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/bennett200411031109.asp

On this last point, one veteran political reporter told me, “I heard again and again from people connected to, and members of, black churches who did not look kindly on gay marriage, and were very motivated against it. They, more than anyone else, did not see it as a civil right — and were angered by those who claimed it was.”

Oh, and the smoking gun exit poll I was looking for:

The national exit polling conducted by the Los Angeles Times confirms all these findings, showing that “[M]ore than half of Bush’s voters cited moral issues as a principal reason for their support — more than any other issue, including even terrorism.” In fact, morals trumped terrorism by seven percentage points in the Los Angeles Times poll.

In related news, oh fuck, here it comes:

Having restored decency to the White House, President Bush now has a mandate to affect policy that will promote a more decent society, through both politics and law. His supporters want that, and have given him a mandate in their popular and electoral votes to see to it. Now is the time to begin our long, national cultural renewal (“The Great Relearning,” as novelist Tom Wolfe calls it) — no less in legislation than in federal court appointments. It is, after all, the main reason George W. Bush was reelected.

Democrats, I hope you’re ready for some serious hardball.

Maybe we can hope the libertarian portion of the republican party gets antsy sooner rather than later.

Escape from LA is starting to get as witty and topical as Escape from NY was- it was just released too early.

Was Kerry’s stated opposition to gay marriage perceived universally as a lie meant to garner centrist votes? I.e. did all these guys who “might otherwise have voted against Bush” (or so I gather) assume that any Taxachusetts liberal would invariably be in favor of gay marriage deep down inside?

Or is it more the fact that Kerry opposes an anti-gay-marriage amendment?

the Supreme Court nominee issue would seem to be the motivating factor for so many voters prioritizing moral issues.

By the way.

Why do only Christians get to have morals?

I have morals. Honest. I have lots of them. Why, just think of all the people I refrained from punching this week!

The real test is whether or not you refrain from punching them in the next few days.

To me people saying “morals” were really just referring to their stance on abortion rights. I don’t see how one could say that Kerry isn’t a moral individual, any more than I could say that about 99% of the people I only know through the television and media. I suppose the SC nomination thing could have been a factor as well, but as big or bigger of a deal was made over that in 2000. The Repubs did do a great job of mobilizing their religious right base and getting them into the polls.

The real test is whether or not you refrain from punching them in the next few days.[/quote]

<3 <3 <3

kathode: that and gay marriage.

Did you refrain from punching the weak? Commie.

Only Christians get to have morals because the Democrats have ignored the “Culture War” for the last 20 years (or so it seems) to court the “moderates”, allowing the conservatives to make it seem like the mainstream is more to the right than I believe they actually are.
Democrats have to stop being afraid of being called baby-killers by conservative assholes, allowing abortions is moral and just, as is allowing gay people to have the same coupling rights, and if the Democrats would just do the groundwork on that for ten years, things would look brighter, I think. As it is, the people will move further to the right since they’ll start connecting morality to conservative values, and who doesn’t want to be moral?

If we didn’t have Sweden to clear things up for us, where would we be?

Support of Abortion at, say, a Swedish level, will never fly as government policy in the United States.

If you really want to understand the abortion debate historically in the US from a fairly objective perspective (ie recent article published in the leftist Harper’s, also lauded by Christian reviewers), ARTICLES OF FAITH : A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars
by Cynthia Gorney might help a lot. Her recent Harper’s article on partial birth abortion was mindblowingly good.