From Seattle writer and consultant Matt Rosenberg...: How Bush Won....

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How Bush Won....

November 15, 2004

...was by holding his own with moderates, not thanks to bible-thumping anti-gay marriage rural voters, as the liberal disintelligentsia would have you believe.

I'm continuing to compile columns which make that evident. One by E.J. Dionne and another by David Broder are in this post of mine from last week. Now, more.

Here's Charles Krauthammer, on how "moral values" were actually far from the first thing on voters minds. He also notes that Bush's gains in percentage of the vote were lower in the 11 states that had anti-gay marriage referenda on the ballot on Election Day, than in the other 39 states with no such measures before voters.

David Broder, from this weekend with more still (he's been on fire lately).

...The real Bush success was in fighting John Kerry to a near-standoff among self-described moderates.
Tim Hibbitts, an independent pollster in Portland, Ore., has done some exit poll calculations that make an interesting point. Gay marriage was an energizing issue in states like his, where it was on the ballot as a voter initiative. Bush lost Oregon, even though the measure banning gay marriage passed.

In the national exit polls, Hibbitts found that 12 percent of Bush's voters actually favored permitting gay marriages; 38 percent favored civil unions, but not gay marriages. That leaves 50 percent of the Bush voters who said no legal recognition should be given to same-sex couples. Kerry voters went the other way, with less than a quarter taking a no-recognition stance. But on both sides, Hibbitts points out, opinion is nuanced, not monolithic.

Quite true, as Rev. Chris Emerson points out, in this op-ed piece on progressive and liberal evangelicals. But just try telling that to these folks, in the Bay Area. Or these ostriches, who spew:

Citizens of the Urban Archipelago reject heartland "values" like xenophobia, sexism, racism and homophobia, as well as the more intolerant strains of Christianity that have taken root in this country. And we are the real Americans. They - rural, red-state voters, the denizens of the exurbs - are not real Americans. They are rubes, fools, and hatemongers.

As a pro-choice, pro-urban-density, pro-mass transit, gay-friendly heterosexual moderate Seattle conservative (got all that?) I'm damned sick and tired of self-righteous, frothing liberal extremists using the gay marriage issue as a wedge. Because someone is against gay marriage, or has deep reservations about it, doesn't mean they're homophobic. Hell, they could even be Kerry voters! The argument is about a half-step better than equating charter school supporters with a Nazi propoganda minister, as one teachers union offical in Washington State did, earlier this year.

With an estimated one-quarter of Kerry voters against both gay marriage and civil unions, and with other issues far ahead of "morals" (see Krauthammer, above) it's time for Ds to coalesce - in an uncharacteristically thoughtful manner - around issues that can rally the moderates they'll need to regain significance. Such as taming the deficit, articulating a muscular yet realistic foreign policy, and emphasizing engaged parenting as key to education and crime prevention. That last one is a great, secular "morals" issue, by the way.