Monday, November 08, 2004

Moral Outrage: In many of the post-mortems, a lot of liberals seem to be blaming the same-sex marriage issue for Kerry's defeat. Their evidence, a plurality of Republican voters saying "moral values" was the top reason for voting for Bush.

While it's a shame that many people in this country aren't yet comfortable with the idea of homosexuality, let's not blow the gay issue out of proportion. Not everybody who voted for Bush is a blue-balled red neck.

The term "moral values" is too ambiguous. It's a catchall phrase used to say someone has good character. Do some people believe homosexuality is a moral issue? Sure. But many of the same people also believe sticking to your word shows moral character, as does fighting fascism.

For some reason, many people on the Left are trying to downplay the importance of the War on Terrorism in this election. That may help you feel better, but it doesn't necessarily follow the facts. Exit polls indicate that among the people who voted, 23 percent cited "moral values" as their most important issue, 20 percent said "economy/jobs", 19 percent said "terrorism", and 15 percent said "Iraq".

For one thing, the percentages are pretty close. And another, many people -- not all, but many -- consider the War on Terrorism to include both "terrorism" and "Iraq". Considering that, you can't argue that the War on Terrorism was second to gay marriage.

Luckily some lefties are trying to kill that idea before it solidifies to become conventional wisdom. Because if it does, the Democrats will completely miss the important lesson of this election and will end up in worse shape than they already are. And right now we need a strong opposition to keep the ruling party in check.