On shows and in papers today, I've seen a lot of this talking point. Let the Christian-bashing begin.

What they don't understand is that more than 25% of the people voting said they were concerned with moral issues. But about 75% went against gay marriage. Plenty of people who voted for Kerry voted to define marriage.

But by all means, let's blame the evangelicals. Dirty, Christian, homeschoolers.

If you look at the USA Today county-by-county red/blue map of the election, Madelyn Murray O'Hair's home county (Travis) in Texas stands out as a blue dot in an ocean of red, with the only other blue counties along the state's border with Mexico and the union stronghold of Beaumont-Port Arthur. However, of that group, Austin's the only place that would have voted for Kerry because many of its residents recoil from religion; the others just went Democratic because that's the party they're used to having hand out the goodies.

This should be interesting, as the 57% of Oregon voters who voted for the Marriage initiative there become demonized by the left, setting up that state and many others to become very Red in the near future.

prayer in school, abortion, protection of the flag and, now, gay marriage

This is a fascinating lists. Taking Wills at his word, the reason the Dems have such trouble winning national elections, or any elections in the heartland, is entirely due to liberal judges driving conservatives to the voting booth. Maybe the left needs to start talking to audiences of more than 9 people.

Timothy:

I don't think Oregon will become "Red" anytime soon. Just because the voters decided to defend traditional marriage and not allow the expansion of "medical" marijuana, does not mean Oregon has now become a conservative Republican state.

Of course not. But if the Dems keep villanizing everyone who voted for that amendment, they one day will be.

The elite need to learn that America (and to a certain extent Britian) are more of a child of the Reformation than the Enlightenment. Calvin, Wesley and Knox are more of a basis of the core American ethos than Hegel, Nietzche and Rousseau.

What is sometime called Jacksonianism has a much deeper and longer history than they would admit.

Our ancestors came here because they didn't want to be Europeans anymore, not to copy and admire them.

I bet we in Hawaii had a clearer 'values' choice in the booth than anybody, but I'm darned if I can make it fit these analyses.

1. Gabbard, who ran a stealth campaign (appeared only in churches) based entirely on stopping homosexual marriage, gets 36%.

2. Blundell, inoffensive Republican House incumbent who got caught with his hand down a cop's trousers, loses 3,300-3,000 to an unknown night watchman.

3. Kerry takes state 54-46.

4. Bukoski, inoffensive Republican House incumbent with no sexual baggage, loses even bigger than Blundell.

5. Something like 3 in 4 oppose homosexual marriage here, but at least 1 of those 3 is willing, nevertheless, to vote for Case, the pro-gay marriage congressman.

-- Mr. Rove understands what surveys have shown, that many more Americans believe in the Virgin Birth than in Darwin's theory of evolution. --

Hm. Isn't Dr. Wills a self-nominated Catholic?

So Professor Wills claims to be a Catholic but is apparently skeptical about the Virgin Birth? I'm confused.

Like many liberals/libertarians now breaking into cold sweats about the coming theocracy (Bret...come on down!), Wills neatly sidesteps the point that, with the exception of abortion, social conservatives are not calling for restrictive laws on many things. They are trying to stop progressives from sidestepping the democratic process by inventing new "fundamental" rights and using the courts to force them on an unwilling public or to strike down laws reflecting existing norms and values. Apart from the nefarious goings-on in Harry's county, I am unaware of any serious efforts to establish religion, mandate religious instruction, restrict womans' rights, enact blue laws, criminalize immoral behaviour, etc, etc. The focus is much more on preserving longstanding, time-tested traditions, promoting common social norms of behaviour and cilvlity, and maintaining local control. Conservatives argue to convince the majority, not to find any way possible to impose some ideal society irrespective of the popular will.

But I guess it is more fun to play superior, earned man of reason and science, and to warn of phantom Talibans and imminent Inquisitions.

Come on down, Peter, I'll show you around.

Thanks, Harry, I really appreciate it, but I don't know. I told the wife I was going to have to slip away to Hawaii for a bit on an important mission to help make sure the President's revolution didn't go awry and turn into a force for oppression. She just laughed at me and told me to keep painting. Looks like I'll have to continue relying on your regular reports.

You think I've been kidding. I'll take you to the biggest church in the islands, and we'll pillage the bookstore of books and videos showing how the government is run by actual demons from Hell.