I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in the election's outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland found that nearly 70 percent of President Bush's supporters believe the U.S. has come up with "clear evidence" that Saddam Hussein was working closely with Al Qaeda. A third of the president's supporters believe weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. And more than a third believe that a substantial majority of world opinion supported the U.S.-led invasion.[my emphasis]
[. . .]
I love Bob Herbert, another who calls 'em as he sees 'em. Melanie, whose insights I also value, comments thusly:
I think this whole argument is wrong, based on an exit poll that asked a badly worded question. Everybody votes on "values" all the time, asking yourself "Who among these candidates is likely to do the best job?" is a values question, with "best job in my eyes" the value in question.
This whole discussion is another one of the things the media does instead of reporting. It would be silly if it weren't such a serious subject.
I brought you the results of the PIPA survey last month and it appears to me that the election was more about that nasty campaign than anything having to do with faith or facts. [my emphasis]
[. . .]
And she goes on to declare another truism:
Karl Rove is an excellent perception manager.
Indeed. Gordon sent me this from newsleader.com during the night:
[. . .]
Christians have gone from a majority in this country to a minority. Why? We gave it away by sitting back and doing nothing. Shame on us!
If we continue to sit back and do nothing, one day soon, we just might find ourselves being locked up, or worse, for being a Christian. Think about it. It's already happening all over the world.
[. . .]
Please, I beg of you, get fired up. Vote! Get others to vote for Bush! God is still on the throne; woe to our country if we continue to allow him to be taken out of everything he has blessed us with. He owes us nothing, and we certainly deserve nothing. And nothing is what we will end up with if we don't start taking back the ground we gave away.
These are excerpts from a letter to the editor, illustrating Melanie's point perfectly. This is the Rovian mindset, the perception of the Democrats as the vassals of Satan among the Jesuslanders. Jeez, the title of the letter is "A vote for Kerry is a vote for Satan". This is the perception they have of us, created by the Republicans and the Christian churches who support them. How do we fight this? How do we get these perceptions, that now have become strongly-held beliefs, to change? We have to change them, ladies and gentlemen, for as long as these people see the battle between Republicans and Democrats as the conflict between all that is Holy and the Ultimate Evil, we will never make any inroads into Jesusland.
As long as we are seen as Lucifer's vassals, the divide will remain. As I see it, our only hope is for 'God's Chosen One' to shoot himself in the foot. We can show them evidence of His fuckuppery but it won't be believed because of their perceptions of us. Facts are for the folks who live in Realitystan. The only way, I think, for us to win the hearts and minds of the Jesuslanders is for God to get fed up with them using him as a campaign prop and send 'em a message. I'd say locusts or a flood should do it.
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