More trouble for the "values voters did it" crowd

While I normally disagree with much of what Mossback has to say, he may be on to something here, and if true, represents a message issue for the Democrats, and a potential big, big disappointment for the religious right. (Update: Donkey rising reports a similar non-trend among "moral values" voters. It appears that this is another one of those "Cassie Bernall said 'yes'" moments we've come to expect from religious conservatives. )

Another aspect of this is reported in today's Washington Post- it seems that the Religious Left is finally beginning to wake up a bit more (other than of course the pretty much discredited Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton crowd):

Battling the notion that "values voters" swept President Bush to victory because of opposition to gay marriage and abortion, three liberal groups released a post-election poll in which 33 percent of voters said the nation's most urgent moral problem was "greed and materialism" and 31 percent said it was "poverty and economic justice." Sixteen percent cited abortion, and 12 percent named same-sex marriage...

"The values that were promoted most within the conservative religious community were almost always tied to a fear factor, and that was not necessarily the case in the Democratic strategy, and I would say should not be the case," said the Rev. Welton Gaddy, head of the Interfaith Alliance.

The nationwide telephone poll of 10,689 voters was conducted by Zogby International for the Catholic peace group Pax Christi, the New York-based civic advocacy group Res Publica and the Washington-based Center for American Progress, a think tank allied with Democrats. It had a margin of error of plus or minus one percentage point.

The poll found that 42 percent of voters cited the war in Iraq as the "moral issue" that most influenced their choice of candidates, while 13 percent cited abortion and 9 percent same-sex marriage. Asked to name the greatest threat to marriage, 31 percent said "infidelity," 25 percent cited "rising financial burdens" and 22 percent named same-sex marriage.

I am not a Christian, but I do think it's well past the time for the religious moderates and progressives to reclaim the title away from the conservatives. In particular, all Christians should dissociate themselves from the likes of James Dobson, who is laboring under the delusion that anyone who doesn't agree with his political views is a "God's people hater."

It is statements like this that make the religious right appear to be wallowing in a moral sewer.