Lexington: Deconstructing the God squad

摘要

It happens every election cycle. The Washington crowd rediscovers a strange tribe called "conservative Christians". It doesn't often meet them, of course: there are very few Bible-thumpers at the bar at the Palm. But every other year the press pack remembers that, for some odd reason, such people have been given the vote—and sets about endowing them with awesome political power. The press-Lexington included—swallowed Karl Rove's argument that the Republicans were robbed of a conclusive victory in 2000 because 4m evangelicals were not urged to the polls. In 2004, many journalists argued that George Bush's win was clinched by "values voters" who turned up to the polls in huge numbers to express their opposition to gay marriage.