nbcrusader said:
Who doesn't follow their own moral code (objective or subjective)?
What, in essence, you are arguing for is the lowest common denominator moral code (if such a thing exists). That way no law will infringe on someone else unless we all agree to the limitation.
i have no idea what you're talking about here. i am talking about political strategy, and the one the Republicans used was based upon hate and fear. and, yes, i do think people who oppose gay marriage are bigots because there is no justifiable opposition to gay marriage unless you are prepared to say that a gay relationship is less worthy than a straight one, which is analagous to saying that an interracial marriage is inherently inferior.
according to today's Washington Post:
"Campaign operatives and analysts point to the same motivating factor: Bush's conservative positions on social issues, particularly his opposition to abortion and his advocacy of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The president developed a national strategy based on those issues during a year when many voters put morality-based themes at the top of their own agendas, exit polling showed. ... "The evangelicals turned out, and clearly that issue [same-sex marriage] seems to have driven it," said Paul Tipps, a former state Democratic Party chairman and an informal adviser to Kerry. "I'm tending to believe that the moral values issues did trump" the war in Iraq and the economy for many Bush supporters. Tipps called that a fundamental shift in Ohio politics. "I am stunned," he said. "I didn't see it. This is a state that has historically voted the pocketbook." The Bush campaign officially stayed out of the same-sex marriage initiative, but Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (R) said in a letter to supporters that the Bush campaign had asked that he advocate the initiative. Blackwell did radio spots and taped a message that was played in 3 million phone calls to voters. Supporters also mailed out 2.5 million church bulletin inserts."
are all Christians bigots? no. are all Christians opposed to gay marriage? no. are many anti-gay bigots Christians? yes. are most Christians opposed to gay marriage? yes.
for me, this is what it comes down to: religion is a personal thing. keep it out of politics.
finally, more Washington Post:
"Indeed, even close observers of Ohio politics might have missed the Bush campaign's emphasis on social values because much of its outreach efforts occurred away from the mass media. While the two campaigns slugged it out on big-city TV stations with commercials about the war and the economy, Bush's Ohio campaign used targeted mailings, phone calls and doorstep visits to talk about values, said John C. Green, a University of Akron professor who studies religion and politics. Green described one piece of mail from the Bush campaign that featured a beautiful church and a traditional nuclear family. It was headlined, "George W. Bush shares your values. Marriage. Life. Faith."
"It could not have been clearer if it had quoted from the Bible," Green said."