Eleanor Clift - great article on dems and values

... she is right on about this. Now, how do we get the dem "political consultants" who play the tune to see the light?

"Kerry’s advisers told themselves that with war, terrorism and an uncertain economy dominating the news, the cultural issues would fade. But when the exit polls were analyzed, 78 percent of those who voted for Bush cited moral values as a top concern. Democrats knew for months that amendments to ban gay marriage would be on state ballots, yet they did nothing to create a counterweight. David Bositis at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank, observed that the U.S. Supreme Court gave George W. Bush the presidency in 2000, while the Massachusetts Supreme Court handed it to him in this election.

The court’s May ruling in favor of gay marriage put the issue in play, and Bush’s support for a constitutional ban allowed him to draw a bright line between himself and Kerry. It was the clearest difference voters could see. On the war, Kerry supported it; on the economy, Kerry offered words, few of them memorable. “No wonder enough of the voters go for the moral issues,” says Nader. “What else do they have? When you take away the economic issue, then you allow the presidency to be personalized. If Bush happens to be more likeable—don't ask me why—he becomes the transmitter of the moral issues. They garnish it with gay marriage and abortion and occlude all the secular immorality.”

President Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act when he was in the White House, advised Kerry in a phone call early in the campaign to find a way to support the state bans. Kerry never considered abandoning his principles to that extent, but he also didn’t take seriously enough the threat. Expanding the definition of “values” beyond opposition to gay marriage and abortion is the challenge for Democrats. Nader points to the fact that initiatives calling for an increase in the minimum wage won in Florida and Nevada. What if the Democrats had gotten behind those initiatives with the same fervor Republicans backed same-sex marriage bans? Paying people a decent wage can be framed as a moral issue."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6415858/site/newsweek/

discrimination toward gays is "moral". :eyes: