When did I become an "Evangelical" voter?

[PGD-GRAD]

srmom,
I think your point about blaming the "liberal media" for demonizing those who are evangelicals is misdirected. Go back almost eight years to the antics of Karl Rove and the other Bush campaign gurus. They had to get more groups "fired up" to vote Republican, so they used issues like gay marriage and "family values" to fire up "the base" as they called them. Church pulpits became extremely political, and those born-again Christians (which many of us claim to be) were used to propel Bush to victory. The line between simply being a born-again Christian and a Bible-waving neo-con became blurred, and for a good reason, just like all those early speeches "mentioning" Iraq with 9-11 even though there was (and still is) no evidence linking them to the attacks. All but one of the hijackers had Saudi passports.

Then later, sadly enough, it came out that the Bush people actually made fun of some these folks regarding their homespun philosophies. So in many ways, the evangelicals were "used" for their vote in a very unattractive way. It may have been the "liberal" media that took the term and ran with it, but it was the Bush folks who said the word "evangelical" in every other breath. Remember how Bush's speechwriters included little "keywords" that appealed to the that particular religious base?

[PhiGam]

Originally Posted by PGD-GRAD

srmom,
I think your point about blaming the "liberal media" for demonizing those who are evangelicals is misdirected. Go back almost eight years to the antics of Karl Rove and the other Bush campaign gurus. They had to get more groups "fired up" to vote Republican, so they used issues like gay marriage and "family values" to fire up "the base" as they called them. Church pulpits became extremely political, and those born-again Christians (which many of us claim to be) were used to propel Bush to victory. The line between simply being a born-again Christian and a Bible-waving neo-con became blurred, and for a good reason, just like all those early speeches "mentioning" Iraq with 9-11 even though there was (and still is) no evidence linking them to the attacks. All but one of the hijackers had Saudi passports.

Then later, sadly enough, it came out that the Bush people actually made fun of some these folks regarding their homespun philosophies. So in many ways, the evangelicals were "used" for their vote in a very unattractive way. It may have been the "liberal" media that took the term and ran with it, but it was the Bush folks who said the word "evangelical" in every other breath. Remember how Bush's speechwriters included little "keywords" that appealed to the that particular religious base?

In a sense I agree with you but at the same time there are some flaws in your statement. Bush did use "traditional family values" to get elected and re-elected, getting 90% of the vote from the poorest section of the white population- a group that would be receive much more economically if electing a liberal (or a socialist for that matter).
However, the media (and not just Fox) has continued to push this term, usually (IMO) in an attempt to make people feel like they are shaming Thomas Jefferson if they take their religious views into consideration when they vote.
Were the Evangelicals used by the Republicans? Absolutely. That's politics though, if every informed voter votes against you, you could still win in a 3-1 landslide. Thats not to say that people who voted for Bush weren't well informed either, but President Bush certainly pulled off quite a feat by getting elected amid everything that was going on.