More on "Moral Values"

This article, from last Sunday's Washington Post "Outlook" magazine, talks more about the "myth" of moral values.

The author joins the counterweight of people who say that it wasn't moral values that decided the presidential election. The author, the editor of CBSnews.com, has this to say:

But the size and impact of that cohort has been exaggerated. And the impact of other issues (war, terrorism) and leadership qualities was minimized. That's mostly because of oddities in the exit poll, but also because this Big Political Idea conforms to what some Republican strategists are peddling (and their interpretation has the added credibility that winners get in writing history). It also fits neatly the red/blue, "two Americas" school of thought, which projects the country as deeply divided and at war over cultural issues.

He focuses on a different element of the story, which is why the explanation took off so rapidly among the media. To be fair it's not the media's fault that so much of the liberal and conservative punditry have come to believe in this myth, but it does suit the media to find the simplest explanation that happens to coincide with the beliefs on the big "red/blue" divide that they held in the first place.

I think we can all disagree over exactly what impact the gay marriage/religion/abortion issue had on the election, and clearly it meant more in some states then in others. But again I think the one explanation which goes the most towards explaining the election is the one that's so pervasive that people seem to forget it's there; the attacks on 9/11.