And while I'm at it...

...there's another thing that's bugging me lately.

Why are some Democrats going through every statistical hoop available to help the Republicans avoid giving credit to the ranks of the American Taliban for their success in the election?

Maybe gay bashing was the deciding factor in any particular precinct or state, maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was the insatiable desire of the country's radical clerics to invade the privacy of women instead. Or concerns over the perverse influence of Steven Spielberg, who dared to suggest that our valiant troops might be guilty of cursing in combat.

Maybe it was something completely unrelated to 'values' - moral or otherwise - and maybe it wasn't. Let the likes of Brooks and Krauthammer, so clearly embarrased by their party's dependence on the American mullahs for success, make the case. Since everybody's picking and choosing their own set of statistics, let's pick this one...

The Los Angeles Times notes that a new poll "found that born-again Christians voted for Bush over Kerry by a 62% to 38% margin." But the most striking statistic is that "although the born-again population constituted 38% of Americans, it represented 53% of the votes cast in the election."

The survey also notes "if the born again public had shown up proportional to its population size, Senator Kerry would have won the election by the same three-point margin of victory enjoyed by Mr. Bush."

Do the math. The portion of the 'born again' electorate that supported George Bush is about 23% of the overall electorate, but they want to take 100% of the credit for his victory, and they want to control 100% of his agenda. For instance...

"Business as usual isn't going to cut it, where the GOP rides to victory by espousing traditional family values and then turns around and rewards the liberals in its ranks," said Robert Knight, who heads an affiliate of Concerned Women for America, a Christian conservative advocacy group.

****

Bob Jones III, president of the Christian conservative Bob Jones University in South Carolina, recently urged Bush to purge moderates from the White House.

"If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them," Jones said in a letter to Bush after the election. "Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ."

...and Jerry Falwell is running around bragging about his hotline level access to Karl Rove.

Steve Gilliard's right...

...America has two coalition parties of the center-left and the center-right. The issue is how much of the center will the GOP hold. My guess, very little.

...and Greg at The Talent Show gets it.

With the religious conservative wing thinking they've been blessed with the opportunity to rebuild America to fit (their twisted interpretation of) God's plan, they're just laying the foundation for the marginalization of a moderate base that in the long-run they can't afford to lose.

So does Jeanne d'Arc...

It doesn't matter if I believe homophobes gave George Bush the presidency. It matters very much if George Bush believes it.

And believe you me, George Bush believes it. The question is what can he do about it, and how much will it cost him every time he tries.

Bush finds himself trying to govern within the confines of a trap he's built for himself. The demands being made by the radical minority that provided his narrow electoral edge are so extreme, so genuinely un-American, that he can't really expect the Republican Congress to deliver on the debt that Bush has incurred. On the other hand, if he doesn't deliver, he'll be under constant attack from Dobson, Fallwell, Robertsons and their ilk that their radical agenda will be more and more exposed, and the constituency they direct is likely to sit out elections in a sulk until we Democrats are once again a dominant national party.

That's when it gets tough for us. Gilliard's right about this, too. When the Republican coalition falls apart, "...we have to have an alternative vision, one which is compelling."

That's our challenge, and it's one worth taking on.