Everyone’s talking about why the Democrats have been winning recently and much of the blame has been pinned on social conservatives. And you know what, they’re right to blame the right wing. But not in the way they think.
Here’s the thing, the far left doesn’t care when their candidates lie to them. They know their candidates are lying and they accept it in order to win.
Case in point: According to yesterday’s CNN Poll, the country is still 54% -44% against gay marriage. The Democrats know that now is not the time for their candidates to call for gay marriage because the middle isn’t there with them. It’s not a winning issue for them…yet. So they lie.
Look, the left knows that Barack Obama is perfectly fine with gay marriage. I guarantee all of his judges will be pro-gay marriage. But when Obama was out on the campaign trail courting the middle he said time and again that he’s against gay marriage for religious reasons. And the middle believed him.
But ironically, Obama’s cadre of true believers on the left didn’t believe him. They believed in him. There’s a difference. They knew he was lying. And they were cool with that. They know what it takes to get elected.
The left is ok with lying about issues where they know they don’t have the majority with them yet. They’ll force it once their guy is in power.
US News had a column yesterday which clarifies the point:
I was at a, err, opposite-sex wedding over the weekend when one of the guests asked me, presumably as the member of the MSM on hand, why Carrie Prejean, Miss California, gets lambasted for being anti-gay marriage, while Barack Obama, the president of the United States, gets a free pass while having essentially the same position.
The answer lies in tone and nuance.
It is true that Obama’s position is that marriage is “between a man and a woman” and that he is “not in favor of gay marriage.” That said, he articulately advocates for the rights of gay couples on things like hospital visitation. See here, for example, starting at about 1:06: “When I sit down and read scripture and I think how would Jesus feel about somebody not being able to visit someone they love when they’re sick, I conclude that that is something that’s important.”
And it is possible that some portion of people suspect that Obama would favor gay marriage were it a politically viable position: He’s secretly with us, not like that nasty Miss California.
So nuance means that Obama’s allowed to say something and his base accepts that he means the exact opposite thing. Like I said, they’re cool with that as long as it chalks up a “W” for their side in November.
Now, the right wing base is…different. Currently, according to the same CNN poll pro-choicers outweigh pro-lifers 49%-45% but pro-lifers insist that their candidates are purely and vocally pro-life. Instead of allowing candidates to hem and haw, pro-lifers hold their candidate’s feet to the fire on this issue.
Could you just imagine Sarah Palin trying to pull some “nuance” while running for President and saying something like, “Abortion is the law of the land and we have to respect that. I’m personally not for it but I won’t force my religion down anyone else’s throat.”
That would be it. Collect all the balls. Game over. The election would be over. The right wing would abandon her.
The left essentially allows itself to be winked at in order to gain power. The left allows its candidates to pretend to be conservatives and be against gay marriage, and talk about tax cuts, and lowering the deficit because they are an entity focused on one thing and that one thing is winning elections.
Once their people get in power, then the sniping and feeding frenzy begins. And that’s why you get these great leftward lurches from President Obama appeasing his base.
Oddly enough, Republicans in office tend to get in power touting the right wing positions and then they inexplicably hem and haw and moderate on the issues once they get in power.
I’m not saying we should allow our candidates to lie to us. We shouldn’t. I’m just pointing out that those who we are up against will and that makes them powerful because a candidate that can lie without consequence is a force to be reckoned with because they will always be on the strong side of public opinion.
That’s one of the reasons that the media has painted Palin as the anti-abortion candidate. Yes, she is. But that’s not all there is to her. But the media reads the polls and sees it as a losing issue in the polls. And if Bobby Jindal makes a run you can bet that he’s going to be labeled as a Catholic anti-abortion extremist as well while Obama continues running as a “moderate” on abortion and anti-gay marriage.
So, in the end, I’m just apprising you of the work we have ahead of us. It’s uphill. Both ways. The best thing we can do is change people’s minds and hearts.
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