polls show "culture war" might be easing

[Cocoa]

this would represent a major defeat for the Right Wing.

I listen to RW talk radio quite a bit, and it's a clear coordinated strategy of theirs to manufacture an artificial conflict between conservatives and liberals. They pound away on ridiculous simplified caricatures of liberals. Liberals are this, liberals are that. You good listeners are better than those bad liberals for this, that and the other reason.

People might be beginning to say b.s.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/17/opinion/polls/main2192862.shtml

<snip>

There is also sense, among many in the public, that their fellow citizens on the other side of the ideological spectrum share common values and goals. In the “culture war” view of the country's politics, of course, political and policy choices are driven by deep differences in lifestyles, values and goals. Yet in a CBS News poll last spring, a sizeable 41% of conservatives said they thought liberals shared the other values and goals in life as they did, even though they disagreed on politics. And 52% of liberals said the same about conservatives. Those are hardly the kind of numbers one might expect from a public supposedly consumed by a "culture war." So while many Americans do look across politics' ideological divide and see people different from themselves in fundamental ways, there are also plenty who see commonalities that extend beyond politics.

This year, some "culture war" issues took a backseat on Election Day, especially among moderates. Nationally, a majority of voters (57 percent) did say "values issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion" were extremely or very important in their House votes, but those concerns were outranked by the war in Iraq (67 percent), the economy (82 percent), terrorism (72 percent) and corruption in government (74 percent). Among moderates, this was especially true: fewer than half of them gave those particular "values" issues high importance.

more...

[wilt the stilt]

1. What will O' Reilly do? n/t

[Cocoa]

2. go sailing?

[ProfessorGAC]

14. What He Usually Does? Lie About Something

The Professor

[mcctatas]

30. Commit suicide...

death by loofah? :shrug:

[Jed Dilligan]

3. This has been a long time coming,

but the die-off of the "Greatest Generation" makes it inevitable. Bush had a chance to end it after 9/11--think of the gay hero on Flight 93, for instance--using the feelings of unity that (mistakenly) prevailed back then to proclaim that we are all, equally, Americans. But he didn't; he kept up the culture war, big time, and perhaps that will be his party's last stand.

[seabeyond]

4. a long as dems dont get it going with their own culture war

action/reaction

time for a little healing all around and a breather on bth sides allowing us to unite and learn to respect again.

[Cocoa]

6. exactly right

the culture war is fake and it hurts us. We're all (except for the plutocrats) in the same boat.

[ComerPerro]

5. You know, this could also be due to many on the left who are willing to cave in

[Cocoa]

7. what does caving in mean?

[ComerPerro]

8. Appeals to "reach out" to the religious right

[Cocoa]

9. if you mean reaching out to evangelical Christian voters

then I think you're right, and I think it's a good thing. Evangelical Christians are in the same boat as us.

[ComerPerro]

12. the only way to get their vote, though, is by selling out our values and adopting theirs

[Cocoa]

13. not true

you can also emphasize the shared values instead of the conflicting ones. I think that's what happened this election.

[ComerPerro]

16. we have no shared values as long as we support the homosexual agenda and kill babies, remember

[Cocoa]

19. also not true

for example, David Kuo:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1114/p13s02-bogn.html

<snip>

Kuo left national politics in an effort to save his first marriage (he did not succeed) and to start his own charity. But he was soon wooed back by the charming governor, Bush, who convinced him of his own deep desire to close "the gap between the rich and the poor."

"I loved him," Kuo writes. "Bush was the real deal. He loved Jesus. He wanted to help the poor. He was the embodiment of the Christian political statesman I had dreamed of finding."

[ComerPerro]

20. Uh, see, here's the thing. That's a lie, and you should know it

Bush obviously doesn't want to help the poor, and he does not love Jesus.

And, you know what? That's our well stated position anyway.

And people don't believe us.

So obviously this "common ground" isn't working.

[Cocoa]

21. Kuo cares about the poor, not Bush of course

Kuo is the evangelical Christian I was referring to. I don't consider Bush an evangelical Christian, I consider him an oil man.

Kuo, the evangelical Christian, professed a desire to help the poor. That's a shared value between us and them. You denied any such shared values existed.

[ComerPerro]

23. Its not a sincere value if he supports Bush. Its a ploy, and that's all

[Cocoa]

29. global warming is another shared value

sorry if this type of news disappoints you. Myself, I find it encouraging. :shrug:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/09/tech/main2167812.shtml

As a deeply committed pastor in Atlanta's African-American community, the Rev. Gerald Durley had long thought of himself as enlightened and involved when it came to issues that hurt people's lives. He felt he was fulfilling his responsibilities to others. Until, he says, he saw the film "The Great Warming" last May.

"My total perspective on environmental issues and life in general was drastically altered," says the pastor of Providence Missionary Baptist Church. "This went beyond any political, racial, or gender issues — it is a moral crisis."

Dr. Durley has since shown the documentary on global warming to his congregation and invited ministers, rabbis, and imams to see it. He has gone on radio to discuss the crisis and is promoting sermons on the subject. A discussion he held with Atlanta children has been edited into the latest version of the film.

"The Great Warming" — a documentary made in Canada and narrated by actor Keanu Reeves and singer Alanis Morissette — tells the same disturbing story as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." But it has become a strategic vehicle for reaching out particularly to Evangelicals, many of whom were unlikely to rush to see the Gore production. Some hope it spurs a tipping point in the attitudes of grass-roots Christians.

more...

[Lexingtonian]

10. not so sure

It's not a change of views, per se, but a decrease of intensity. The political middle can now go back to saying it doesn't really care or want to care, and that's what it's doing. It was under the sway of the con/Right side of the spectrum and is freeing itself.

In things like abortion and gay marriage, things have changed a lot in two years, and mostly on the 'conservative' end. Abortion went from 45-45 with 10% leaning in favor of keeping Roe v Wade intact to 55-35 in favor keeping Roe, with 10% undecided, last summer. And that 35% polls out to 25% absolutely against Roe and 10% wanting a very restricted but real right to abortion.

Legalizing gay marriage has gone from 40% in total opposition in 2004 to 25% in total opposition this past spring and summer.

IOW, the 'religious' veneer has come apart and there are nationally 25% hardcore social reactionaries, which seems the same number- and probably the same people- as the 24% 'hardcore conservative' Republican political bloc seen in general pollings of issues.

[Odin2005]

17. Oh, BS.

The "caving in" rhetoric is from people to stubborn to make reasonable compromises to socially conservative left-wingers.

[ComerPerro]

24. Yeah! Throw those homos and immigrants and abortionists under the bus!

[Odin2005]

25. Yeah, lets throw all those working class people under the bus!

As far as I'm concerned economic issues take precedence. If that means restricting late-term abortions and benifits to ILLEGAL immigrants then so be it, I'm more concerned about keeping the Corporatists from distroying this country.

[ComerPerro]

27. these working class people ARE voting Republican, because of social issues

[Odin2005]

28. Which proves my point.

Not all people who are left-wing on economic issues are socially liberal, and we have to accept that fact if we want to win elections

[Cocoa]

11. kick

[Odin2005]

15. People are getting sick of the Talibornagains.

Even many of the social conservatives I know are willing to compromise and move on to more pressing issues like the economy and healthcare. In the nexy few years I'm expecting a "populist" alliance between liberals and socially conservative left-wingers within the Democratic party that will make us the majority party for a gneration.

[seabeyond]

22. maybe, but

not what i have seen on this site the last week,... and this is from someone who isnt even all the way to socialy conservative left wing.... just a moderate in most cases.

we will have how much of our own controlling members start dictating behavior, or if we have learned a lesson from the right

[boolean]

18. There never WAS a culture war

The fundies are NOT the majority. I've said this a few times in the last few days.

The majority of the sheeple are LIBERALS. They just don't get representation and the media doesn't give them a voice. The Internet has finally started to change that.

[grizmaster]

26. this is America, we have no culture

just those we like, and those we love to hate


(isn't that a paraphrase of what someone said about American Idol?)