If we look at polls, of each party, and then of the nation overall, don't registered Republicans diverge from the full national perspective more than registered Democrats? I'd think that what they call "core Christian" beliefs might more often be points of divergence than agreement.

Another serious note:

I am sensitive to the fact that Republicans describe their movement as "Christian" when the positions they draw are actually from very specific Christian sects.

Its that much more serious when the phrase "non-devout voters" is used but meant to exclude American Muslims, etc.

More flippant:

The Christian faith is not very compatible with the conservative political philosophy of intolerance and materialism. So generally it is a mistake to credit these people as being informed by the values of Christ. Instead they adapt their religious beliefs and values to fit their political views.

Christians for Torture and Domestic Spying?

It's true. It's got more of a Christian tradition than we like to admit. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

It's about concentrating power in the government. Liberals want to use government power to enhance our karma, and social conservatives want to use government power to save our souls. They're just different sides of the EXACT SAME nanny-state coin. As long as we keep concentrating power in Washington (and the state capitals) we have this feeding frenzy of power-crazed tyrants who think they know what's best for us. Just guard the coasts, run the courts, keep the peace, and otherwise leave us alone.

So yes, we want to marginalize the social con agenda, because in our minds it's just as bad as the crap we get from the left. We have no problem working with social cons on areas where our interests overlap, such as national security. Over the last decade or so, however, it seems that social cons care nothing at all about fiscal responsibility, capitalism, privacy rights, etc. (see: the last 8 years).

Seems this is about the least costly, people wise, of any war we have prosecuted.

Spoken like a man who's ass was safe at home when the shooting started.

Saddam and his sons would have continued to run Iraq as a death camp for at least the next 50 years. Always amzing how the left and totalitarian mass murderers are always on the same side

.

Have you checked the record of the government in China when it comes to being totalitarian mass murderers? You know, China, our banker and business partner? How much crap from China have do you have in your home bubba?

Today, the greatest threats to conservative interests come not from the Soviet Union or high taxes, but from too much individual freedom.

Ha! The main argument for capitalism, as far as I can see (and a very good one, it is), is that it frees human beings to follow their own stars, for good or ill. Whenever I read these kinds of things (Dreher), I'm always reminded of something George Will wrote many years ago: Capitalism destroys capitalist (read: conservative) values. You really can't on the one hand champion an certain economic system and then on the other lament the very thing that drives it and gives it so much power. That is, you can't if you're intellectually honest.

I have no idea how to parse that statement.

Mostly, it has do with one's outlook on how people should act versus one's outlook on the degree to which government should force them to act that way.

While I’m socially conservative on most issues, I’m by no stretch a Social Conservative.

I have no idea how to parse that statement.

It is all about terrorism, gays, and Mexicans when you strip away most of the nonsense. The economy stupid. When it gets bad that is all people care about and on that topic McCain was perhaps the worst choice of a field that was generally pretty damned bad.

Stop brown nosing with the Religious Right and formulate a coherent economic position and argue it. Failure to do so while the economy sucks will mean Republicans will be an irrelevant party for at least 2 to 3 years. Maybe longer.

I strongly suspect you'll find the party leadership is what you're trying to expel. What's really being said is that one relatively small segment of the part doesn't like the rest of the party.

There's something to this, to be sure. Still, roughly 40 percent of the populace regularly votes Republican. They're not all hard core Evangelicals.

Just how long is it you think Saddam should have stayed in power?

We lost fewer than 200 dead to removing Saddam from power, which I supported. We've lost upwards of 4000 dead trying to make the place set for democracy.

Just how long is it you think Saddam should have stayed in power? What would have been the crime he committed you think he should have been removed for? How many peoples death did he have to be responsible for, for you to think it was worth it to remove him?

Well since he was never responsible for the death of a single American not engaged in aggressive action against him I don't see how it was ever our responsibility to remove him. He was certainly one of many dictators who deserved to be overthrown. No question about it. But it was never our responsibility. Our responsibilities lie elsewhere right here at home. We had an illegitimate president occupying the White House we should have been dealing with.