Will Bush Reward Those God-fearin' Rurals? Hell No!

A good, cynical LA Times editorial shows how Bush got a lot of rural and exurban folk to vote for him cause he shares their Christian values -- like fighting the homos. But his real priorities are quite different: lower taxes for the rich and privatizing Social Security so average folk can sink or swim in their retirement depending on how savvy they are in playing the stock market.

"Meanwhile, what about opposing gay marriage, the one mandate Bush might legitimately claim? Earlier this year, Bush barely lifted a finger in support of a constitutional amendment banning it. (Compare this to the furious arm-twisting he performs to get moderates to back his tax cuts.) If he has a mandate to do anything, it's to bring up the amendment again. However, he's said nothing about doing so, and nobody expects him to," writes Jonathan Chait in the LA Times.

"No surprise there — it's hardly in the Republican Party's interest. If gay marriage is banned everywhere, what's going to bring all those heartland conservatives to the polls next time?"