[The Goat]

McCain never really became part of the inner circle to the Religious Right. W always was a member and that is precisely why his disastrous policy decisions and even more disastrous political appointments never caught up w/ him - dude had about 1/3 of the electorate sealed from day one and just had to piece together enough incidental constituencies to get over 50%.

I'll never forget a classic Bush tale that circulated among evangelicals in my neck of the woods. I heard it from relatives first and then started hearing it from acquaintances and even a few strangers: supposedly a local miner had the opportunity to visit the White House but did not want to leave his wife dying of cancer. He decided to make the trip and after his delegation met w/ the pres as a group Bush took the guy to a private room and said God was calling them to pray together. They prayed. The friggin end. Every time I heard this story I asked what happened to the miner's wife. Nobody knew the answer. In fact, the miner didn't have a name, neither did his wife. And nobody knew when this thing happened. Then I started searching for the story online and in every paper in the state - never found it. It's like a conservative political operative somewhere knows exactly what will touch evangelicals (I actually had people shed tears when they told me this story, but I noticed they never cried until they got to the part about W praying) and then the story just gets retold at church groups, retreats and wherever.

Most of these people don't give a shit about policy, which means they don't give a shit about reality. Helps to explain the mess we're in IMO. Don't think I'm knocking people of faith across the board though. I go to church. C.S. Lewis is a favorite of mine. I just get my news and knowledge from sources beyond Lush Bimbaugh, Hannity, Jimmy Dobson, and O'reilly.