The blue ascendancy is nearly as strong among Republicans as
it is among Democrats. Those whose “moral values” are invested in cultural
heroes like the accused loofah fetishist Bill O'Reilly and the self-gratifying
drug consumer Rush Limbaugh are surely joking when they turn apoplectic over
MTV….

When Robert Novak writes after the election that “the anti-abortion,
anti-gay marriage, socially conservative agenda is ascendant, and the G.O.P.
will not abandon it anytime soon,” you have to wonder what drug he is on.
The abandonment began at the convention…. Prime time was bestowed upon the three
biggest stars in post-Bush Republican politics: Rudy Giuliani, John McCain and
Arnold Schwarzenegger. All are supporters of gay rights and opponents of the
same-sex marriage constitutional amendment. Only Mr. McCain calls himself
pro-life, and he's never made abortion a cause. None of the three support the
Bush administration position on stem-cell research. When the No. 1 “moral
values” movie star, Mel Gibson, condemned the Schwarzenegger-endorsed California
ballot initiative expanding and financing stem-cell research, the governor and
voters crushed him like a girlie-man. The measure carried by 59 percent, which
is consistent with national polling on the issue.

Their mandate is clear: The same poll that clocked
“moral values” partisans at 22 percent of the electorate found that
nearly three times as many Americans approve of some form of legal status for
gay couples, whether civil unions (35 percent) or marriage (27 percent).

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