"CULTURE WARRIORS CAN'T CATCH A BREAK"

Boy, the Texas papers are rife this week with signs that "values voters" are becoming disenchanted with the issues that used to galvanize their votes.

These days, with all the world’s hype and all of the bloviation Fox News can muster, culture warriors can’t catch a break.

And why? Because like Elmer Gantrys, they’re being found to be empty of the virtues they espouse. And we didn’t need Mark Foley, or Tom DeLay, or Duke Cunningham or Bob Ney to remind us.

We are reminded by the falsehoods used to frame a war most Americans now think we shouldn’t be fighting. We are reminded by the dirty-tricks campaigns aimed at administration critics. We are reminded by the look-the-other-way mentality at the top that gave us Abu Ghraib.

We’re reminded by a national debt that grows and grows, looming as a horrific inheritance for our kids.

Last week, with the war in Iraq being projected to cost $1 trillion, President Bush told voters in Iowa “there is a big difference in philosophy when it comes to taxes” between his party and the Democrats.

Yep. Apparently the Democrats feel that today’s taxpayers should pay more for the government they purchased on credit. Certainly they should. Apparently this president believes that should his twins bear children, his grandkids should pay his war tab.

No, flag burning just doesn’t have the traction it used to. And the Republicans wonder why.