One of the claims frequently made by Religious Right leaders is that so-called "values voters" do just that: vote their values rather than vote for one particular party. In their view, Republicans have historically been better on the value issues they care about and that is why the Religious Right has been such a key part of the GOP's base of support.
Considering that the values voter's loyalty is supposedly to God and his values rather than to the GOP, what are we to make of this quote from Mat Staver?
By contrast, in 2008 evangelical voters' final get-out-the-vote push is more of a shove against a candidate they don't want in the White House. They have never trusted Arizona Sen. John McCain, who once called some of the movement’s leaders "agents of intolerance," but they see Tuesday’s decision literally as a lesser-evil choice — and for some of them, Barack Obama is worse than Satan himself.
"Barack Obama could be running against the devil and you'd still have high turnout among values voters," said Mat Staver, founder of the religious conservative group Liberty Counsel.
"Obama has, by virtue of his liberal positions on values issues, energized values voters to show up and cast a vote against him," Staver added.
So there you have it: "values voters" are so committed to their non-negotiable religious principles that they would vote for Satan rather than Barack Obama.
