But believing in God is a big one (note that believing in God and believing in evolution are not mutually exclusive...
True, but one can say the same thing about believing the world is flat or the Earth is the center of the Universe. I have more respect in some ways for the literalists who however ignorant, at least stand firm on their beliefs however silly and contrary to evidence they may be. Those who embrace a wishy-washy version of their religion, continually modifying it over time as science and knowledge advance are half pregnant IMHO. I say either believe in fairy tales all the way or follow the evidence.
America was founded by a bunch of religious nuts who got kicked out of Europe for not partying enough. That's bound to color our politics.
Even were this true (I won't go down that rat hole here) it is no excuse for willful ignorance in this day and age. History alone is not the cause, otherwise one could claim that Europe, with it's deep-seated religious history, should be more religious than the US but Europe has in fact had a renaissance of sorts in this area. No, the reason Americans believe what they do today in this age of knowledge is probably (as you elude to below) because powerful interests have taken advantage of an apathetic public that wants nothing more that to sit on the couch and believe what they see on TV.
Ironically, though, you almost never hear politicians actually quote the Bible.
Politicians play the percentages and walk the middle road to garner as many votes as possible. They say (or don;t say) whatever gets them (re)elected. There is a small population of atheists in this country as well as Christian moderates and non-Christians. Why piss them off if you can avoid it?
My guess is that while most of Americans say they're Christian, none of 'em actually pick up a Bible and read it, because they just don't really care. Might as well be illiterate. Just believe in Jesus and you're saved, sort of mentality. No effort required! Most just latch on to a charismatic preacher and have him tell them what to believe. Far less effort that way.
You got it. If Christians actually read their book, they might think twice about purporting to believe it. Yeah, right.
On to actual politicks, McCain was my choice on the Republican side. I liked him before, and I like him more during the republican debates. Everyone else was having a pissing contest to see who wanted to torture the most detainees. McCain says flatly "no torture", and he has a good perspective on it since he was, you know, tortured. He's principled, which I like. And I think he was shrewd to name Palin as his VP. Old white guy + Old white guy would have been sooooo 20th century. All that said, I think I'm leaning Obama. A thin majority of the country also seems to be leaning that way. Obama's a better speaker, and I think on economic terms Obama will cause less deficit than McCain. Republicans haven't been the party of fiscal responsibility for decades. The way Bush is throwing money at the housing market you'd think he was a New Dealer!
McCain was the best of the Republican field I agree and he had to do something innovative in his VP pick. I would have preferred Carli Fiorina. Palin was a shallow choice, designed to woo the Hillary crowd. She has no experience, she lied about opposing the "Bridge to nowhere", she's a creationist and she is irresponsible in her reproduction. Having 5 children in this day and age is irresponsible.