American Morality

Now that George W. Bush is starting his first term as the elected President of the USA, pollsters have performed their post-mortem of the election. One of the surprising outcomes of the same was that Bush won because of his stand on "moral issues" like gay rights, abortion, stem cell research etc. This one took my breath away. Apparently, it's moral for the president to intentionally mislead the people of this country into a failed war but it's immoral for gay couples to have joint bank accounts and file income tax returns together. It's ok for the Vice President to refuse to co-operate with an inquiry commission in order to protect Kenneth Lay from charges of fraud but it's not ok to give women the choice whether they want to have a baby or not. It's moral for the administration to reward billions of dollars of the tax payers money, in the form of no-bid contracts, to Halliburton but God forbid, if we spend a fraction of that money on stem-cell research, it might result in cures for previously incurable diseases!!!
Is it really possible that an entire country (well, half of it actually) can have such a warped concept of morality and such blatant arrogance? Is it really possible for so many people to be OK with their leader cheating them but to hate so vehemently, a bunch of people with whom they may never come in contact? But given that this twisted mindset exists, is it such a surprise that a large majority of the world populace hates America? After all, you reap only what you sow.
All this talk, by American "experts", on the "moral issues" which decided this election has reminded me of a quote by the Saint who preached tolerance and non-violence: When Mahatma Gandhi visited the UK to attend a Round Table Conference, a British journalist asked him what he thought about Western Culture. The Mahatma had replied, "I think it would be a great idea!"