Exactly. On the American Atheist's website, there is a scathing article about the 2000 South Carolina GOP primary written immediately after Bush won. It was all about Fundamentalist this and Bob Jones University that and Hard Shift To The Right, blah blah blah. Not one word was mentioned about a "whisper campaign" impugning McCain.
The problem with that analysis is that only about 1/3 of the voters in the exit poll identified themselves as fundamentalist christians, and Bush's lead in that demographic wasn't insurmountably large.
The reason people voted for Bush: They wanted tax cuts and they thought he could win the general election.
The reason people voted for McCain: They thought he was the person with the BEST CHARACTER and the MOST MILITARY EXPERIENCE. However, VERY FEW people cared (then and now) about McCain's pet issue, which was Campaign Finance Reform. If McCain ran on lowering taxes and reducing the size of government, he would have won in a landslide.
These vets are not going to be intimidated. They speak for all the families who were devestated by Kerry AND McCain's failure with regard to the POW issue.