<I still haven't quite resolved in my mind how you managed to vote for Bush given all his faults... He certainly didn't become this wild crazy liar extremeist Religious person since he got in office?>
He lied. Right wing religious conservatives like him are quite good at it.
The "religious argument" is not a Christian issue. It is a Born Again or Evangelical Christian issue. {Bird of a Different Feather?} There is some substance to the argument, imo. The Christian Right, Bush included, holds some views rejected by mainstream Christians. Or this is my understanding.