Family values and faith-based slayings?

From the wires:

BTK suspect confesses to killings.

Now, I still firmly believe in innocent until proven guilty. However, since this case covers a 30-year span and is just now producing an arrest, I have to believe the evidence against this guy is pretty solid.

Should he be found guilty of these terrible crimes, let's just take a brief look at his profile, shall we?

Rader, a married father of two, a Cub Scout leader and an active member of a Lutheran church, was anything but a recluse.


His job as a city code enforcement supervisor required daily contact with the public, and he even appeared on television in 2001 in his tan city uniform for a story on vicious dogs running loose in Park City.

Married, scout leader, active in his community, goes to church, worked in public safety. Interesting.

Before becoming a municipal employee, Rader worked for a home-security company, where he held several positions that allowed him access to customers' homes, including a role as installation manager. He worked for ADT Security Systems from 1974 to 1989 — the same time as a majority of the BTK killings.


Mike Tavares, who worked with Rader at ADT, described him as a "by-the-books" employee who would often draw diagrams of houses and personally make sure technicians installed systems correctly.

Middle America, straight-laced and "by-the-books"...

"I never would have guessed in a million years," said a tearful Carole Nelson, a member of Christ Lutheran Church, where Rader was an usher and the president of the church council.

President of the church council.

I emphasize this because the Republicans have made church and family the cornerstone of their re-definition of American values and every now and then, it takes a shocking story to remind us that just because people are married, go to church on a regular basis, and live in the Midwest, it doesn't automatically make them good people. Aside from the brutal murders, this guy fits the GOP's model for the ideal American man. Which should illustrate just how hollow an ideal it is.

So the next time you hear the GOP yammering on about protecting marriage and protecting children and family values, just remember this Wichita, Kansas citizen. Dennis Rader: Born and raised in the heartland of America. Religious, active in his church. Married with children. Top suspect in the "BTK" slayings.

Midwestern family values, indeed.