Who the hell are these people surveying?? Did they pull their list from the RNC!?? Do any of these idiots watch TV? Did you see his press conference?? I just dont get it!! I know John Kerry is not the answer, but holy shit, hes a better answer than GWB!!!
GWB has not handled one freaking thing right in his term…not ONE! He has lied to us again and again. I mean for God’s sake, he walked out on his National Guard duty!! Someone, anyone, give me hope that if this shambling excuse for a President is re-elected our country wont be going to shit!!!
GWB voters…what the hell do you see in this man? Does he really inspire you in some way? Give you hope? WHAT DAMIT, WHAT???
Because, my dear head-in-the-hole liberals, not everyone agrees with your viewpoints. Just because you (meaning liberals on the SDMB and in general)entered Bush’s press conference with a set of preconcieved judgments (and here will come some claiming they didn’t, but the posts on the relevant thread clearly show the opposite) does not mean that the country viewed it through the same set of blinders.
The economy appears to be recovering due to Bush’s tax cuts, Iraq, despite the media’s attempts to make it out to be another Vietnam, is generally pro-American even while anti-occupation (and really, who would want their country to be occupied?), and most, despite the anti-Bushies’ jeers, feel him to be a strong and reliable leader.
I’m not saying that everyone is hailing Bush as the greatest president of all time; indeed, the polls are still generally even with less than 8% differences between the candidates. But there is still a significant section of the electorate, drasticaly underrepresented in the SDMB, which supports him over Kerry.
If some of the liberals would go into mainstream America and not just their liberal spider-holes, they might get a better idea of how Americans are thinking, and they wouldn’t be surprised that not everyone thinks that Bush is Hitler.
On the topic of the “recovering economy”, can someone tell me just who it is recovering for? I haven’t gotten any raises, nor do I know anyone who has. Also, athelas can you explain the need to be so dismissive and divisive in your post?
Because some people, when looking at the same information that you have, will reach a different conclusion that you do. This is not because they are idiots, nor because they are evil, nor because they are deluded, nor because they don’t have all the facts. This is because they (pay attention, because this is important) disagree with you.
It may shock you to discover that some people in this world disagree with you, but such is a part of growing up.
So 51 to 46, as far as I can tell, is quite close. Yet this is not significant? You do realize that you are being dismissive to close to half of your countrymen, right?
1.) GW’s press conference was a success. Yes, it was a lackluster performance. But most people didn’t watch it; instead, they read the headlines of “Bush says: ‘Stay the Course’” and generally agreed with the sentiment. Bush may be a horrible communicator, but his message does resonate.
2.) Iraq in the media’s focus has helped Bush more than it’s hurt him. The average American believes we have a duty to stay the course and tough it out even with casualties rising; Bush is stating exactly that, and the perceived attitude of the Democrats is “cut and run! illegal war! Vietnam again! Doomed! Doomed!” which doesn’t play well.
3.) Kerry has done jack-shit to define what he would actually do as President; he has mostly murmured about how bad Bush is. While that’s great for rounding up people who would never vote for Bush anyways, it’s not good for trying to convince people in the middle that Kerry is actually any alternative.
4.) The economy, by drips and drabs, is getting better. More jobs are being created, and things look up for investors.
And people wonder why the fight against ignorance takes longer than we thought.
And I suppose Bob Woodward’s revelation on 60 Minutes that the Saudis are dicking with oil prices to help re-elect Bush is considered a good thing, eh?
Listen, fellow Dems, do you really think you’re going to win any hearts and minds with phrases like
and
I mean, really! My folks are both Republicans and all three of us largely get our news from the same sources: NY Times, NPR, Lehrer Report, New Yorker magazine. We go to the same type of church (although mine is a bit more socially progressive than theirs) and live in the same neighborhood. We all have advanced educations and are pretty tolerant. I’m a Dem, they’re not, but in most of the country they’d probably be considered very liberal for Repubs.
Now, Dad for one is very very unhappy about Gautanamo Bay; he has no use for those violent deluded guys but thinks they deserve a fair trail, right now. He’s seen my struggles with being underemployed in a post-9/11 economy and doesn’t think much of the tax policies. He was for the war in Iraq but worries about the administration of that country. He admires Kerry as a person although he also feels he represents the boilerplate liberal thinking he’s been having trouble with for forty years.
So I would say he’s on the fence right now. He knows he has a lot more in common with Kerry, but still…hey, plenty of time for him to decide.
He walks into a bar. He gets into a conversation with one of the flamers in this thread. He gets an earful of the stuff I quoted above. Now, choose one:
A) He walks out of the bar converted, with the clear light of Truth and Goodness shining from every pore, and vows to go forth and vote Republican no more.
B) He stomps out of the bar before he says something he regrets, decides he doesn’t want people who think like those assholes running his country, and mentions the encounter in all the other political discussions he has between now and November. And he has a LOT of friends and we have a big Irish family.
Yeah yeah yeah, and Clinton dodged the draft. Can’t we just say that the Republicans and Democrats are even on this issue now and move on to something more important?
