Bush came into office in what 2001? Thinking back then not to many people had broadband Internet did they? This was before youtube, before a lot of blogs. Before many things. Does the internet have anything to do with Bushes low approval rating? I mean I am sure he did the work himself but the internet is such a great propganda machine
In the sense that it made censorship more difficult I expect it contributed.
The internet also allows morons to pass around emails that are nothing but outright lies. I’ve never gotten a mass political email from a friend that wasn’t rubbish.
For many people I imagine small snippits of info about how the Clintons killed their political rivals or Obama was a Muslim communist is all they political info they absorb.
It might be possible that the internet may have made it easier on Bush by acting as an echo chamber for his supporters.
The answer is zero. The “blame” for the low approval of Bush lies entirely with Bush’s actions while Supreme Leader. He would have a dismally low approval with or without Internet. I mean, how was he going to hide New Orleans or Iraq? You can only put so much lipstick on a pig and it’s still clearly a pig. I forget who said that.
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Oh, wait. Now I remember. It was McCain.
Bush’s pigs were not even attractive. They were diseased pigs which needed incinerating far from humans.
Internet’s a leveller. Anyone can put their voice out there and the mechanism of survival and audience is not well understood. One thing’s for sure though: Being the big money or establishment doesn’t help nearly the same way as with newspapers and radio or tv.
Conversely, to what extent does Bush owe his 2000 win to the Internet’s having not come along about 10 years earlier?
I’m sure Al Gore regrets that he didn’t invent it sooner. 
Actually, that cuts both ways. Bush may not have been re-elected in 2004 if the Internet were not available.
When CBS published the forged National Guard documents in conjunction with the Democrats’ “Fortunate Son” campaign, the Internet allowed the documents to be exposed as forgeries within hours. Without that, it is possible that the MSM could simply have stonewalled for a week or so. No doubt they would have been outed sooner or later, but the Internet has largely eliminated the MSM’s role as gate keepers, and moderators of the public debate.
For those that are paying attention, at least. Despite the information available, people still base their vote on false information.
Regards,
Shodan
I’ve often thought that Bush, who is by all accounts a pretty poor president, would have a lot more company down at the bottom if past presidents were under the same scrutiny as he has been under.
How much shady shit did past presidents get away with that simply is not possible now? Impossible to say, of course, but it is an interesting thought. Its entirely possible that a few presidents we hold up as heroes would make bush look like a boy scout in comparison.
I can’t believe that John McCain called Hillary Clinton a pig.
We saw what you did there. Don’t think we didn’t.
Probably not the porn part. It seems to be pretty apolitical.
I dunno, I thought Bush got off pretty lightly: the vast expansion in no-bid contracting and the lack of tracking of the same, the non-response to poison toys from China by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the doctoring of scientific reports, curbing data collection of industrial toxic releases – I didn’t see too much critical airplay on these subjects.
And let’s not forget that GWBush remains wildly popular among Republicans. During Hurricane Katrina, despite malfeasance and incompetence at FEMA, Bush approval ratings among Republicans topped 80%.
80%!
Currently we are facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Two thirds of all Republicans approve of GWBush despite the plummeting stock market, massive layoffs and a pointless war in Iraq. Such emotional ties transcend national catastrophe.
After 911 I was one of the few who thought Bush was a lying prick. I was roundly castigated. I was the bad guy. Bush had a free hand from most posters. He screwed it all up on his own. If he acted reasonably and wisely, he had a chance to become a great president. Sadly, the small minded prick could not get his eye off the ball, steal and make your friends as rich as possible. He did not give a shit about the future of America. He was a believer in short term looting and if we survive it will be a require a lot of luck.
I’m with Gonzomax, I was protesting in my small redneck hometown in Feb. 2003 with about 5 other people against the war. This is, of course, before it was shown that Iraq posed us no real threat. This is also, of course, before we knew we wouldn’t be greeted as liberators and be out of there in a few months. We simply were saying “Uh, that’s the wrong place, let’s really put everything into getting the other guy that really did attack us.”
Literally, and I’m saying this with no exaggeration, AT LEAST three out of every ten cars or trucks that passed us by gave us the finger. That was the rough average over several hours… Three. Many shook their heads and in once case… Threw a can of soda at us. It missed by a long shot.
I went as a photographer to a protest a couple of months ago in this town, Plattsburgh NY, by no means quite as redneck but still not your center of marxists. I didn’t see one single sign of anger from the passing cars for the hour or so I was there. Most people honked.
I gotta ask, if you ever did support the war all “9/11!! IT CHANGED EVERYTHING!! TERRORISM!! FORGET THE BILL OF RIGHTS!!” etc etc… What was the defining moment when you switched? And if you never did and you still believe that… Don’t you feel kinda silly? I know you believe it and believe it strongly… But looking around… There’s nobody on that team anymore. And most of that side is now solidly on the side of “yeah… that was a bad idea”.
A bit of a rant… I was thinking about this the other day and it hasn’t fully run itself out of my head.
As far as I can tell, internet porn positively despises bush, hence its conspicuous absence.