> Frankly, I think that, if Shrubya-Fuckyourself '04 is a success, this
> country will be in the midst of a religious civil war and the idea of
> taking opinion polls on a presdinent's (tm) favorability ratings will
> seem darn quaint.
I see no evidence supporting the propsect of a religious civil war. There might be a civil war between liberal Bush-haters and conservative Fox News dittoheads, but religion is not going to be involved. The relgious right is moribund and powerless at this point, as religious right activists have admitted. Some of their issues are being used as wedge issues in the election, but I think that they understand that most Americans do not support their agenda.
> They'll be emboldened to do as they please, as will all the rest of the
> rightnutters.
That's possible, but they will quickly discover that most Americans will oppose them, often very vocally. If anything, a false sense of confidence will provide an entertaining situation where they will go overboard and screw themselves. Plus, I think that the Democrats will be motivated to impeach Bush and do anything it takes to gum up Congress.
> Oh well... Heh. Had to laugh the other day when sonshine asked: Is the
> election over yet? Thought you'd like that Chuck!
I've been telling people that this American election is like an electoral version of the movie Groundhog Day. I wake up every morning and the election seems no closer to being over with.
Dennis Perrin wrote:
> Well, I never said that, nor do I believe that. But there's a lot of support > for Bush based on the war, his heroic image, etc., all tied together with the flag. On that front, Bush trounches Kerry everytime.
I think you are wrong about this too. There just isn't a lot of support for Bush. His support is limited to a minority of true believers, which is perhaps 30% of the population. He has been losing support among conservatives and he isn't picking up support from the general population. I also don't see any flag-waving, except among hardcore Bush supporters. I don't see it on cars, in yards, or anywhere. Bush doesn't have the populist appeal of Reagan, so the question is, How did the Democrats go so bad with Kerry?
James Heartfield wrote:
> I distrust an argument whose premise is that the people are too stupid to make the right choice.
>
> First off, we don't know what the result will be. The view that the country will vote Bush is fatalistic.
Most of the country won't vote for Kerry or Bush. What I think people want to know is why the small number of independent voters is leaning towards Bush at this point.
> Secondly, Kerry, not the voters, is the problem. He is equivocal. Hating flip-flops is not a weakness on the electorate's part. It is a strength. Being a flip flop is a weakness.
>
There are many problems with Kerry as a candidate. He is the candidate of the DLC, which is why I picked him to win the nomination last Fall. The Democrats decided to run towards the right during an election where left wing positions would have demolished the support for Bush. They abandoned the anti-war sentiment which is taking over the country and made matters worse by conveying a big "fuck you" to the grassroots who supported Dean. Kerry is nothing more than a Republican, which becomes clear if you spend an hour listening to Nader (who was excellent the other night on Alan Colmes' radio show).
> A muscular opposition to Bush is what is called for. That put's a real choice before the voters. As it is, it feels like choosing between someone who knows what he wants, and someone who does not.
>
It's too late for this to happen. The Democrats can't even deal with a minor controversy about Kerry's war record.
It's quite amazing how badly the Democrats have punted this election. It kind of belies the liberal nonsense about Democrats being smarter than Republicans.
> Granted a lot of people vote with their gut and not their heart, then you can see why Kerry should be struggling.
>
Most people won't vote, because they are disenfranchised and think that both parties are the same thing. The ones who are undecided at this point will choose their candidate for shallow reasons, which the Reublicans are pandering to with their authoritarian "Bush is a strong leader" campaign.
> The war record thing just stinks. Why crawl to your opponents like that? Kerry just shifted the whole centre ground of the election to the right. Not surprising that he cannot keep the initiative.
Kerry is stupid and the Democrats who decided his strategy are retarded.
Kerry's defeat will go down as one of the stupidest political campaigns in history. How anybody can lose to George W. after his poor handling of the economy and his deception about the war is beyond belief.
Chuck0