> So if 44% is high in a universe in which choices are made based on
> merits, and if this is not the way in which US politicians are judged,
> then how is 44% high?
The 44% figure is an indictment of the American left, which would rather spend all of their time talking about why so many Americans still like Bush, instead of going out there and organizing. The Democrats are obviously a wast of time as usual. Their strategy of not saying or doing anything in the months before the election is going to screw them over like it did in 2004. Those of us who are more radical and who know better are guilty of not creating an alternative. We aren't even putting up much dissent in reaction to the so-called "fascist" Bush. The anti-war movement is still dominated by losers who ask for permission to exercise their rights, instead of understanding that when you have 10,000+ people on the streets, you can do whatever the fuck you want.
Whatever. I'm tired of apocalyptic, nutjob, and "the conditions aren't right yet" thinking among my comrades. Some of us are consumed with pseudo-intellectual conspiracy theories. Others are waiting for peak oil or some enviromental catastrophe to radicalize people. Many of us simply find excuses not to do anything, opting instead for thinking that the "times aren't right" and reading the leaves in the political winds.
Don't mourn, organize.
Chuck