I've seen other polls that indicate that Americans are deeply concerned about their own personal status so I'm not sure what poll Brooks is talking about. There is a real concern about financial security, health care etc. Not I'm starving and homeless kind of stuff, but a general worry about their own future security. > Date: Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:09:39 -0400> From: carlremick at gmail.com> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Americans pissed, sez Greenberg> > On 10/30/07, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:> > <http://www.democracycorps.com/reports/analyses/> > Democracy_Corps_October_30_2007_Memo.pdf>> >> > RE: FINDING THEIR VOICE AS THE AGENTS OF CHANGE> >> > The state of the country and the Democrats on[e] year before 2008> > election> >> > If Americans have ever been angrier with the state of the country, we> > have not witnessed> > it; certainly not in 1992 when discontented voters brought the> > Republican Party down to an> > historic low, giving one in five of their votes to an unstable 3rd> > party candidate and putting Bill> > Clinton in the White House. The scale of today's discontent is> > evident in the 70 percent who> > now say the country is off on the wrong track and in George Bush's> > job approval and personal> > ratings, now at their lowest levels ever.> > I'm surprised no one nailed me on this, but when I quoted columnist> David Brooks in an earlier post today -- concerning Americans' high> level of satisfaction with their personal lives and prospects -- I> took his remarks completely out of context. Since I consider Brooks> perhaps the greatest flaming asshole in journalism today, I feel no> guilt about misusing his prose. However, I am confounded by his point> -- i.e., polls show that Americans think their private lives are just> ducky, but they also think the wheels are coming off the nation as a> whole.> > If that isn't proof positive that Americans are dumber than shit, I> don't know what would qualify. I mean, how do you make sense of> Americans' typical POV: "Yes, the ship of state is sinking fast, but> my own cabin is warm and comfy. So put me down as being personally> clam-happy."> > Carl> ___________________________________> http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk _________________________________________________________________ Peek-a-boo FREE Tricks & Treats for You! http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us