WP: Speech Fails to Sway These Undecideds

[kskiska]

Saturday, September 4, 2004; Page A01

CLAYTON, Mo., Sept. 3 -- Half a dozen undecided voters who gathered here to watch President Bush's acceptance speech made it clear before he took the podium that they had serious doubts about his leadership and his political choices. After listening to 62 minutes of carefully crafted oratory, Christopher A. Jackson found himself leaning ever so slightly the president's way.

But, then, after listing all that bothered him about the speech, Jackson announced that he still wasn't sure.

"I honestly don't trust the guy," said Jackson, 41, a businessman and registered independent.

In Goffstown, N.H., Kate Tullgren, 18, said she was undecided and might vote for Bush. Yet she greeted the speech with whispered sarcasm and scowls of incredulity. When Bush mentioned judicial appointments, she said, "What about Roe v. Wade, buddy?"

(snip)

The reactions of undecided voters in three battleground states who agreed to watch Bush's convention speech with Washington Post reporters suggest that Bush still has work to do to win their allegiance. Some expressed skepticism about portions of the speech, and others found themselves nodding in agreement with some of the president's comments. But none said that the president had overcome their doubts in his nationally televised address.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60447-2004Sep3.html

[ranosgol]

1. So called undecided.

If after 4 years of Bush you are still 'Undecided' , then you have 'Decided', chances of you voting for Bush or not at all are very high. Many of these so called 'Undecided' just want attention, I call them Bush voters who crave attention.

[AlCzervik]

11. Sick of the undecided, they should stay home

are they undecided in all of their choices? Do they agonize at the supermarket? Does it take them years to figure out what car to buy?

[0007]

16. I agree the undecided sound like a bunch of retards,

my god, anyone undecided now is living in a fog and isn't paying attention.

[PATRICK]

19. Fog inside and out

Well, these are the couch Independents. Some are those who don't even bother to watch speeches, flip off political ads and mostly react to national moods and personal bills for Bush disasters in the mail.

By and large, the most disheartening are the very ones questioned most! The couch potatoes, tickled by the attention of the journalists into feigning self importance and critical wisdom while betraying just the opposite. These individuals as they actually firm up their fog for the reporters may come to believe that they are undecided in this way. So they sound even more blockish and arrogant. Even by those standards they are clearly signaling for Kerry to lead them. Bush has stumbled into disaster.

But when you ask them even before election day they might scratch their Socratic chins pose for the cameras and enjoy putting their breathless questioner on pins and needles. TV interviews and radio call-ins have less value than personal inquiries by non-journalists. The honesty factor is near perfect minus posing, timidity, expected answers. This why people are not as bad as they are on TV>

Unless of course it is Jay Leno asking them who was the first President, where the ocean is or something else appallingly, more substantially revealing.

[dansolo]

24. Undecided means they don't like Kerry

Let's be realistic here. The only reason that someone would still be undecided now is because they have been swayed by the lies and the negative attacks on Kerry. They don't like Bush, but it isn't to the point of making them ABB. The problem with Kerry's approach is that he should be reminding these people about how much a miserable failure Bush has been. He needs to overcome the negative characterizations, and waving his Vietnam medals around isn't going to do the trick.

[DuaneBidoux]

28. Studies don't support your conclusion

The natural tendency, regardless of the party of the incumbent in power is to give the incumbent the doubt. It has been proved that 70% of undecideds eventually go for the challenger. It is the question of the devil they know vs. the devil they don't know. I'll bet most undecided voters DON'T like Bush at heart.

[Prodemsouth]

2. "What about Rove V wade buddy" is a Bush voter wanting attention?

n/t

[lancdem]

29. If she's concerned about that

why is she even considering voting for Bush?

[LibDemAlways]

3. How could anyone be undecided?

The chimp is such a polarizing figure - the rightwingers think he's God's gift while the left despises everything he stands for. People on the fence at this point haven't been paying attention, and are probably not going to make a truly informed decision.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

10. Those who rely on TV news

listen to the crap that's spewed out by the RW, and take it as gospel.

I was talking with an undecided tonight, and he mentioned watching a story on CNN..."a pretty left-wing news station". I refrained from hurling all over the phone.

By the end of the conversation, I think he was at least ready to see that Kerry is the only hope we have of restoring diplomatic relations with the rest of the world; and we can't possibly clean up the mess we've made of things without their help.

[LibDemAlways]

12. The local throwaway newspaper that

gets deposited on my driveway once a week actually editorialized that Republicans watch FOX and Dems watch CNN. People with any media savvy at all know what a load of crap that is, but it gets repeated so often people accept it unquestioningly as true. I think it serves repuke ends to have people believe that CNN is liberal, because if "reporters" on "liberal" CNN say terrible things about Kerry, he must be really, really bad.

[Tight_rope]

4. What will it take for these people to know that Bush* is a fake!

[Leilani]

5. These people, unlike some undecideds,

sounded intelligent, & reasonable.

Read between the lines: what they are saying is I don t like Bush, but I don t like Kerry either.

[Booster]

6. Then they better all grow up because that's the way

almost every election I have ever voted (I'm 61) in has been. You are lucky if you really like the person you vote for; it' usually voting against somebody.

[Leilani]

7. Sad, isn t it?

Maybe it is the people who go into politics?

Maybe by the time someone runs for Prez, they have made so many concessions; winning is ahead of principles, compromise raises money, etc.

[MichiganVote]

8. Finally some sense. Say it and say it and say it.....

[sleepyhead]

25. Yes, grow up!

Ooooh, I'm undecided, take my picture and ask my opinion and put me on TV! Maybe they could take the time to inform themselves - there is absolutely no excuse at this juncture to say that you "don't know enough to decide". Unless, of course, you just want to whine.

[delhurgo]

9. I had a completely different reaction to Bush's speech

than what I heard from the news media. I thought the first half of his speech was the best. I was with him up until he mentioned the 'unborn' and touched on some other social issues, like Hollywood and appointing judges - thats when he lost me. It just reminded me why its so important for Kerry to be elected. It seems like that female swing voter in the piece may have had a similar reaction that I did. And how can anyone take him seriously criticizing Hollywood when the other major speaker at his convention was Arnold?

I also have a different take on the Zell Miller speech which I thought was effective politically and made Kerry look weak on Defense, even though he may have appeared too angry. The rise in the Time/Gallup poll may be more of a reaction to that and some of the other speeches than to Bush. We'll have to wait a little longer to see how Bush's speech played. But I predict he made a booboo mentioning the social issues, and his numbers will drop.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Bush's entrance though. Did you notice he magically appeared after those two flag things passed each other? It looked like something out of a Vegas magic act. Is Bush trying to trick the voters? Is he using illusion to fool people into giving him a second term? That could be a good angle for the Kerry campaign to take.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. kick

[DaveSZ]

14. she said, "What about Roe v. Wade buddy?"

If Kerry turns out enough young voters he will win imo.

[DaveSZ]

15. "it' usually voting against somebody."

Yep.

It's sad huh?

I don't like Kerry because he's "nuanced" himself to death on his position on Iraq, but Ashcroft wants to call everyone who disagrees with him "enemy combatants" and place them all in concentration camps.

Some freakin' choice.

[mahina]

23. Here's something to really like about Kerry- energy policy, independance

He has been wrong on some things that I care about a lot but he is right about this, and energy independance - renewables, sustainables, efficiency- is the key to peace and hope.
http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/energy/

[hadrons]

17. undecided voter: doesn't know who's worse, Bush or Kerry .....

these people really don't want to vote for Bush, but Kerry better step up because these undecided voters are probably thinking 'hey as bad as Bush is this Kerry guy could be worse'

[VolcanoJen]

18. Kick

:dem:

[Zorra]

20. "Undecided" has become synonymous with "dense" and "clueless".

No one in their right mind would vote for Bu$h.

[llmart]

21. I talked to a couple today who are in their late 60's......

and they are both rather uneducated (nice people, but very uneducated) and the husband said, "I heard Kerry is going to raise gas taxes fifty cents a gallon and tax my social security." When I told him he was wrong about that, he then said, "But Bush and this Iraq thing is costing us a bundle." And then he said, "I don't know who I'll vote for." I guess this is a typical "undecided." His wife is the type who will vote for whoever her husband votes for. However, these people think I'm extremely intelligent, so maybe my pitch for Kerry along with my bumper sticker, which they've seen many times, will sway them. He may say, "Well, she's smart about a lot of things, so maybe she's right." One can only hope.

[Emillereid]

22. We don't need no stinkin' undecideds!

I say screw the so-called undecideds -- and GO BIG TIME for the 50% who don't vote at all. The message that will mobilize them is the progressive message that's at the heart and soul of the democratic party. We should be wearing the mantle of LIBERAL proudly extorting all the values that have made our party great and the programs that democrats have created that have made real people's live better. LET'S TAKE BACK THE AGENDA!

[Blue_Roses]

26. Bill maher was talking about this on his show last night

He said Kerry should forget the undecideds and go for the jugular. He thinks Kerry is trying to play nice in order to pander to the undecided vote. I agree with Maher---forget the undecideds. They are either living in a cave or like the attention. It's time to get mean.

[many a good man]

27. The Daytonians

Anyone who watched CNN show the Peter Hart focus group with Undecideds in Dayton, Ohio has a good idea of what these people are like. They decide based on the last thing they heard. Their support is quite malleable up until election day...