Could it be the Battered Voter Syndrome? like the Battered Spouse Thing?

[opihimoimoi]

Some Like it Hot...some don't, some like pain, some demand more...what can I say?? This whole thing is bizzarre.

In this case, Bush batters the voters with all time stupidity, with arrogance, with fiscal pain, with mental anguish, etc etc and the Battered Voters actually stick up for him, support him, they LOVE HIM.... even want more pain...although they don't see the pain as pain.... they are The Battered Voters of America....and they have enough numbers to make the difference to over come..... Pathetically sad.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I've wondered the same thing...

It's like the battered wife who thinks, "I know he loves me; it's my fault he hits me, so if I'm really, really good he won't hurt me any more." And maybe the Bushbots think that if they do the Right Things that make him happy (like vote to screw the poor and the gays, send their kids to be cannon fodder in Iraq), King George will show his real loooove for them.

Or else it's something like the Stockholm Syndrome, where people who are being held hostage start to identify with their captors.

Whatever it is, it's deeply fucked up.

[intheflow]

3. Stockhom Syndrome, to be sure

I think so many poor blue collar people support Bush because they can live vicariously through him: his wealth and his power.

I think they are especially sucked in by his power. We the people may be poor and powerless, but by God, our government can kick any other government's butt!

Very sad commentary on one aspect of the American psyche.

[calimary]

2. Howard Dean wrote something about Democrats manifesting

symptoms not unlike that of an abused spouse. I think. Deep depression and other symptoms. I'm sorry I do not have a link. It was written from his unique doctor's perspective and it sure made sense. Perhaps with these voters, they somehow "need" the domineering father image, but a domineering father all too often deteriorates into an abuser. Makes sense to me anyway.

I tend to think it's a lot of denial. I saw it in my mom regarding her reactions and her way of coping with a consistently and interminably (and at times, rather flagrantly) unfaithful spouse. The reality is just too horendous to face, honestly. Because, to face it, that means you have to own up to what it is. That takes courage, which someone who's constantly being beaten down frequently does not have in abundance. Denial is tough because to conquer it, you have to admit you screwed up, or showed bad judgment, or chose poorly, or allowed yourself to be duped.

Nobody wants to admit they were had. It gets into self-esteem issues, and the battered have no self-esteem. They're made to feel worthless because of what's being done to them, so weirdly enough, they cling to the abuser out of fear because the abuser's attention somehow validates them as being someone who's needed. They somehow have worth, they're "needed." Don't know if you're old enough to remember the movie musical "Oliver"? Remember the character of the young woman who loved this really awful, violent, brooding backstreet oaf? Her big song was "As Long As He Needs Me" (I think that's the title) and the gist of it was that she was willing to put up with any beatings and degradation and threats and abandonment because she felt needed by him.

Also, just plain fear can be paralyzing to some people. Fear of the unknown - as in, it's unknown just what the abuser will do to you - probably also is a factor.

It IS pathetically sad. It's a vicious circle. They're locked into a cycle of violence and complicity and denial and helplessness and fear. Awful. And these bastards never hesitate to exploit that for their own gain. What opportunistic infections they are.

[opihimoimoi]

4. Infections,???? its Ebolaesque

Good post....