Frustrating NYTimes Article on Chimpy Voters: SLOWLY they wake up...

[Sparkly]

Leesa Martin never considered President Bush a great leader, but she voted for him a year ago because she admired how he handled the terrorist attacks of 2001.

HUH?? :crazy:

Mr. Panici voted for President Bush in 2004, calling it "a vote for security." "Now that a year has passed, I haven't seen any improvement in Iraq," he said. "I don't feel that the world is a safer place."

DUH!! :grr:

"We need to not be so stubborn," said Vicky Polka, 58, a retired school principal in Statesboro, Ga., who voted for Mr. Bush and described her support for him as "waning." "Something's not going right here. We need to resolve this. I hate to say it, but I think Iraq is going the way of Vietnam."

HELLOOOO!! :banghead:

Kacey Wilson, 32, eating lunch with Ms. Martin, said she, too, had concerns about the death toll from the war, but she felt that Mr. Bush spoke the truth, even if it might not be what the country wanted to hear. "I like his cut-and-dry, take-no-prisoners style," Ms. Wilson said. "I think people are used to more spinning."

ARGHH!!! :argh:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/26/politics/26voices.html?hp&ex=1133067600&en=b1e80c1962e6090a&ei=5094&partner=homepage

(Edited to add: Coincidentally, a letter to the editor today ends with, "Mr. Bush is only being Mr. Bush, the same Mr. Bush on display in 2000 and 2004 to all who paid attention.")

[Eric J in MN]

1. Thank Goodness we haven't gotten any "spin" from Bush

about his tax-cuts-for-the-rich or Iraq or Social Security.

Except for the lies and hype and fear-mongering. Otherwise it's been peachy.

[Sparkly]

8. Not to mention his "take-no-prisoners" style...

:eyes:

[Arugula Latte]

14. Oh, he's just a regular, straightforward guy!

You can trust what he says! Boy, Howdy!

:eyes:

[0007]

2. Even Supporters Doubt President as Issues Pile Up

In Ohio, the most hotly contested state in the 2004 election, the heavy toll on a local Marine battalion had played out on television and in newspapers throughout the summer's end, and the majority of two dozen people interviewed here said they wanted to see the troops come home.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Some apt metaphors:

1. The Emperor has no clothes and never has had them.

2. Sleepwalkers waking up.

3. Call a spade a spade.

Happy return to reality. You are welcome to join us.

[radio4progressives]

7. Kerry refused to call a "spade a spade"

even though I believe that Kerry really won the 2004 election, I also believe that the election would have been a sweeping landslide, had Kerry only had the ability, or the willingness to be a straight shooter.

He was not, and he still is not despite everything that has finally been reported in the press, after the fact.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

4. "Part of me enjoys watching him squirm"

said one lady. I guess I can agree with that, but if my child was in Iraq, it wouldn't be any consolation.

[Eric J in MN]

9. I'm not with the watch-him-sqirm woman.

I don't know-or-care if Bush feels happy or sad compared to six months ago.

I am glad that it will be harder for him to achieve some of his agenda, like privatizing Social Security, with lower numbers.

If his numbers go lower, and he can accomplish LESS of his agenda, better still.

[DemoTex]

5. "Same Mr. Bush on display in 2000 and 2004 to all who paid attention."

Shout it from the rooftops: WE TOLD YOU SO! Stupid, stupid MoFos.

It's the same Bu$h who tortured frogs in Midland and pledges in New Haven. It's the same Bu$h who lived his life on the shores of Whiskey River and on top of that Big Cocaine Mountain. It is the same Bu$h who scored a sinecure in the Texas Air Guard's "Champaign Unit" (F-102s) because of who his daddy was, while many others of us did the 'Nam thing because of who our daddies weren't. It is the same Bu$h that fucked-up a dream-job in the guard by going AWOL.

It is the same Bu$h-boy who failed in business, only to be bailed out by Poppy's "friends." It is the same Bu$h who was wedged into the Texas governorship by Ken Lay and Karl Rove, steam-rolling the better candidate (Anne Richards) with lies and disingenuous innuendo. It is the same Bu$h who as GovTex, and with the help of the now-Attorney General of the US Anthony Gonzales, never met an execution warrant he didn't love. Bu$h signed 152 of them while GovTex, over 15% of all the executions since Gary Gilmore's death by firing squad in Utah in the late 1970s. He is the same Bu$h who, as governor, ran Texas into the ground by every measure imaginable.

Yeah, we told you so. Don't forget it either.

[Cosmocat]

10. OH ...

The same Bush who got rich off a stadium deal where some poor slob got hosed by the local government ...

It just is AMAZING that it is like some kind of revelation to people ... This guy was an open book prior to 2000 ... But, he struts around like a peacock and does his Johnny Carson imitation, and that is enough to con half the country ...

I NEVER have gotten it ...

[area51]

6. You'd think Bush supporters...

... might wake up after losing their job in this dying economy, & their inability to find another shows everything Bush is doing is wrong/treasonous for this country.

[Eric J in MN]

11. The director of the movie "Michael Moore Hates America"

became unemployed while working on the project, but apparently he was unfazed.

[Sparkly]

12. Really? You mean he's not mad --

-- at Clinton?

[Jai4WKC08]

13. Never underestimate the ability of people to believe what they want to

People don't want to believe about BushCo what most of us know to be true. It's a big hurdle for most of them to overcome. They're only doing it now in the face of overwhelming, irrefutable evidence. Some still can't make leap, and many only believe pieces (he's incompetent, but not dishonest, for example).

I'm not talking about hard-core freepers and their ilk, but the LARGE majority of people not firmly planted in the far right fringe.

I think for many, if not most, it's a matter of greed. Bush reduced their taxes and it's as simple as that. Forget about the govt services they lost, or the increase in property taxes because of federal education cuts, or price of gasoline, or health care, or the long term costs of the deficit. Forget that the rich got bigger cuts--like winning the lottery, they all think they'll be rich some day. For now, they just know they have $1010 dollars in their paychecks where before it was $1000 (or whatever). That's all that matters.

For many others, they've been brainwashed by their churches. We "libruls" want to kill babies, or let the gays take over, or turn their kids into atheists by teaching evolution, or whatever other bullshit their preachers are telling 'em. I'm not anti-religion per se, but by definition, it is not a rational phenomenon.

For others, it's simple fear. They're afraid of all them "others" (Arab terrorists, Hispanic immigrants, black welfare queens, any gays at all, and the rest of the world who all hate America anyway). The Repubs play the fear card very effectively. The fearful feel like victims in a world out of control and they want anyone who they think will protect them (and "take no prisoners" in doing it).

Whatever the reason, the effect is the same. They rationalize. They blame the media. They say it's all politics and any Democrat would be just as bad. They cling to anyone who will tell them what they want to hear ("we're winning in Iraq" or "the Katrina fisasco was the fault of the state/local govt" or "the economy is getting stronger" etc etc etc) or they tune out all together.

I'm not frustrated by the idiocy of the remarks reported; I'm encouraged that at least some portion of the electorate is beginning to see the light, however short of the full truth they may fall. The chickens are coming home to roost, but we've still got a long way to go.

It is sad that things have to get this bad before people open their eyes. I'm just afraid it'll have to get a lot worse before they're willing to do anything about it.

[0007]

15. bttft

[NVMojo]

16. yep, I'm surrounded by this kind of human numbskull