"How can that be? No one I know voted for Nixon!"

[WilliamPitt]

This is Pauline Kael's famous reaction to Nixon's landslide victory in 1972. Kael knew arthouse people, celebrities, and was basically surrounded by like-minded people. So when Nixon won mightily, it had no context for her, hence the darkly funny reaction.

Bear this in mind when you read DU posts that claim Kerry is a shoe-in.

[grytpype]

1. Granted, but...

... look at the polls.

Latest AP poll, ALL bad news for the Chimp:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=7&u=/ap/20040808/ap_on_el_pr/ap_ipsos_campaign_method

[RichV]

3. Forget the polls, look at the calendar

We've got a long, long way to go. Fight, fight, fight and work, work, work.

[joanne]

13. Regarding that poll......

63% say the Chimp is intelligent????

53% honest???

and 70% strong???

I guess we have a lot of work to do.

Cant believe those numbers. :puke: :crazy:

[LittleApple81]

2. Will, it is not shoe-in but shoo-in... But I Agree with you. We have to

fight, fight, fight to the end. We cannot get complacent about this. I am surrounded by repugs so I know there are plenty of blind people who won't budge from voting for the repukes. So I AM AWAKE AND READY.

[stevielizard]

23. most people I know think * has really F-ed up.....but

seem to hate kerry as well. I can only guess that they only know the negative spin and * ads- I think most people just don't realize what party best represents their interests - I know a guy who says he's a loyal Rep. but won't vote for anyone who is anti-choice--- guess what? You shouldn't be a loyal Rep.

[JI7]

4. agree

there are places where many people like bush. kerry understands that since he goes all around the country in different areas meeting different people. he knows not everyone hates bush and will automatically vote for him to get rid of bush.

if you check out freeper sites sometimes you can see them talking about how they are all voting for bush and so are all their friends and family .

the clinton impeachment thing was kind of like this. the right wing congressmen who pushed it would always say how everytime they talked to people they would be supportive of impeachment. but these people were from right wing districts . they didn't go out into other areas where people have different views.

[senseandsensibility]

5. LOL

Good point. However, living very much in the real world, I'm not at risk for this particular type of self deception. If nothing else, my own family will keep my feet firmly anchored to the ground. From my mother, who still brags about how Nixon kissed my infant brother (She is PROUD of it) to various rightwing neighbors, I hear plenty from the "other side". They are still out there, and they will vote. That is one thing about them that we can count on. They will vote. SO LET'S MAKE SURE THAT WE DO!!:dem:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. It's A Great Point....

I once had a drag out debate with a fellow DUer when I cited a poll that only seventeen percent of Americans define themselves as liberals, some forty percent define themselves as conservatives, and another forty percent define themselves as moderates...


He said if that was the case he'd find another country....

[DieboldMustDie]

20. Yet when polled re. many issues...

such as health care, workers' rights, and increasing the minimum wage, far more people hold liberal positions, they just refuse to use the (dirty) word liberal. :shrug:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. It Has Nothing To Do With The Word

Do you really think forty percent of Americans identify themselves as conservatives because they are ashamed to call themselves liberals?

[Feanorcurufinwe]

6. "How can that be? No one I know voted for Kerry!"

I'm not disagreeing with your point, but I think alot of people might be saying this in Alabama and Utah come November.

[mzmolly]

7. It aint ova till it's ova.

We have to fight like hell through November 2nd ~ and possibly longer if they try to steal this election as well.

[salin]

8. hehe... I lived that in the 1992 primaries

I was a strong Tsongas backer in Michigan. He had done well very early on (this was still in March) - but had declared that if he did not do well in that day's elections (Illinois, Michigan and a third state - maybe Wisconsin?) that he would bow out of the race. Almost everyone I knew was voting for Tsongas - one or two Brown voters - but solid Tsongas. So what was the big deal? I wondered as I commuted from Ann Arbor to Detroit... as I listened to the NPR story reporting his declaration... he would do fine I told myself... until the story continued and gave a profile of the composite Tsongas supporter... college educated (check for me and my buds), professionals (check fo me and my buds), listen to NPR as a major source for news/information (check for me and my buds)... hey wait a second... they are saying this combination is rather... small... hey wait a second - the news story is suggesting that I am not exactly the mainstream democratic voter...


Sure enough - Brown did much better than Tsongas - and he dropped out of the race either that night or the next day...

Lesson has stayed with me.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

9. Well as it turned out

enthusiastic Brown supporters like me turned out not to be the mainstream democratic voter either.... you win some, you lose some...

[JI7]

10. a lot of huge Clinton supporters were Tsongas supporters

i was about 13 during the 92 primaries so didn't vote and wasn't paying attention much. but later on when i got older and especially around the clinton impeachment thing i learned from online and meeting people that a lot of the people who are huge fans of clinton and defended him did not support him in the primaries. they were mostly tsongas supporters during the primary. they didn't just support tsongas but they say how they really loved him and how hard they worked for his campaign and they are still proud of it.but they also grew to love clinton and defend him.

it was one of the things i thought about when i saw the fights during the primaries between supporters of various candidates. of course we didn't have the internet in wide use then as today with continuing fights between supporters but it still shows there is a world out there that isn't entirely like us and which we should be aware of.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. There Is Alot Of That Thinking On Partisans Of Both Sides...

I remember my ex boss saying half jokingly that he had never met anybody that voted for Clinton....

[2Design]

12. I used to say that about JEsse Helms when I lived in NC

I just couldn't imagine anyone voting for him yet there he was year in and year oout.....

then one day I was being very vocal and someone in the office popped up and said they voted for him....they said they like a lot of his programs....

I don't even remember now why I was against him....but everyone I talked too seemed against him tooo.....yet he won....so the people who voted were for him....

so the polls are the same way.....it is not the poll takers that count...but the votes that count.

[frankie]

15. don't remember why you were against Helms?

Perhaps because Helms was a vicious racist?

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1995/05/bates.html

[JohnnyFianna1]

16. I thought it was the reference to the silent Majority who wouldn't admit

who they were voting for.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. No She Hung Out With A Upper East Side Crowd...

Same thing on college campuses.... Ninety two percent of college professors voted for McGovern....

[PROGRESSIVE1]

18. I know no one who voted for Reagan either.

:shrug:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. That's A Problem..

Lots of folks voted for and liked Reagan ......


We ignore these facts at our collective peril....

[union_maid]

22. OK, but....

I was just as Democratic leaning then as I am now and I knew that Nixon was going to win. Moreover, I knew that McGovern was a very good man and a terrible choice as a candidate. Not getting those vibes this time around.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. Exactly....

I never thought when I pulled the lever for Mondale and the Duke I was pulling the lever for a winer.....

[David Zephyr]

25. During and After Watergate, No One I Knew "Voted for Nixon"

Having campaigned for McGovern in the Catskills in 1972, William---believe me, it was obvious that people (liberals, even) were voting for Nixon. I know Pauline's famous reaction and your point is well taken here.

The funnier truth is that during and immediately after Watergate and Nixon's resignation in shame there was truly hardly a soul who'd admit to having voted for Nixon which really used to piss me off as I was just 20 and still smarting from how poorly the American people judged a man so fine as George McGovern.

William, the good people there in your Massachusetts had those fabulous bumper stickers during Watergate that read, "Don't Blame Me, I'm From Massachusetts".