Reply #70: Good Gravy....

[HitmanLV]

...this kind of thinking is unproductive.

Any kind of movement that begins with the premise 'we are smarter than everyone else' isn't a good start.

The truth is in this recent election, the same pool of people who voted for Arnold voted for Clinton in 1992, 1996, and Gore in 2000. They are the same people who elected Davis in 1998 and again in 2002.

They weren't 'smart' then and 'stupid' now. That kind of thinking is unproductive and frankly insulting.

As for 2000, if you look at the results and come to the conclusion you did, that's just not very wise.

The vote was split down the middle, more or less. For every Gore voter, there was almost a Bush voter, close to a 1 to 1 ratio.

There are smart people are at the far end of the bell curve for each group, and stupid people on the other far end of each curve - that people come to different conclusions doesn't mean they are stupid (necessarily).

"The masses" as you say elected Clinton twice and almost elected Gore. They weren't pandered to, or patronized then, and they shouldn't be treated that way now.

We can influence the terms of the debate and win converts using proven methods that have worked in the past. Adopting a posture that basically alienates most people is never the start of a good thing.