There is only 1 reason why many reasonable people support Bush

[ck4829]

There was a pretty big increase of Republicans and Conservatives after 9/11.

They believe that Bush and the RW'ers can protect America from the terrorists.

They seem to forget that Republicans were constantly harassing Clinton with cries of "wag the dog" when he tried to combat terrorism.

They also seem to forget the Bush, a Republican, failed to prevent the terrorist acts of 9/11.

Poll after poll says the world is more dangerous now than ever.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have failed to stop Al Qaeda and have actually increased their cause and have encouraged many Muslims to take up arms against the United States.

Fear is sometimes more powerful than logic. If we can break this one obstacle down, the Republican Party will lose a very large base of their support.

[soleft]

1. I think that is largely true

Regarding my extended family, some coworkers, and one longtime friend who voted for and support Bush, I suspect there's a great deal of rasism involved as well.

[unpossibles]

2. don't forget money

don't forget money.

I personally know many for whom money rules them, and they have been convinced that the Dems will steal and spend all of "their" money, even if the reality is right in front of them.

There are people who would sell their own mothers if they could, and do not care about any other issues. They want to limit controls and have no regulations and laws preventing their stockpile hoard of massive wealth to feed their greedy pie holes. Sorry. got a bit carried away.

[ck4829]

4. I remember...

When I wrote 'Republicans claimed Iraq and Osama weren't worth it (when Clinton was President)', Joe Farah had said Bill Clinton had squandered 5.5 billion dollars against Iraq, but now we have ** who goes out and basically throws around money in the 10's of billions like it was nothing.

Republicans are the spenders, and the spending costs money.

[SmokingJacket]

5. I actually think it's more about money.

They vote because Bush wants to get rid of taxes. Which means more money for ME ME ME!!!!

Thinking beyond that -- the degradation of the public sphere as having a negative impact on their own lives (worse roads, no libraries, parents' pensions cut, etc) -- is way too difficult.

[AlCzervik]

6. i agree with $$$ part, i know people that voted for him based on tax cuts

alone, they hate the war but still voted for him.

[newportdadde]

3. I've always thought the one reason is $.

I've had conversations with my RW friends and it always starts out as something like abortion or recently Iraq. As time goes on though I slowly peel the layers of that onion and we get to the core and that core is greed.

The thing is greed isn't something to be proud of, its not something Jesus would be proud of. So these people invent causes either as a fake persona in public with friends or they form it into something they truly do think they belive in.. but in the end it comes down to money.

Sometimes it takes several conversations but I will inevitably find that wonder warm fuzzy of greed, past the guns, the unborn babies and gays, greed is the constant.

[UdoKier]

7. NO reasonable people support Bush.

Even with your own explanation of these people's rationale, there is nothing "reasonable" about it.

However, not wanting to vote for democrats, considering how spineless they've been is perfectly understandable. I can understand a person who might vote for Bush out of disgust with hand-winging democrats. I feel the same disgust, but it's not worth voting for Satan himself.

[ChairOne]

14. Bingo. /eom

[realFedUp]

8. When you have your own tyrant, who needs to fear....

other tyrants.

[quiet.american]

9. My eternal question remains:

If Bush is so good at "protecting us," why aren't those Towers still standing??!!

[Oversea Visitor]

10. Those

same people will start screaming for blood when the 911 shit hit the fan.

[Cleita]

11. My personal opinion is that he appeals to the inherent racism

of people who come from homogeneous white communities such as you find in rural areas of the South and Middle America. Even though the language is covert, it subtlety states that we are bringing freedom and democracy to back wards brown people who wear strange clothes and don't let Jesus in their lives.

It says that these people are too back wards and dumb to think for themselves and make their own choices so we have to go kill the bad ones so that the rest of them can convert to Christianity, put on western clothes and be saved.

Just my opinion but I really think that I am right.

[Karenina]

18. WHOOMP!

Dey it is!!!!

[sftwrngnr]

12. Actually, I suspect...

That the PRIMARY reason why people actually support Bush, is largely due to the massive amount of press (free or otherwise) that they receive. If the message about the "other party" is always so negative, and so pervasive, at some point, the masses start to believe the message. This is in fact PRECISELY how Hitler got into power, and precisely HOW he was able to convince an entire nation to embark on a global war, and extermination campaign.

If the message that is received is always "Oh, you're a left wing whacko, or you're an environmentalist whacko, or you're for big government," and that message is constantly played, at some point, people start to believe it. The problem that I see, is that at this juncture, ANY opposing message to Pres. Bush and his minions is claimed to NOT be mainstream. For example, I have three daughters... I am vehemently AGAINST abortion. However, I FIRMLY support a woman's right to choose. If one of my daughters were to get pregnant, and decide to have an abortion, I would still love her just the same as I do now. It would be HER choice, not mine. Does this mean, by definition, that I am not "mainstream," or that I don't have a particular core set of values that I subscribe to? No, it does not. What it means, is that while I have my set of values that I subscribe to, I do NOT attempt to force those values on anyone else. The primary difference I see between the Republican party, and the Democratic party, is that Republicans CLAIM that they are for tax cuts, less government, a more "fair" society, while Democrats actually ARE for tax cuts for those who need them, less government when it makes sense, and an infrastructure that supports those who have less so as to make things more "fair." The problem, is that nobody seems to be able to get this message out... it is only "oh those Dems are gonna raise your taxes." ... actually, they wouldn't I don't make a million dollars a year, so I wouldn't be impacted by the roll back of the Bush tax cut in any way.
-Dan

[Coastie for Truth]

13. A stew of three factors.

Bush played three cards - in varying degrees.

1. RACE - LBJ said that signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law would give the once Democratic "Solid South" to the GOP. He understated the effect. It gave a lot of traditionally Democratic voters to the GOP -- the code words were - "Busing To Achieve Racial Integration" and "Quotas."

Until the Bakke case was decided "Quotas" played heavily into traditionally Democratic Jewish voters, and "Quotas" were an (not "the", just "an") unspoken fund raising appeal for the Ullman, Kennedy, Belfer, and Channin additions to Yeshiva Univ.'s Albert Einstein Medical School.

2. SEX - In one way or another -

a. "Abortion" (women should bear the reproductive consequence of the recreational activities = sex other then for procreation is sinful);

b. "Gay Rights" (again, sex other then for procreation is sinful);

c. "Stem Cell Research" (because to the "creationist" and "intelligent design" crowd, stem cell research is kinda like abortion);

d. Monica-Gate.

3. TERRORISM - Which Bush/Cheney/Ashcroft/Gonzales/Rummie/Wolfie/Feith/Perle/Boynton used as cover to waive the Constitution (including the Bill or Rights) and give all manner of our dollars to the Military-Industrial complex.

[rman]

15. They believe the party-line as promoted by the mainstream media.

If that isn't propaganda in action, then what is it?
Mind you, it is worse now but it has always been there. Our views of the world are by and large shaped by what we see in the media. People tend to trust the media are being truthfull, we tend to think of them as proven reliable sources of information. Most people don't have the time to get a second opinion, nor do people feel the need to do so.
"We live entangled in webs of endless deceit" - Noam Chomsky.

Fear emboldens the blood and narrows the mind. According to Al Gore this has in fact been demonstrated in scientific tests.
Politicians are well aware of the fact that fear can be used to manipulate the masses, and they have done so all throughout history. Propaganda of course is the instrument to spread fear.

[pdxmom]

16. I think it has to do with the atmosphere of fear in general

9/11 scared the hell out of everyone. It was horrific. This country never imagined that it could possibly be a target on our own turf.

The administration has seen that the politics of fear work. Scare them to death, then provide something, anything to say that this will ease their fears.

Afraid of being attacked...support us, for we can keep you safe.

Afraid of being unemployed...support us and we'll cut taxes to the rich to boost employment.

Afraid of growing old and having no Social Security...we've got a plan to fix that for you.

Afraid of anyone who is different from you...we'll support Constitutional amendments to protect you from the "undesirables".

Afraid of dying...we'll teach and support religions that will be sure you're saved and go to a better place.

It's all about fear and the ability of this administration to tap into it, in almost a subliminal way.

[grasswire]

17. as Jon Stewart said....

..."Fear is the new black."

[KnowerOfLogic]

19. Problem is, Dems have only provided an echo chamber for the fear-mongers.