The thing I want to know: how can anyone support this idiot?

[EstimatedProphet]

It's blatantly obvious that Bush is incompetent. Tonight's speech underlines and capitalizes that fact. How on earth does someone so incompetent as president develop not only a following but a personality cult? How is it that people can look at this crap and see a great leader?
I've heard people try to explain it as a factor of how he relates to the common man, but the common man is a lot smarter than him, and comes across better. He comes across like a guy that dropped out of high school and is bitter about the fact that he's gone nowhere, so he spits venom at everyone he is secretly jealous of. And god I hope THAT isn't the average American...

[deadparrot]

1. 'cuz he protects Amurka

from the terra-ists.

[EstimatedProphet]

4. It can'rt be that simple

because he doesn't.
What the hell is the mindset of the average Bush supporter? How can they not see him for what he is?

[deadparrot]

14. Because the BFEE whips out 9/11

whenever any threat to his credibility comes out.

Tell people that they're gonna be killed by religious extremists if they vote for the other guy, and they'll vote for you, even when you were at the helm during the worst terrorist attack in American history.

Being threatened with death does weird things to people.

[Sherwood]

28. I don't think many *really* support him

Outside of the hardcore protestants, I think that most people see that Bush has serious flaws. However, in my experience at least, many people are reluctant to go over to the alternative. The person who wrote the pro-Bush piece for our school's newspaper really doesn't like Bush at all - he just likes the opposition less. In my town, people see Bush as a terribile choice for America, but don't want to move to what they see as socialism. Off the top of my head, I can think of just a handfull of people that really support Bush, even in my relatively conservative suburban town.

[kentuck]

2. These are the same people that watch the guy at the carnival...

move those three little shells around and try to guess which one has the bean under it....They're gullibles.

[ananda]

3. It is..

.. your average bought and paid for reporter, however.

I wonder if journalism will ever recover.

Sue

[AuntiBush]

7. It will be a long time 'coming. Trust none of them anymore

:(

[AuntiBush]

5. He had a lot of nerve on that one statement...

Again, looking straight into the camera, the only time I might add talking to SENIORS and those born before 1950.

DIVIDER! And the religious flock to the only President to un-dignify the one-time most prestigious position in the world by waving 1 fingers, and his VP citing the "F" word on Congressional floors.

[Catherine Vincent]

6. There are plenty that do.

A friend of mine at the office had her w'04 magnet outside her office and after the election was stolen again, she switched it to the inside. And today a co-worker was in her office discussing business and he saw she had a Bush screen saver on her pc. I know this is a free country and all but when Clinton was president, I was really supportive of him, especially the way the freepers dogged him, but I never would have thought to have him as a screen saver or have his picture on my desk. My friend probably have sweet dreams about Bush. Geeze.

[AuntiBush]

10. It is... It's like a cult thing. And they paint Dem's as activist?!?!

:crazy: Unreal... un-fricked real.

[madeline_con]

16. hey...

There used to be pics of Saddam all over Iraq. It's a brainwashing thing. Or fear. Or ignorance, depending on who's displaying it...

the Bush pic, I mean. :shrug:

[Azathoth]

8. 'Cause ragheads and queers are out to destroy Jesus

and we need a man like Dubya to protect us from them. :sarcasm:

[madeline_con]

18. Safer Amurica...

I know I sleep better knowing this moron is in the White House. Is it time for an election yet?!

[madeline_con]

9. Actually...

from my own observations, the *average* American is a real dumbass. It's all they can do to negotiate a WalMart aisle without knocking over a display.

People really are that stupid, sad but true.

The ones who see through DUH-bya's B.S. are of average intelligence and up, but the average American is NOT of average intelligence.

[AuntiBush]

12. What was it that Europe's Magazine said after Nov 3, 2004?

How could half of American's be so STUPID!?!? Well, there ya go.

[cal04]

11. I sure wish you'd come to my school and

ask some of these highly educated teachers why they back this moron

[whistle]

13. 58 million voters seem to have little trouble supporting him....

...because he is doing and saying exactly what the polls and focus groups with these people tell him to say. They tell him what they want to hear and he parrots it all right back into their ears. Then he panders to his base of the ultra wealthy. Repetition convinces people that what they are hearing is in fact the true reality, even though it isn't.

[TalkingDog]

15. Think of an average person. Realize that 50% of all people are more stupid

than that.

[The Doctor.]

17. The flaw is in your assumption...

The common man may be smarter, on average, than Bush. (Which I believe is not the case.)

But the problem is that no one has the time to look up from the fight to get by.

We common folk may be smarter, but we haven't the financial and therefore temporal resources to inquire sous facia.

We don't have the time to look past the imagery, the catch-phrases, the veneer... so we make judgements based upon what most viscerally affects us.

As a previous poster alluded to terra-ist, I shall say that it's God, Guns and Gays.

This country is filled with children who want to live in a fantasy world... that's your explaination.

Bush's people know this, and maximize on it.

[madeline_con]

23. Good points

We live in a sound byte society, and all that has to be said is "gay" and "Family Values" in the same sentence to get fundies all worked up.

Look what Cheney did with the words "Al Qaeda" and "Saddam". Half the country thought Hussein had set up the WTC and Pentagon attacks by the time he'd made the talk show circuit.

Most people are too stupid to really listen to what is said, and let guys like Rush and Falwell interpret the message and tell them what to think.

[ailsagirl]

19. Gross cognitive dissonance

They're truly brainwashed. It's the damnedest thing... (I use that adjective deliberately)

:evilgrin:

[kainah]

20. they are members of a cult

and the head of the cult is bush and bush is the stand-in for their god. How can you doubt god? You can't. And you can't question what he says, because he talks to god, and if you don't understand, well, that's just because you're not as close to god as george. And if someone tells you something else, well, you know that there are always going to be people who talk down your god. They are from the devil. And the devil lies so whatever those people tell you is a lie. And he's your god.

I really think cult behavior is the best way to understand his solid (30-35%) base that won't abandon him no matter what.

[EstimatedProphet]

24. See, these things scare me

because we all know the direction this country is heading. If this is indeed a cult (and I agree with you that it is) and the people live in a fantasy world like Dr. Eldrich says, they will simply never let go of their beliefs. The more their beliefs are challenged, the more they will retreat into them.

In short, there is nothing we can do to break such a large portion of the country out of its schizophrenic delusion.

If this is the case, they are going to hang on to the bitter end-and the bitter end for a country led by a president who believes himself to be God's representative on Earth is going to be destruction. If we stay this course, we are rapidly going to find out that the rest of the world will be willing to go to war with us, not for us. And his syncophants and suckups will go down with the ship, taking us with them.

OKOK, I know we all know this. I just get kind of scared every time I see it happenning again.

[madeline_con]

31. I see a solution

that's so crazy it just might work.

We need a grass roots preacher who starts talking about Jesus' message and how DUH-bya and the Freepers are taking us all to hell, and just keep talking all love and tolerance, and convert the fundies back to Christianity. They want to be "true" Christians, and someone needs to show them what that means.

Just my own humble opinion...

Those who aren't religious wouldn't be getting a hard time from the guy, BTW.

[madeline_con]

29. absolutamente!

Definitely cult behavior. All the usual persecution and 'we gotta stick together' stuff.

It's really a brilliant strategy, better than anything Pinky and the Brain ever did!

The Dems need to do the same thing, and get everyone on the same page. The use of peoples' natural worries about the economy and their kids' futures would be a good place to start the discussion.




:hi: :patriot:

[demo dutch]

21. Very scary check out this Zogby poll, Red States love him and Kerry

would still have lost.

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=989

[Erika]

27. The red states suck the profits of the blue states

Of course they will stick with Bush. The blue staters work and pay taxes and get less back in federal dollars per state while the Bushie welfare red staters get more back than they pay in.

[sandnsea]

22. They support the illusion

The sound bytes that they're going to see tomorrow, not the idiot we all saw tonight.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

25. The working class in the U.S. has the weakest amount of power

compared to other working classes in the whole Western World.

A stable notion of monetarism (deficit-spend Bush/Reaganomics) is that the working class is to be kept weak politicially and for this to happen that there is to be a "natural rate of employment".

What this means is that the working classes are to be more concerned with making ends meet, competing for the few jobs available and constantly worrying about their job security. These basic job concerns that people hold are huge and take up most of their time and thus have little time to worry about the very politics that are impoverishing them.

Having poor-quality education (lest the poor gain smarts) and having an extortionate health care system (beyond the reach of peoples' pockets, it helps the working class to agonise further over finances - thus distracting them from politics) these are staples of Republican policies having the effect of further undermining the politicial organisation of the working classes.

[KittyWampus]

26. How Can People Eat Garbarge (McDonalds) & Think It Tastes Good?

[emulatorloo]

30. READ THIS: Survey on Bush Voter - THIS WILL EXPLAIN IT ALL

http://www.alternet.org/story/20263

[WorseBeforeBetter]

32. I also wonder about that…

Why are so many unwavering in their support, while so many more are disgusted by him on a truly visceral level?

Are they frustrated with their lot in life so they vicariously embrace the Maladministration’s bad behavior? "Cheney Off" to Leahy is a perfect example of bad behavior that should have been condemned by everyone. Boykin in uniform dissing Islam and spouting off about "his God" v. an "idol" is another example. The list goes on and on...

Do they need a perceived authoritative father figure while the rest of us reject that figure, more like rebellious teens?

What is driving the need for their misguided belief in their "leaders," like they’re grateful peasants bowing and scraping before the monarchy? What does it say about them that they place him above elected official/public servant status? They don’t seem to truly want democracy (I cut loose an R girlfriend a while back b/c she was actually proud of her fascist tendencies and boasted of her family making money off of "the war").

And what about their wacky need for all this hero-worship? Are we that empty a society that we need to create heroes? Everyone's a damn hero nowadays! Jessica Lynch comes to mind. Or that woman down in Atlanta – Ashley what’s-her-name.

I truly don't get it. They could be penniless, homeless, and literally dying (without health care) and they’d still support him. Unfortunately, we're at their mercy, but hopefully the tide is turning.