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Why Democrats Are Poised for Power
The US election by the numbers.
Katrina blew away some support
Ten days before the congressional elections, it appears that American voters are preparing to dramatically reverse the Republican political domination of the last decade and more.
It would take a shift of only 15 seats in the House of Representatives (of 435, all of which are at stake), and six senate seats (of 34 at stake among the 100 senators, who sit for six years), to put the two houses into Democratic hands. As of now, it appears likely that the Democrats will carry the lower house, while in the Senate, the decision rests on a knife's edge.
So used are they to losing, so snake-bit are they by the previously successful Rove/Bush fear-mongering campaign techniques, that Democrats are leery of actually believing what appears to be the movement in their favour. On the other side, George W. Bush remains as arrogant and optimistic as ever, at least in public.
The clearest analysis of this campaign comes in the Washington Post, a paper that covers elections as local news, like police courts and fires. Rather than sharing juicy impressionistic tidbits, I thought it would be more clarifying to synthesize what that paper has been writing in recent days, much of their analysis based on ABC/Washington Post polling data.
Migrating Republicans
It appears from the hard evidence that the Republicans are in near freefall as the election nears. For example, the overall approval ratings of the president have been steadily trending downward, from 42 per cent in September to 39 per cent two weeks ago, and 37 per cent this week.
This erosion is replicated in congressional voting projections. In the 48 most contested House races, 22 per cent of voters strongly approve of Bush's performance, while 44 per cent strongly disapprove. And the change is taking place even among Republican voters and self-defined conservatives, and more dramatically among that 20 per cent of the population who consider themselves independents. This shift has solidified the Democratic hold in the so-called blue states, while putting many traditional red-state constituencies into play, may of them increasingly trending Democratic. Hang in there while I quote some more statistics.
Twelve per cent of Republican voters now say they will vote Democratic for congress while only five per cent of Democrats plan to vote Republican. Twenty-nine per cent of voters who define themselves as conservative plan to vote Democratic, whereas only 17 per cent of them voted that way in 2004. Thirty per cent of white evangelical Protestants plan to vote Democratic this time, compared to 25 per cent two years ago. This is the core Republican voting bloc, and this highly unusual level of desertion can help to reverse Republican chances in many close contests.
Scandal and 'independents'
Among self-defined independent voters, the polling shift is even more apparent. While Bush outpolled Kerry 50 per cent to 48 per cent among these voters in 2004, this week Democrats outpace Republicans 59 per cent to 31 per cent, the largest margin this year. Of these voters, only 23 per cent believe their country is headed in the right direction, while 75 per cent believe it is headed south. (Among the overall electorate, the split is 34 per cent to 66 per cent.)
More than a quarter of voters, and growing, consider Iraq to be the main issue of the election, and of these voters, three quarters plan to vote Democratic while 21 per cent plan to back the president's party. Even on the currently prosperous economy, identified as the major issue by 19 per cent of voters, Democrats are outpolling Republicans 59 per cent to 39 per cent.
As to why this shift is unfolding, polls can tell us less. On Iraq, more and more voters are certain that despite the president's endless optimism, things are going from bad to worse. Many believe that the president lied to them about weapons of mass destruction, and that he is continuing to lie to them about the course of the war. Bob Woodward's recent book, State of Denial, which I will review in the November 4 Vancouver Sun, has added to this sensibility in a notable way, particularly as it comes from a former Bush and Iraq war supporter. But this book only underlines a far wider loss of faith in the war and the war president.
Many voters also seem fed up with the corruption of both big business and the party of big business, especially its operatives in Congress, several of whom, including their maximum leader, Tom DeLay, are under criminal indictment. This corresponds to a certain populist sentiment that increasing American prosperity is true only for the very rich.
Back to scare mongering
Usually by this time in the campaign, the Rove Republicans have found a moralistic "wedge issue" to solidify their base -- in 2000 it was flag burning, in 2004 gay marriage. This time around, pageboy fancier Congressman Mark Foley of Florida has given the Democrats the edge on the wedge, although it is difficult to measure the precise impact of this issue on voting patterns. The Republicans haven't given up, spending 90 per cent of their huge advertising budget on negative ads, many of the most coarsely personal sort. Whether the normal fear-mongering will work one more time seems in doubt.
It is also important to consider that the Democrats contesting traditionally Republican or swing seats are overwhelming moderate to conservative themselves. The Democrats are running as many Iraq war veterans as they could find, the more telling their opposition to the war would sound. Jim Webb, the Democratic candidate for Senator in Virginia, running against the notable racist, Senator George Allan, is himself a right-wing former member of the Reagan administration. In the Deep South in particular, many of the Democrats are anti-abortion, gun loving conservatives. Following the Bill Clinton line of political thought, such Democrats, by tacking rightward, take the conservative consensus away from the Republicans.
Will it matter?
Of course, in all this analysis, the question of accuracy remains, and for that we will have to wait until November 7. Polls can be misleading, and it may well be that the Republicans will maintain their hold in one or both houses of congress. Contrarily, it is at least as likely that the trend will become a landslide on Election Day.
Will it really matter if congress changes hand? You bet your sweet Nellie it will. I will discuss some of those meanings in my next contribution to The Tyee, right after the election.
Or else I will discuss how the Republicans managed to pull off a major upset after all.
Related Tyee stories:
- Best of the Muck: Sleazy US political ads on YouTube
- What War? We've Got 'Pagegate'
- Eastwood's Right Hook at Bush
![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Who Mowed Down the Premier?
- Canada's Economy, Deconstructed (by a 12 year-old)
- Death in Remand: a Tyee Inquiry
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Death In Remand: 'A Gut Feeling'
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- Bill C-38: the Environmental Destruction Act
- Alberta Fills Pipes with Corrosive Denial
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- How Our Immune Systems Exaggerate Fear
- BC biotech company seeks approval for GM apple
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
- Does Simon Fraser University Need a Men's Centre?
- Now Is the Time to Talk up Big Ideas
- Why Blackberry's Embrace of HTML5 Is Good Karma
- Bias in BC's Pesticide Decision? Follow the Bouncing Verbs
- Death in Remand: A Jail Crammed with Risk
- The Ethics of Addiction Studies
- What's Behind BC's Doors?
- The Gem of Canadian Science that Harper Killed
- Sexism Tinges Criticism of Teachers' Job Action
- Should You Run from that Medical Test?
65
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Truman Green
5 years ago
Comments on "Why Democrats Are Poised for Power"
Michael Fellman, yeah, you're right the Washington Post's part of a conspiracy----probably by globalist and other sinister dens of clandestine manipulators--to take down Bush.
Thank God!
But I'm sure they got their next blackmailee waiting in the wings--probably Hillary Clinton (by way of the mysterious Vincent Foster suicide)since the Clintons went over to the Bilderbergers.
Did you read where Bob Woodward claims that Mark Felt seemed to look upon his younger embedded Washington Post contact as an "agent." Pre-emptive strike or what, eh.
kwl
5 years ago
Don't be surprised to see the Republicans pull off a "surprise" victory, contrary to exit polls again. Diebold will make it happen.
Gerhardius
5 years ago
Some reports have the Hussein verdict coming out on November 5th, just in time for all kinds of Republican back slapping in the media before election day. W can go on TV and talk about how Saddam Hussein would still be in power if the American people had put the Democrats in office in 2000. There are decent breakdowns of the seats that are in play and polling data in the following links:
Senate http://www.slate.com/id/2148600
House: http://www.slate.com/id/2152139/
http://www.majoritywatch.com/
Working Man
5 years ago
Time will tell but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.
maestro
5 years ago
In the DEMOCRATS vs REPUBLICAN comparisons.
Of course, all this begets the quasi- "armchair Poli- Sci quarterback" question of how would history have unfolded if the U.S. DEMOCRATS were in power at the time of 9/11.
Also " no " evidence whatsoever of "any" corporate corruption/chicanery under " the watch" of the Clinton (Democrat)administration, is there ?
Fiat lux
5 years ago
I think "kwl: is right on. As long as the American public puts up with the electronic voting machines the ruling class will rule, as Gregory Palast
explains at
http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1511, mirrored at http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102706C.shtml
The whole American political system is so wrought with fraud that it will take generations to get it unscrambed.
And this is what they want to force on the world. I wonder when Harper will start talking about "harmonization" with the wonders of hi tech voting ?
Ed Deak.
The brain
5 years ago
Couldn't agree with you more, Ed. Our Canadian Republican party, er, scuse me, Conservative party led by "shrub and Dub" will find a way to undermine democracy once again, as it is likely to happen in the states.
What I'm watching for is the difference between the states that are going electronic as opposed to the states that have a voters paper trail in terms of which states go Republican or Democrat. That should be a tell tale of democracy fraud.
The latest spins put out by the whitehouse and Republican party reminds me of your typical dangerous religious cult. Global warming is a hoax, even though the smog and pollution from all major cities world wide tells otherwise. The glacial melts, the degree's of warmth, the ozones largest ever hole on record the size of North America... and we aren't responsible?
With ozone alone, Nasa says we are responsible since '89 and yet, the Republicans continue to lie with the likes of Andromeda strain fiction writers to back them up. Its sad to see such warmongers war profiteering the way Cheney does with Haliburtons defence subsiduaries and Carlyle defense of which Rumsfelt, Bush Sr., James Baker and Tony Blair? Yes, Tony Blair, Britians fearless leader of war who is being asked to step down by his own party over such conflicts of interest.
The world isn't stupid. Maybe the americans are this stupid and uneducated to think that a Republican party will lead them to greater... prosperity. Maestro certainly is. There hasn't been a war or coup that the U.S. has initiated over the past 40 years, that wasn't built on a lie for profiteering. And the U.S. has been very, very busy trying to own the world with their "brand" of democracy and "free" market economies, i.e. globalization.
Lets hope that americans aren't this stupid or corrupt as to not know that thats why their sons and daughters are dying in Iraq, Afganistan and in the future, Iran for such a greedy, ugly goal.
When will the american people realize that they are voting for defence contractors and oil corporation lobbiests when they vote Republican?
So many good things from the U.S. have helped their cousins north of the border. Yes, we so love to bash the badness from the U.S. without counting the good that comes from them. But in the final analysis, the Republican's attempted coup within Canada's Conservative party, unfair trade practices, "our way or else" cult agenda's with the worlds environment so that sick in the head CEO's can get even richer with the poisoning of our Earth... there isn't much room to praise them these days from our end. But elections are coming soon. And the pendulum does swing.
haraldkann
5 years ago
If I remember correctly there were some machinations in the backrooms/boardrooms of greater AmeriKKKa when Big Bill was in office.
Only the WORLD was more interested in his getting BLOWJOBS in the OVAL OFFICE.
Aint you proud of our species ???
I hope your name isn't maestroski !
Elliot
5 years ago
just shows to go how little respect the democrats garner. the republicans have made a grand mess of almost everything and they still have a chance of holding power. pretty sad stuff.
hannibal
5 years ago
Yea,two chances slim and none .
DPL
5 years ago
The core voters of the Republican party will get out the vote. Hopefully the zdemocrats will be better at doing so. DOn't you just love voting machines with no paper records. Compter experts say those things are easily hacked. Don't be suprised if some guy gets more votes than people in some area.
But the results down there affect us too so hopefully the power will shift to the slighlty left.
Umslopogaas
5 years ago
Any thoughts on a big republican boosting terror event in the next ten days?
IAMC
5 years ago
This midterm election is very fun. I love American Politics. Their self righteous left wingers so powerful. They have CNN and the NYT and the balance of MSM [ Mainstream media } or should I say OMSM [ old mainstream media ] is toast. We have all gone way beyond that.
But to you liberal elitists, let me say this to all of you who view Americans as the great unwashed, hillbilly, redneck, ignorant and able to be influenced into going nowhere, I think you have misunderstood the American mind..
As you all know, I have predicted the two Bush victories as well as the Harper victory.
My prediction this time is another clean conservative sweep.
Sorry.
G West
5 years ago
That trembling in your hands Ron, is that Parkinson's disease, acting, or are you just scared?
You forgot to label the first Bush win properly, remember - it wasn't a win, it was larceny.
I know you and Rush have gone way beyond that, you NEVER tell the truth, it's irrelevant to guys like you, Rush, Ann, Michelle and George, isn't it?
KitsCommuter
5 years ago
History would have been much different indeed maestro. There wouldn't have been a 9/11!
KitsCommuter
5 years ago
IAMC
So, just to clarify, you mean to say that the "self righteous left wingers" control CNN and the NYT? And that old mainstream media is irrelevant? What exactly do you mean by old mainstream media and why do you feel it is irrelevant?
Way beyond what?
Who ever said liberals are elitists? Who ever said liberals view Americans as "the great unwashed, hillbilly, redneck, ignorant"? How are liberals influencing these people into going nowhere? Where would nowhere be and what is it about the "American mind" that liberals are not understanding?
Do you work for Diebold?
Are you in on the fix?
KitsCommuter
5 years ago
Talk about nincompoops. Has anybody read this?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061030/ts_nm/iraq_reconstruction_report_dc
gkam
5 years ago
The count of missing weapons is up to 490,000 now. Anybody seen Ollie North?
Michael Fellman
5 years ago
In the last hot week of the campaign, the Republicans will spend more money on nasty attack ads, and they are better at driving buslods of evangelical true believers to the polls.
Alternatively, the news from Iraq continues to be horrific, including new revelations of contractor (read Hlliburton) massive fraud, and I suspect, there will be more on the Mark Foley story. So it may well be that this is one Rove fear-mongering election too many, though, as a rule of thumb, one should judge the possibility of future prospects by past success. Except, of course, when a revolution--or its electoral equivalent-- occurs.
The Slate and election watch polls that Gerhardius alerts us to in this string of commentaries, are excellent. It is difficult to see how the Republicans can do more than cut their losses in the House, and it is clear that at this point most of the momentum is to the Democrats. But a week in politics is forever, so we will have to keep tuned.
Nana
5 years ago
Speaking of ads, a Vermonter running for the Senate on the Green ticket is using a Bush quote from a September press conference in which Bush talks about the use of explosives in the WTC. Hear it yourself.
http://www.supportthetruth.com/hill.php
or read it at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/09/20060915-2.html
"For example, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed described the design of planned attacks of buildings inside the U.S. and how operatives were directed to carry them out. That is valuable information for those of us who have the responsibility to protect the American people. He told us the operatives had been instructed to ensure that the explosives went off at a high -- a point that was high enough to prevent people trapped above from escaping."
hannibal
5 years ago
The great Clueless oracle has spoken .
What an ass !
Wrong ronny the Dems are going to take back both houses and ensure that Shrub is a lame duck for the last two years .
You have no idea how fed up American's are with this bunch of crooks .
Truman Green
5 years ago
Holy Keeriste, Nana. I don't have a sound card, but I'm getting one to listen to this.
Is this actually Bush stupidly admitting that there were explosives in the wtc buildings?
IF HE EVEN USES THE WORD, 'EXPLOSIVES,' REGARDING 9/11 IT SHOULD BE ALL OVER FOR THE BUSHIANS AND NEOCONS--EVEN WOLFOWITZ AT THE WORLD BANK.
On waterboarding--the average CIA agent who tried it to see what it was like lasted an average of 14 seconds before he started begging for mercy.
Kalid Sheik Mohammed is said to have lasted 2.5 minutes before relented, by far a record.
Bush and Cheney both think waterboarding torture is the best thing since sliced bread.
I think America is going to prove that it is actually a great nation by purging these crime families and monsters.
Nana
5 years ago
I hope you all are right, but since they've stolen elections since the year 2000, they just might declare martial law if there is an uproar. God knows they've been set up and practicing for it long enough.
Notice how little news we've had on the situation in Oaxaca? Federal troops have taken over but there is call for a general strike on Nov. 20.
http://www.narconews.com/Issue43/article2262.html
I'm listening to year old interview of Cindy Sheehan on Co-op Radio. She just said that she'd known about the existance of the MI Complex she would never have allowed her son to join up.
Boy is she knowlegable now. She says there are many more like her who have been radicalized by personal loss. No doubt they have all been working hard in their communities.
Bush 43 just bought acreage in Paraguay right next door to his daddy's place. Just before that, he signed an agreement with Paraguay that they would give immunity from war crimes to the US military no matter where committed.
As Commander in Chief...he's home free...if he can get there.
So the Bush Crime Family has a personal exit strategy. The question is when will they cut and run and how much destruction will happen before they do?
Gwynne Dyer said
Nana
5 years ago
Oh, I forgot to mention that the Bushes have summered in Maine for generations.
Truman
You've been missing out of the fun of listening to podcasts while you're at the computer anyway?
You missed the candidate closing "with the kind of information you should hear from
a real opposition party."
He also points out that a Bush brother and a cousin were both connected to the firm providing security to the WTC.
Truman Green
5 years ago
Nana, I knew about the Bush brother and cousin being connected to the security firm at wtc.
And I SAW numerous videos of the buildings collapsing.
ONLY COMPLETE IDIOTS AND GATEKEEPERS LIKE MATTHEW ROTHSCHILD could fail to notice that the buildings were blown up and that the planes were only a component of the trompe l'oeil false flag op.
I'll bet even Alcibiades-G.West has it figured out by now.
There might be more to the Bush confession than meets the eye. In fact, it might be an ingenious ploy in preparation for impeachment, designed as evidence that the first Bush heard that the wtc buildings were blown up was from the confession of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
The speech appears to be far too well-constructed to allow for this bizarre supposedly extemporaneous confession.
Nana
5 years ago
Oh, you are subtle Truman, I didn't
think of it a limited hangout, but I think you're on to something.
IAMC
5 years ago
Just when American liberals were supposed to go into hiding for the last two weeks before the US midterm elections, and try not to appear too liberal, and in fact Pelosi and Reid ( Murtha ) are totally absent from the final debate. Why? because they know they are scary left wing ideology held over from the sixties, John Kerry comes out with a total foot in the mouth moment.
He says everyone in the US Military is dumb. He confirms the Dem's disdain for the military, police and any authoritarian position.
I again predict, as I have so many times before, that the Republicans will win this election.
How did Karl Rove plant this foot in the mouth of John Kerry?
And don't tell me this was some kind of misunderstanding. That George Bush ended up with the superior GPA from Yale, throws this misunderstanding to rest. It's simply BS.
verso
5 years ago
IAMC, Kerry botched a joke, while Bush botched a war. If you actually believe that Kerry, a decorated war veteran, intended to insult the military than you're more clueless than I thought. Kerry's not even running in the election.
The Republicans are desperate (as you're sounding more and more) and that's why they're all over this. It would be funny if it wasn't so pathetic. The Republicans are going down. It's the beginning of the end for the neo-cons and I'm loving it.
verso
5 years ago
A couple of nice quotes from Kerry today IAMC...
"I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq . It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have."
"Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men."
IAMC
5 years ago
Kerry didn't botch a joke. He said exactly what he meant.
His disdain for anything right of Mao is a worry.
This guy has to hang it up.
Hillary has way more skills.
I hope for Bob Rae and Hillary Clinton to do well.
Kerry has handlers. The spin going on right now is cut and run.
Rush is not an excuse for John Kerry still living in the seventies.
Every American that is fighting in The War on Terrorism, is a volunteer. Many are National Guard and others.
There is NO DRAFT.
Kerry can try to wiggle out of this obvious screw up. But the cat's out of the bag. It's another confirmation of the fact that the Democratic Party is weak.
This idea that we can bring back the sixties, is so silly.
Truman Green
5 years ago
IAMC, Kerry was referring to the Bush administration when he said that "they" end up in Iraq. That is to say, "stupid" people like the Bushies, NOT AMERICAN SOLDIERS.
He was making a joke about stupid people like Bush, which unfortunately came out in a way that dishonest people could pretend that they believe he was referring to the soldiers in Iraq.
But, you see Ron, I know that you are a very intelligent fellow, which means that you already know this, but prefer to use Kerry's poor delivery of a joke to pretend that he was intentionally insulting the US military.
So what you're saying is that Kerry's going to purposefully claim that the soldiers in Iraq are a bunch of dummies...
It's not even remotely possible that this is what he intended to say.
And you know it.
KitsCommuter
5 years ago
I believe this is what Kerry was supposed to say.
"I can't overstress the importance of a great education. Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq." - Senator John Kerry
G West
5 years ago
As you so succinctly put it Ron "...everyone in the US Military is dumb..." except for that increasing coterie of honest soldiers and officers who have been and are trying to point out to the Bush administration what a complete failure the neocon project in Iraq, Afghanistan (and most everywhere else) has been.
You may be right and the GOP will continue to have a strangle hold on American politics after next Tuesday. It you are, it says less about the Republicans than it does about the American people.
I've always tried to defend the American people and restrict my attacks to the folks who've been making these bad decisions.
But, if the GOP doesn't get a severe spanking from American voters on the 7th I may have to change my view and begin to explore the idea that the whole nation is retarded.
If, however, I’m right and you’re wrong, I’ll expect a post here Wednesday morning, the 8th, from you admitting that you were mistaken. Think you’re man enough to manage that?
verso
5 years ago
IAMC, whatever damage Kerry did was too himself -- he's not even in the running in this election.
Those who are honest with themselves know he never intended to slight the military. Believe what you want. Personally, I believe isn't not going to make a difference.
By the way, Iamc, here is a list of some of your heros who DID NOT serve in the military:
Dick Cheney
Karl Rove
Condaleeza Rice
Bill Frist
Dennis Hastert
Tom Delay
Rush Limbaugh
Sean Hannity
Ann Coulter
Bill O'Reilly
Roy Blunt
Mitch McConnell
Rick Santorum
Trent Lott
John Ashcroft
Jeb Bush
Saxby Chambliss
Paul Wolfowitz
Douglas Feith
And yet, these ass-clowns claim they have the market cornered on security and patriotism. What's worse they're are all for sending other peoples kids to die in a war started under false pretenses.
Now, here's a list of some Democrats who have served:
Richard Gephardt
David Bonior
Tom Daschle
Al Gore
Bob Kerrey
Daniel Inouye
John Kerry
Charles Rangel
Max Cleland
Ted Kennedy
Tom Harkin
Jack Reed
So who is weak, IAMC? See you Tuesday.
hannibal
5 years ago
Bravo ! Verso . That should shut the nit wit up for about 3,seconds .
Nana
5 years ago
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/2204
The question is, who will the police and troops side with when and if the popular explosion happens.
IAMC
5 years ago
The comments by John Kerry revealed what the DMC is all about. They hate the military, they hate the police, they hate America, they call everyone who isn't a Democrat a liar.
Please, someone tell the joke the way John Kerry wanted it to be told. You cannot do this logically.
George Bush has a degree. John Kerry went to the same University as Bush [ Yale] George Bush had a higher GPA than Kerry.
This so called mistake by Kerry isn't a mistake. He simply has been caught with his pants down.
You left over hippies from the sixties are flaky. The Democrats are toast, again.
Truman Green
5 years ago
Ohio's a mess? CNN did the Ohio election story a couple of days ago. The sinister intervention isn't going unchallenged, and I think the good guys are going to win.
verso
5 years ago
Smells like desperation in here.
hannibal
5 years ago
And these A-holes want to spread democracy throughout the world ?
I think not .
No wonder the Daily Show is broadcasting from Ohio this week .
Yea, that is democratic for sure .
Disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of registered voters .
verso
5 years ago
Too bad it hasn't helped...
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." Geroge Bush —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5,
Plenty more from that intelectual heavy weight here:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushdumbquotes.htm
Speaking of bad jokes here's a beauty from Bush:
"Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!" —President George W. Bush, joking about his administration's failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents' Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004
Yuk yuk.
verso
5 years ago
So IAMC, with my first Bush quote, am I supposed to take Bush at his word... or should I be charitable and accept that he flubbed his line?
hannibal
5 years ago
Verso Clueless is being deliberately obtuse.
Why bother ? Just ignore the twit .
kent
5 years ago
I am very pleased that Tyee readers are now getting the truth about 9/11. For further on this subject (and to me absolute proof) go to brasscheck.com/videos/911. Scroll down to 9/11 mysteries. While it takes one hour and 30 minutes to watch you too will be convinced, if you are still in any doubt. To me there is still one mystery. Why doesn't the media soewhere blow the whistle? I have emailed CNN with no reply. I think I'll see if the Fifth Estate has the guts to air it.
Truman Green
5 years ago
Kent, everyone knows that 9/11 was an inside job. Americans are frightened of the consequences of the general population knowing that their own government either did 911 or allowed it to happen, so everybody's on eggshells.
CNN's quietly trying to do what it can to take down the Bushies. This is a dangerous time.
Truman Green
5 years ago
Oops, slight exaggeration on my part, Kent. I meant to say that everyone knows 911 was an inside job and the buildings were bombed EXCEPT our very own G.West-Alcibiades personality, who defended the official explanation all the way through the Matthew Rothschild snow job article, "911 Crazy Talk" right here on Tyee.
Elliot
5 years ago
'Kent, everyone knows that 9/11 was an inside job. Americans are frightened of the consequences of the general population knowing that their own government either did 911 or allowed it to happen, so everybody's on eggshells.' you moronic fools need to get lives. even the lefties can't take you seriously.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
Truman,
Be nice if you reported what I actually wrote.
Far from defending the official explanation, I asked for more research and questioned the 'proofs' of conspiracy offered by others.
Sorry to say, you would be more persuasive if you didn't try to put words in others mouths...or twisted what they actually wrote - as anyone who's interested can actually confirm by checking that thread in the archives.
Truman Green
5 years ago
G.West-Alcibiades, you defended the official explanation of 9/11 on the Rothschild snow-job thread as if it was part of your official agenda as anybody who checks can easily see.
Good to see you're not denying being a member of the G.West-Alcibiades hoax person.
More research! 9/11's been researched to death already, as if you didn't know.
Everything's been studied--from why the F16's flew towards the crisis zones at only one third of their maximums speeeds, to whether the cell phone calls from Barbara Olsen were real, received as they were from 30,000 FEET, to experiments on the composition of molten steel fragments to identify any possible explosives, to exact minute by minute timelines on the entire day's occurrences.
As you well know!
Continually saying you need more research is part of your little con-job, exactly like inventing two personalities--Alcibiades and G.West as a little hoax on trusting Tyee forum commentors.
Truman Green
5 years ago
Ellit, scroll back to a comment by Nana, beginning, "Speaking of ads..."
Follow the links she has supplied to Bush's speech in which he claimed to have been given information from the waterboarded Khalid Sheik Mohammed regarding the placing of explosives in the wtc buildings.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
Not true Truman, as you well know. Most of what you post is based on speculation - I could bring that quote , from you, back to light too.
Truman Green
5 years ago
G.West-Alcibiades, not most, ALL of what I post is based on speculation.
Jeez man, now your doing strawmen about whether I'm speculating or not.
Too bad a guy with your intellect wasn't honest and up front, instead of doing all of these fake rhetorical techniques.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
So Truman, when did I ever 'defend' the official explanation?
I think you'll find all I ever said was that the evidence advanced against it was not convincing and that the whole affair needed more investigation.
Since you now admit that everything you've put forward about 9/11 is 'speculation' I'd say we're not really in disagreement.
Truman Green
5 years ago
G.West, read Nana's links to Bush's speech in which he claims to have gotten information from the tortured Khalid Mohammed-regarding the placing of explosives in the wtc, and let us know what you think of it--whether or not my 'speculation,' as you say, is accurate.
You say we are in 'agreement.' Do you agree then, that 9/11 was an inside job?
Slithey
5 years ago
So the conservatives have coopted the Democrats and we will continue to have a bellicose right wing neighbour whoever wins. Would have happened last time, too - Kerry was put in to make sure there was no real choice available.
G West
5 years ago
No. I think we're both speculators. On that level we agree.
I looked at the transcript of Bush's words and listened to the clip.
All I read (and heard) was typical Georgel Bush mumble mouth. This is the guy who coined 'stategery', remember. He's a serial liar and manages to confuse the simplest ideas - why would I draw any serious conclusions from anything the man says?
As for the Democrats, if they can't shut Kerry up they are going to clutch defeat from the jaws of victory again. IMO
Truman Green
5 years ago
Thanks for confirming that you and Alcibiades are ONE and the SAME person, G. West. The last few posts absolutely prove that beyond any doubt.
G West
5 years ago
I meant you and me, Truman. As was absolutely clear from what I posted. You said you were a speculator, I said I was too.
Nothing magic about that.
Nana
5 years ago
An interview of Gore Vidal by Alex Jones.
http://www.jonesreport.com/articles/021106_vidal.html
"AJ: And then last question, sir. Can you speak to election fraud and the book that you worked with the Congressman on, concerning election fraud?
GV: Oh, John Conyers is a Congressman from Detroit. He's the ranking Democrat of the Judiciary Committee of the House and he'll be the head of the committee should the Democrats take back Congress. He went up with a team of researchers to Ohio not long after the election and they went all around the state and they interviewed everybody. They found many, many cases of electronic machinery that had been hacked in order to reverse votes, and they made a book out of it. I wrote the preface to the book. It's very persuasive about what happened. The New York Times would not review the book or mention it, nor would the Washington Post review or mention it. As far as I know, the only well known paper in the country was the Boston Globe-- had gave it a tiny review. What's going on; to what extent is the media totally subservient to corporate America, which is up to a lot of mischief electorally all round the nation?"
The media have been complicit in the electoral fraud we are about to witness again.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
http://www.forward.com/articles/baker-panel-to-avoid-calls-for-peace-push/
You might be interested in this, nana - from the latest edition of Forward.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
And this too:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Attacks-Remains.html?hp&ex=1162530000&en=a4567c434e202b5d&ei=5094&partner=homepage
Truman Green
5 years ago
G.West-Alcibiades, I read your links. What's your point? Why did you change identities from G.West to Alcibiades to post these links?
What did you think of Gore Vidal's questioning of the fact that the US Air Force stood down during the 9/11 hijackings and failed to confront the hijacked planes, as is provided for in the law?
G West
5 years ago
Not much. Vidal lives in Italy, he's an eighty year old man, often in his cups.
I don't see him as an expert witness.
The biggest lies the GOP have been telling lately have a lot more to do with their inability to recognize the mess they're in.
The piece from the Forward was meant to show that there is real concern in Israel about the US changing its policy direction in the ME.
The second link was to information about bodies – DNA indicates these were from one of the planes. In one of the crazier conspiracy theories someone claimed that the planes that struck the towers didn’t actually have people on them – that they were purpose built bombs.
You should be able to figure out why I posted it.
Truman Green
5 years ago
One of the techniques used by obscurantists, who try to ridicule those who believe that 9/11 was an inside job is to call attention to goofy theories, (what G.West-Alcibiades refers to "crazier conspiracy theories") and thereby taint the opinions of those who doubt the official explanations.
In fact, G.West-Alcibiades, I already knew EXACTLY why you posted that link.
I sincerely believe that this technique is written in a manual somewhere, possibly out of Langley, Virginia.
I think of it as the 'broken-wing' technique whereby certain birds will feign a broken wing in order to lead a predator away from their young.
Somewhere in my web travels I came across a long list of obscurantist techniques.
I'll try to find the entire list again and post a link to it.
Alcibiades
5 years ago
Then why ask Truman, why ask? As to obscurantism being part of my technique, I don't think so. You might want to check Terry Glavin's blog if you want to see how I approach things.