Disenchanted Bush* Voters Consider Crossing Over

[kskiska]

BEACHWOOD, Ohio — In the 2000 presidential election, Bill Flanagan a semiretired newspaper worker, happily voted for George W. Bush. But now, shaking his head, he vows, "Never again."

"The combination of lies and boys coming home in body bags is just too awful," Mr. Flanagan said, drinking coffee and reading newspapers at the local mall. "I could vote for Kerry. I could vote for any Democrat unless he's a real dummy."

Mr. Flanagan is hardly alone, even though polls show that the overwhelming majority of Republicans who supported Mr. Bush in 2000 will do so again in November. In dozens of random interviews around the country, independents and Republicans who said they voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 say they intend to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate this year. Some polls are beginning to bolster the idea of those kind of stirrings among Republicans and independents.

That could change, of course, once the Bush campaign begins pumping millions of dollars into advertising and making the case for his re-election.

But even as Democratic and Republican strategists and pollsters warned that a shift could be transitory, they also said it could prove to be extraordinarily consequential in a year when each side is focused on turning out its most loyal voters.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/politics/campaign/22VOTE.html

[POed_Ex_Repub]

1. Shrub is in trouble

And he knows it.

[PaDUer]

12. He's been in trouble from

WAY back when and knew it, that's why he hired all those xtra secret service, and if you remember, he was shit scared to get out of the presidential limo and walk!

[saltpoint]

2. Ok with me if millions of Republicans come stampeding --

-- out of the building while Zell Miller is strolling in.

"Hey. Whur y'all goin'?"

We want their votes and we want them to change their minds on the environment, Roe v Wade, corporate greed, and on and on.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

9. hahahahaha!!!!!!!! I'd love for them to LITERALLY stampede Miller.

:puke:

[Arugula Latte]

38. I'm happily pondering

The cartoonish image of a pancake-flat Miller lying splat on the Senate floor... That makes me :D

[Cocoa]

3. this headline almost makes me want Edwards to win

"Crossing Over with John Edwards" would be a great bumper sticker.

[freeforall]

4. LOL!

I love it!

[PartyPooper]

13. Yes! It's beyond funny!

:D

[Vadem]

20. Crossing Over with John Edwards.....Is that a take on...

the psychic John Edward who has a show called Crossing Over, first on the SciFi network and now on CBS?

[Occulus]

34. Yes it is

and a witty one at that.

[demdave]

21. That is good

lol

[ablbodyed]

5. I know repubs who....

won't vote again. mostly women, but they say that their hubsters are also disenchanted. Older people, those whose long-held Repub ideals have been left behind by the thugs that control the party now.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[oasis]

28. Bush is an embarrassment. They can't bring themselves to show support.

[zbdent]

6. Well, let's put it this way . . .

50+ million voters voted FOR Bush. X number of them were fabricated, especially in Florida (after the postmark was due).

A growing (yet possibly small) number of those voters are saying they won't vote for Bush again (if you can believe them).

There were 500,000 more people who got out and voted against W, voting for Gore. Do you think that they've really changed their minds and crossed over to the Republican side?

Kentucky just had a special election where one candidate aligned herself (I think it was a she) and compared herself to Bush. This candidate was handed her ass on a silver platter. IN A SPECIAL ELECTION!!!

Ohio is committed to Diebold for their voting machines. BUT they will not go statewide until 2005. I believe that there is a commitment, though, to have their machines in place for the Gen Elec in the Cleveland area (a heavily Dem area). I smell a rat there. (sorry, no link)

If a person is so sure that Bush will win in a landslide, challenge them. Tell them that the only sure things are fixed. If they are so sure, then have them admit that the elections are rigged to go for Bush.

I am hoping that these Bush supporters who are so convinced that W will win in a landslide in November 2004 will be waking up on the following Wednesday morning going WTF????

Am I glad that there are W desertions? DAMN STRAIGHT I AM.

Am I booking a hall for the victory party? Nope. That would be like printing up Superbowl Winner T-shirts and selling them now. Yes, your favorite team could win the Superbowl - but don't bet the farm just yet.

[rockymountaindem]

15. About Cleveland

A post here said that there were some counties in OH which refused to impliment the Diebold machines because of the obvious reasons. I specifically recall Cauyahoga (I know I'm spelling that wrong) county being one of them. Is Cleveland in that county? I think it is.

[llmart]

29. rocklymountaindem

Cleveland is in Cuyahoga County.

[RainDog]

31. Diebold in Ohio

you know what would be a great "test case" for Diebold...especially in its "home state" of Ohio?

If Ohio could get enough people to vote via certifed mail before the election and then serve as bipartisan (if possible) poll watchers/exit pollers,

wouldn't it be nice to have a two-person, bipartisan citizen's exit poll to be able to compare who voters claim they voted for, vs the numbers a Diebold machine came up with for the election?

I think Ohio is definitely doable for the Democratic nominee, and it would be sweet justice to make Diebold have to be honest in its home state, and if it turns out to be fixing the election, wouldn't it be nice to have evidence in the state where the company is registered so that charges of fraud could be filed against the prez of the company immediately?

just a thought...

I'm "next door" in Indiana, and if Ohio needed poll watchers, I'd be happy to drive over to Cinncinnati.

[otohara]

7. Thank God

now if the people in the South will quit voting against their interests, we might be back in business in the senate/congress too.

[Whoa_Nelly]

8. For the disenchanted * voters

who want to cross over...

Go to the light!
Vote Dem!

O8)

ABB!

[prolesunited]

10. I don't even care if they cross over

If they would just stay home, we win. Look at the record number of voters we've seen in the primaries. If people are charged up this early on, think what it will be like in November.

Money doesn't buy elections. All the slick ads in the world won't make the fact that millions of Americans can't afford adequate health care, have watched their jobs be shipped overseas and their unemployment benefits dry up, and the "transfer tubes" disappear.

[alfredo]

16. I think a lot will stay home. I've heard

a couple say they would never vote Democratic, but they are not going to vote for bush.

[OneBlueSky]

11. methinks there may be a huge hidden anti-Bush vote . . .

among disaffected Republicans and independents who voted for the idiot last time but won't do it again under any circumstances . . . further, there are also likely a whole lot of Democrats and independents who didn't vote at all last time but who will turn out to send Bush packing (witness the huge turnouts for the primaries and caucuses) . . .

assuming the Democratic candidate (whomever) can hold the Gore voters (he undoubtedly will) and pick up some of the Nader voters (ditto) from 2000, new voters and repentent Bush voters should give us a comfortable margin in the popular vote come November . . . particularly with nine more months for Bush fatigue to continue its inexorable march . . .

how this translates into electoral votes remains to be seen . . . as does the issue of manipulation of electronic voting . . . in an honest election, though, Bush should be toast . . . with or without Nader . . .

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Speed8098]

27. Please answer my previous reply

As you try to spread your rw BS, try to back up these BS assertions with FACTS.
As you're new, I'll give you some leeway. But here at DU, if we make an assertion, we back it up with links to the FACTS.

Please enlighten us and provide said FACTS.

[reprobate]

43. "Bush fatigue". I like that. It says it all.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Votes gw* can lose...

Republicans that decide not to vote
Republicans that decide to vote for the Democratic nominee
Republicans that decide to vote for a 3rd party

Independents that voted Republican last time and decide not to vote
Independents that voted Republican last time and decide to vote for the Democratic nominee
Independents that voted Republican last time and decide to vote for a 3rd party


Other votes that can defeat gw*
Democrats that didn't vote last time decide to vote for the Democratic nominee
Republicans that didn't vote last time decide to vote for the Democratic nominee
Independents that didn't vote last time and decide to vote for the Democratic nominee

[ParanoidPat]

19. Hey! You forgot......

......DemocRATS that have seen the light and have accepted Bush* as their personal pResident! :evilgrin:

</sarcasm> (in case ya' couldn't tell :) )

[LiberalFighter]

39. DemocRATS that have seen the light?

Oh wow.. depends on what type of light it is. I wonder how many think they were Democrats and seen the light and accepted gw*.

Can you imagine people thinking that way? Chills

[lebkuchen]

17. "even though polls show that the overwhelming majority of Republicans...

...who supported Mr. Bush in 2000 will do so again in November."

Sad commentary on the intellect of the American mentality. Of course, shaping that mentality is the purpose of Bush's emphasis on campaign contributions. When you own the media, as he does, those campaign ads are critical to keep control of the weak thinkers.

[leftchick]

23. "weak thinkers"....

or "non thinkers" perhaps? Certainly explains his voting block....

[lebkuchen]

41. They're like a tube of used toothpaste

squeeze as hard as you might, and you still won't get a drop (of common sense) out.

[gate of the sun]

18. my mother is considering crossing over

she is a die-hard repub and not a very nice person to boot. Yet she is considering...Edwards no thanks to me. I am a Kucinich supporter. She said " I never heard of him" What a surprise.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Speed8098]

25. Can you supply a link to that theory?

Because that's the first time I've heard anything like that.

[JoFerret]

30. I love the steady drip

of these stories once the press smells blood.

[Crachet2004]

32. I do not believe the polls that are favorable to George Bush.

I have been doing my own poll and very few people will even admit voting for him last time, much less doing so again! SOMEBODY had to vote for him, but they aren't very proud of it.

And the polls? Like the last one from Fox? Who believes crap like that? Not me.

[Occulus]

35. Just like Nixon in that respect.

As I understand it, one was hard put to find anyone who would admit to voting for Nixon after Watergate broke.

My single, greatest fear is that * will lose the WH in November and manufacture a situation that would allow him to indefinitely postpone any transfer of power.

[proud patriot]

33. wheeeeeeeeeeeeee !

I know this from personal experience and from
the NY Times ...Wooooo Hooooo !

[dusty64]

36. When I was out last night

a friend who works for a law firm full of repubs told me he knows of NO ONE in the office who plans to vote for chimp in November.

[Boomer]

37. We don't talk about politics in my office...

...which is a telling difference from last Presidential election, when I was bombarded by the Repug views all around me. I work in a high-tech company in Virginia, so no surpise that most of my co-workers (including the gay ones) are Republicans. But they're not so cocky this time around, not so blatantly campaigning for Bush.

I suspect that when push-comes-to-shove on election day, a significant number of staunch Republicans will simply stay home. Rather than support Bush, or switch their party allegiance, they will consider that they have no choice to exercise and sit this one out.

--Boomer

[sandboxface]

40. Lets see how Diebold votes

[newyawker99]

45. Hi sandboxface!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[JoFerret]

42. Four more years

[susu369]

44. My long-time friend is a repub

and he told me today that he plans to vote for Edwards!
I was shocked at his turnaround (and happy to know he is now against bu$h*).

We've had some very heated conversations in the past.

:-)