Interesting conversation I had today with a Christian conservative.

[anti-NAFTA]

I asked him what he thought about the presidential race, and he said he hated both Bush and Kerry though Kerry a bit more of course. I was surprised seeing as how many Christian fundies see Bush as a "man of G-d," so I asked him about it. He told me that he always had a personal hatred of Bush because of when Gary Bauer pointed out how Bush mocked Karla Faye Tucker's pleading for her life. This guy isn't anti-death penalty; he just thinks anyone who mocks someone who's about to die is severely sick in the head and cannot be a "man of G-d." He pointed out to how when Eisenhower got the letter from the Rosenbergs children about their parents, Eisenhower didn't laugh at them - he told them coldly that their parents had to be executed because it's the law. The Bible says such and such criminals should be killed, but it doesn't say you should laugh at executions.

Well that's what the dude told me.

[AngryYoungMan]

1. On the one hand...

....I'm delighted that all of Bush's obvious inadequacies are finally being discussed.

On the other hand, I'm incensed that it didn't happen in 2000, since almost everything bad about him was as clear then as it is now.

Gore must have been a much worse candidate than we thought, or the right hated Clinton far more than we ever imagined, or the propaganda machine was even more effective than we realized, or it was even LESS effective than we realized (in that it smothered Bush's detractors completely without convincing them of a thing).

[anti-NAFTA]

2. I think it was because Gore was a bad candidate.

Look at how he has changed his speech style since 2000. He clearly knows he did his stuff wrong in 2000. Sure, Bush stole the election; but if it weren't for his bad campaigning it would have been a landslide for Gore. Oh, and picking Lieberman for VP was terrible.

[mlawson]

5. He was unable to make that personal connection that many voters

want. 10-15% of the apolitical voters in 2000 probably thought that Junior was 'more like me', than was Gore. The beer buddy test, etc. Either a politician has this quality, or they do not. A few have been elected without it (Nixon, for example) but that is rare.

BTW, I am not bashing Gore here; I do not have that 'common touch' thing either -- I am alooft as hell.

[anti-NAFTA]

6. I know what you mean.

Although I disliked Gore for his NAFTA-ness, I was disgusted by how so many Americans vote for the most likeable candidate as opposed to which one had the most likeable platform.

[mlawson]

3. Extremism on the right is usually minimized in the voters' minds.

They all think they know what "Liberal" means, and it's relatively easy to scare them with anecdotes and predictions of what will happen if someone on the Left wins an election. But the 'right', now that is a different thing to them; how could it be BAD to be more anti-Liberal than someone else??? "Rightwingers" are just good patriots, aren't they?? At least they are NOT liberals!!

I'm afraid that is the midset we are up against, and we needn't count on the media whores to correct the public's misapprehensions, either.

[anti-NAFTA]

4. What we need is a Roy Moore candidacy.

I told this guy that Moore is rumored to be considering a presidential run, and he was ecstatic regardless of whether Bush would lose.

I think Moore would be a good thing for the Republican Party if he adopts an anti-NAFTA platform as Gary Bauer, Richard Shelby, and the Constitutionalist Party do.

edit: I myself have respect for Roy Moore since he is someone who believes what he says and isn't just a businessman pretending to be something he's not.

[NC_Nurse]

7. too bad

he doesn't believe in separation of church and state.

I'm pleased that some of these people can at least see that the chimp isn't the "man og G-d" that he pretends to be. No one sincere woould ever smirk like that!

[anti-NAFTA]

8. Yes, that is too bad.

But if he ran that'll be three anti-NAFTA candidates (since his state and the party he's considering are quite protectionist) against a job outsourcer, thus proving that being for fair trade doesn't mean you're a liberal.

Bush seriously scares me. I think he's sadistic. He smiles when he talks about war, mocked Karla Faye Tucker, and just acts like he relishes in others' misery. I used to think he was just a crooked businessman, but now I'm starting to think he's also pathologically insane.