The Berg story cost Bush big time: A local perspective

[Pale Blue Dot]

I, like a lot of DU, thought at first that the Berg story would help the Bush administration distract attention from the ongoing prisoner abuse story. However, from where I stand, in the heart of Berg country, I could not have been more wrong.

Pennsylvania has been continually pegged as a battleground state. Bush has visited here something like 43 times since he stole the White House. To win PA, however, Bush needs a major turnout from wealthy Republicans in this state; both in dollars and in support.

Berg was from Chester County, a Philadelphia suburb. In contrast to the city itself, the Philadelphia suburbs are overwhelmingly Republican, and very wealthy. Bush needs the Philly suburbs to support him full force to have a chance a winning PA.

What I have seen this week boggles the mind of a longtime PAer. The local news broadcasts and local opinion are overwhelmingly anti-Bush and pro-Berg family. This extends to all of the Philly suburbs.

Bush lost the major part of his monetary and voter support this week in Pennsylvania. Mark my words: PA is a blue state. Count on it.

[adadem]

1. I hope so

for the future of our country.

Letters to the Editor in very conservative West Michigan are overwhelmingly anti-Bush and we Kerry supporters haven't even started our letter writing campaign here.

[KittyWampus]

2. Perhaps Local News Coverage Trumps National

?

[LittleApple81]

3. I am so sorry for the Bergs. And if what you say is true, we will

be eternally grateful for their courage in standing tall against this Bushits.
I will never forget the picture of the father with the other son on the lawn...being a mother, that just crushed my heart.

[DaveSZ]

5. I'm so thankful to the Berg family

for standing up to those criminals in the WH.

[lovedems]

8. I suspect that once he has gathered himself together, we will be seeing

alot of the Berg family. They know the administration is telling one lie after another and I predict that he will make a case to the public to get to the truth. I know he has massive amounts of greiving to do, but I don't think for one minute he is going to let this go.

[lovedems]

4. I remember from an LA Times article a few weeks back

the Heinz Foundation has done some excellent work in one of the cities in PA. Apparently they love Teresa Heinz-Kerry. Do you know which city that would be? I guess she has donated millions of dollars.

[sallyseven]

6. All of them

[KittyWampus]

17. Pittsburgh. Did A Lot To Revitalize Riverside & Symphony Hall

Pittsburgh is where the Heinz family business' fortune was made.

[Eurobabe]

7. bu$h will lose Chesco

My mom lives up the street from Berg family and my best friend lives right around the corner from them. Mom's a dem, hates Bu$h, campaigned for Wes Clark, will vote Kerry, she has been very vocal in her neighborhood about the Presidunce. Says Bu$h support is weak, people too ashamed to even admit they voted for him. Many who voted 43 last time, say no way in Nov. Best friend, usually a one issue voter (rather strict Catholic) says she admires Teresa, and will not vote 43 this time, looking at Kerry.

We took PA last time for Gore, just barely, so I feel with present circumstances there is no excuse for not delivering to Kerry in Nov.

[MoonRiver]

9. I guess I'm a divergent thinker

cause I thought it would hurt AWOL. My reasoning is that Americans already know that there are murdering, terraist A-rabs out yonder. That's a no-brainer, even for those freeeps without one. BUT, the clincher is that *, by starting this bogus war has put our people in graver danger than we were before he went on his little imperialistic rampage. Berg died at the hands of terrorists, imo, but he wouldn't have been in harm's way were it not for *'s BAD policies.

[calimary]

10. Yes. I've seen this myself - out here in L.A.

It's something I noted, and posted on here yesterday - the Berg catastrophe has REALLY gotten to people. All it seems to have done, really, is underscore what a monumental pig-fuck this has turned out to be.

What I noticed, in talking to a number of people, all of them affluent (the ones who gained the most from all those terrific tax cuts, and at least two of them openly-admitted republicans) all were subdued, troubled, aghast, and saying the same phrases: "bush sure has made a mess in Iraq." Or "bush has really messed things up in Iraq." Or "bush has made a big mess in Iraq." It's almost as though THEY all got the same talking points. They volunteered these observations to me. I didn't prod them for it. This Berg horror has really yanked people awake. It's like a large air horn that's abruptly blasted straight into people's ears, in dark, quiet, secluded bedrooms all over America. It's really startling. You can HEAR the sound of people shaking their heads in disgust and disbelief. It's NOT helping bush. And the rush/Pox news people who have been yammering about the prisoner torture that's little more than fraternity hazings aren't helping either. They must not realize this yet. It's just making THEM look bad, too, because too many people regard that sordid affair as a LOT more serious than a mere "fraternity hazing."

It's quite stunning. That sound you hear is people all over the country being rudely awakened, and coming to their senses. This was a body blow. A big, fat, red, swolen, bloody exclamation point to an already ferociously horrid sentence.

[sendero]

11. It *is* strange...

... how hard it can be to predict the perception of certain events. In fact, it seems the more traumatic the event, the more unpredictable the public's overall reaction to it.

Upon reflection, I can easily believe that this, and not the abuse scandals, will be the turning point in this horrible misadventure. Let us all hope so.

[MoonRiver]

13. Wow!

Calimary, you expressed that just wonderfully!!

:yourock:

[calimary]

16. Thanks! You, too!

I agree with MuseRider, here, who said it's a good thing this awakening is happening, but SO dreadful that it took something like Berg's death to clinch it. It IS great news at a great cost. I am so sad for him and ESPECIALLY his family!!!!!! The one bit of comfort we can take from it, perhaps (if anything) is that it also means that Nick Berg did NOT die in vain.

[pop goes the weasel]

12. my insurance agent asked me

out of the blue, about the Berg murder, and before I could say anything, she said, "We've got to get out of there." This in small town Texas. She's not certain about voting for Kerry, but when I pointed out that having Bush again would guarantee continued chaos and violence, she quickly agreed.

[notadmblnd]

14. and I think they realize that we aren't buying it

and are now alluding that he had terrorist connections to demonize him

[MuseRider]

15. Great news but at a great cost.

I am headed tomorrow deep into freeper country to sell a couple of horses at a cutting competition. I will be neck deep in cowboys/girls. I am hoping for a good report to give tomorrow night. Things have been slowly swinging our way.

This is a sad, hard way to get things going our way. I sure wish it was different.

[TorchTheWitch]

18. My thoughts exactly

What I have seen this week boggles the mind of a longtime PAer. The local news broadcasts and local opinion are overwhelmingly anti-Bush and pro-Berg family. This extends to all of the Philly suburbs.

Bush lost the major part of his monetary and voter support this week in Pennsylvania. Mark my words: PA is a blue state. Count on it.

As another local, I'm seeing the same thing and mentioned it in some other thread... PAers are PISSED, the news coverage has been scathing against the Admin, and I'm convinced we go blue over this.

Another nice thing about the news coverage on this that just occurred to me recently is that the local tv news channels broadcast in NJ and DE as well.