I think Shrub is getting pounded pretty hard.

[Soup Bean]

I've been trying to step back away from partisanship a little bit just to see what it looks like from the perspective of folks that don't really follow politics. The mass media is bringing up all these scandals as delicately as most folks can handle it. Most people just look at really broad aspects of the political/governmental/business world.

Having said that, I think Bush looks pretty doggone scary to the people of this country. Clinton was NEVER in this kind of trouble. It didn't matter what the media said, most people trusted Clinton with the country, even if they liked to bitch about him. Shrub just makes people uncomfortable to talk about.

I live in a really Republican area, as well as an area loaded with churches. I hear a few partisans, but most people don't try to defend this guy. My 80 year old aunts are convinced that he's going to destroy social security and medicare, and they HATE this war. People don't want to hear that we're building roads and schools in Iraq when they're worried about their "checks". They're afraid of a draft, and they don't feel particularly threatened by the "Arabs". America is filled with people who are actually pretty nice on a personal level, and I believe they have sense enough to know when something's wrong.

Patriotism to most of these folks means not saying anything bad about the President during wartime. There really are a lot of people who believe that, but that doesn't mean they'll vote for him. I think people don't want to say it out loud to anyone, but Shrub scares them.

Kerry's going to win. I believe it, I think the close polls are telling, because there is NO WAY they're going to vote Bush back in. He's toast, and I think they know it. There's not going to be much going for them besides talk radio. Their ads are LAME. Their message is LAME, and if Kerry will point out that $700,000,000.00 "war accounting technique" and keep up the Chickenhawk stuff, he'll beat Bush soundly in the fall, regardless of voter fraud. He should win big.

[whistle]

1. That is if Bush doesn't snap and drop the big one....

:nuke:

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. He will

if not now then after he has stolen/canceled the election. I repdict he will target cities in several Muslim countries in some sort of a "nucular" crusade. (But not until after the next big mihop terrorist act here in the United States.)

[aquart]

4. On us?

[spotbird]

2. The mass media is bringing up all these scandals? More

like they are meekly reporting the tip of the iceberg.

Kerry may win, but I rather doubt it will be big. We still have to weather the terror attack, which may delay the elections. And the fraud is such a big deal that its impact is hard to calculate.

[kanrok]

5. You are correct, sir

I believe that the election will not be close. Bush will be a bad memory.

[DAGDA56]

6. A good friend of mine has a theory...

...I call it "The Good German" theory (sorry for the Nazi reference). I believe that there are alot of Americans who feel forced to voice the (Republican) party line in public, even if they don't believe the propaganda. Not everybody is a hell raiser like the average DUer. They will speak respectfully about the pResident in town or to pollsters, only letting their real feelings come out among their closest friends. Yet, once they step into that voting booth, where it is just them alone with their real convictions, they will do the right thing (BBV permitting).

[BeatleBoot]

7. Half a Year To Go

Six months...

Spring...Summer...Fall...

May, June, July, August, September, October...

Let's Keep Working!!!!

[pretzel4gore]

8. question is: How did USA get into this mess?

in canada, geebush would have a hundred non confidence votes again him(a non-con means new election, and lame duck status until mandate restored)

[DAGDA56]

9. I think the simple explaination...

...is that under Clinton, things were so good that most people never dreamed they could be this bad. Or, to put it another way, alot of people thought the American economy was pretty much Idiot proof...neve thought they'd be able to test it with a genuine idiot.

[readmylips]

10. Repigs discredited Prez Clinton on the economy...

24/7 pundits and repigs kept crediting the economic boom on Greenspan instead of Prez Clinton. Small man bush kept Greenspan, and he is a disaster. I don't hear anyone blame or credit Greenspan for the mess.