A question about Bush's Olympic campaign ad.

[Bullshot]

In the ad, Bush claims that the number of the world's democracies has increased from around 40 to over 140 in the last 20 or so years.

Where are all of these new democracies? I realize that there were some eastern European and former Soviet bloc countries that have changed governments, but did all of them become democracies? Or, is this like the Bush administration claiming we had all of these "allies" backing us when we began attacking Iraq? Just throw some wild statement and hope that nobody will take the time to investigate.

If somebody can produce a list of these 100+ democracies that have been added to the world, please post them.

When I was taking journalism courses in college, if I didn't attribute the facts in my report to a source, my instructors would take points off of my work and write in big red letters, "SAYS WHO?"

It's time we ask "SAYS WHO?" on everything Bush and his supporters lob through the media and other communications, including their attack ads on Kerry's voting record in the Senate and his Vietnam service. If we'd do this, we would hear a lot of stammering and stuttering around.

[drhilarius]

1. Here's a comprehensive list.

if you like counting.

<http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2128.html>

[Guaranteed]

2. All a democracy is, in Bush's mind,

is a government that is backed by the U.S. military.

[mhollis]

3. New Democracies

Many South American countries changed, in the last 20 years, from military dictatorships to republican forms of government, most on the parliamentary model. Of course Eastern Europe has now changed. The figures are there -- there are more democracies than there were 20 years ago. The ad makes this claim as if the policies of GW Bush were responsible, which they are not.

Part of the reason for the change is because the US stopped propping up unpopular military dictatorships as a part of our "Domino Theory" opposing Soviet Communism. Another part of the reason for change has to do with globalization. Closed societies cannot compete well within today's globalized economy. There is a lot of pressure to change.

The International Olympic Committee has requested that the Republican Party and the Bush campaign cease and desist from using the Olympics for national political purposes. They have refused to do so. I suppose all the IOC could do is to take away all US medals, which would harm the athletes and the games more than it would the Bush campaign.

An advertisement does not have to state all of the reasonings behind the statements in an advertisement. Additionally, an advertisement may infer and thus mislead without being blatantly false on its face. As an example, I think all television news outlets call themselves "most watched" or "most trusted" or "largest" which suggests ratings without actually having to produce them.