Peek into the Freeper mind tonight - my neighbor dropped by,

[NRaleighLiberal]

and I could tell she was trying to stir things up (she is one of those insecure, defensive, on-edge types that incites arguments). She slipped in that she still had high regard for *Bush. So shook my head and said, sadly, "so you are now a 29 percenter - how could that be?" She got defensive, as you would expect - but...here is the punchline....she said that she was not all that informed - at least not as informed as me. She said that she really really wants to believe the a "good family man" like *Bush is a good man that would never mislead the country into a useless war - then the usual stuff, that he is protecting us, etc. You know how the rest of the story goes (her husband's sole news source is Faux).

It is exactly what Bill Moyers said a year or so ago - the truth no longer matters, it is all about these people's belief system. She is afraid of everything - of people of different races, of people that are not Christian, of not being perfect, I suppose. It is sad, but very revealing - I think that this is indeed what constitutes the 29 percenters.

[xray s]

1. The most important factor in '06 will be voter turn out

Bush may be at 29%, but 100% of those 29% will turn out and vote Republican.

[HawkerHurricane]

15. It's always voter turnout...

There are more Democrats then Republicans, but Republicans always vote.

It's a matter of getting all the Democrats out, AND getting the independents out...

[hholli-1]

18. unless we do something about electronic vote counts...

by Republican operatives, voter turn out will hardly matter. They will *ALWAYS* juuuuuust eek out a victory.

at the end of the day.

in the rain.

with Ann Coulter voting wherever the hell she wants.

[newyawker99]

19. Hi hholli-1!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[gratuitous]

2. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt

I don't think this woman will need much to get out of the 29% club. Feed her a little information at a time, run through one or two facts that let her know that Bush just might lead the country into a useless war -- after all, Dick Cheney got a tax refund last year that's about four times his government salary. I'd say that's a pretty good reason to lie, wouldn't you? Especially if it looked very much like you could get away with it?

[azurnoir]

3. So freeps have Fox Mulder Syndrome

I want to believe

[many a good man]

4. Did you tell her she's "backwash"?

She and her husband ought not drink Fox.

[POAS]

5. It's not just that

"the truth no longer matters, it is all about these people's belief system". It is also that the "RUle of Law" doesn't matter.

It is also that "No man is above the law" is no longer an operative concept!

It is that perception has become reality and "Ignorance is Strength".

[C_U_L8R]

6. One part of me want to rub their noses in it..

and the other part says be gracious.
On a compassionate note... everything these
freeps believe is crumbling to bits and we
might wanna provide a reassuring shoulder
for them to weep upon.

Or we could just rub their noses in it a bit more.

[Maccagirl]

9. No sympathetic shoulder here

I have a long memory (actually, 1998/1999 wasn't THAT long ago)and the daily hell my co-workers and media (books, radio, TV, magazines) put me through during L'Affaire Lewinsky will leave a taste in my mouth that may never disappear. No one has asked for forgiveness, either.

[C_U_L8R]

10. hahaha

i was just testin'
heehee

go get em

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

13. Tell em to just GET OVER IT ALLREADY!!!

still pissy about 2000 here. God, I still want to slap these fools.

[Roland99]

7. The Fourth Estate has been devolving for years

Edward R. Murrow
Oct. 15, 1958
http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/hiddenagenda/murrow.html

But this nation is now in competition with malignant forces of evil who are using every instrument at their command to empty the minds of their subjects and fill those minds with slogans, determination and faith in the future. If we go on as we are, we are protecting the mind of the American public from any real contact with the menacing world that squeezes in upon us. We are engaged in a great experiment to discover whether a free public opinion can devise and direct methods of managing the affairs of the nation. We may fail. But we are handicapping ourselves needlessly.

Let us have a little competition. Not only in selling soap, cigarettes and automobiles, but in informing a troubled, apprehensive but receptive public. Why should not each of the 20 or 30 big corporations which dominate radio and television decide that they will give up one or two of their regularly scheduled programs each year, turn the time over to the networks and say in effect: "This is a tiny tithe, just a little bit of our profits. On this particular night we aren't going to try to sell cigarettes or automobiles; this is merely a gesture to indicate our belief in the importance of ideas." The networks should, and I think would, pay for the cost of producing the program. The advertiser, the sponsor, would get name credit but would have nothing to do with the content of the program. Would this blemish the corporate image? Would the stockholders object? I think not. For if the premise upon which our pluralistic society rests, which as I understand it is that if the people are given sufficient undiluted information, they will then somehow, even after long, sober second thoughts, reach the right decision--if that premise is wrong, then not only the corporate image but the corporations are done for.

There used to be an old phrase in this country, employed when someone talked too much. It was: "Go hire a hall." Under this proposal the sponsor would have hired the hall; he has bought the time; the local station operator, no matter how indifferent, is going to carry the program-he has to. Then it's up to the networks to fill the hall. I am not here talking about editorializing but about straightaway exposition as direct, unadorned and impartial as falliable human beings can make it. Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information. Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East. Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged? Would the stockholders rise up in their wrath and complain? Would anything happen other than that a few million people would have received a little illumination on subjects that may well determine the future of this country, and therefore the future of the corporations? This method would also provide real competition between the networks as to which could outdo the others in the palatable presentation of information. It would provide an outlet for the young men of skill, and there are some even of dedication, who would like to do something other than devise methods of insulating while selling.

Watched Good Night and Good Luck last night and was inspired to write this (in light of recent news)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1180031&mesg_id=1180031

[havocmom]

8. Willful ignorance

is still epidemic in America

[NNN0LHI]

11. Not many 29 percenters left here in Illinois

At least ones who will admit to it anyway. Its good to be blue. Hopefully we may have a favorite son running for president in 2008 too.

Don

[Bjornsdotter]

14. You're lucky

I'm in a small town that still loves *. Of course these people are still marrying their cousins, so the gene pool is a bit thin up here.

Cheers

[valerief]

12. She's internalized crimestopping

"Crimestop means the faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. Crimestop, in short, means protective stupidity."

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/orwell_goldstein_1984.html

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. What a crappy way to go through life.

:shrug: Misinformed and loving it? Scared of your own shadow and willing to accept whatever your leaders tell you. I rather shoot myself and get it over with.

[NRaleighLiberal]

17. Yep...she and her hubby are real pieces of work. Alas,

we are surrounded by them here in North Raleigh....it's not the water - we are fine!

[DemonFighterLives]

20. Using misinformed as a crutch

A normal person would question things and seek out answers.
This is a fatal flaw of the willfully ignorant.
They just had this warm and fuzzy feeling about dubby- little did they know that he was a wolf in sheeps clothing.