It's Bush, stupid!

(this is why i am not a politician innit)

(XPOST)

The first part of the question was how come we haven't found Zarqawi? We're looking for him. He hides.

I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It was pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.

Talk to the leader. I agree, I'm not the expert on how the Iraqi people think, because I live in America where it's nice and safe and secure.

The Afghan national army is a part of the army.

By the way, it's the Afghan national army that went into Najaf and did the work there.

I've seen firsthand the tactics of these killers.

(the presser sounds like a disaster)

HAHAHAHAHA

Fuckin' AMEN!!!!

Kerry has air time reserved in something like 19-21 states. Whether he buys for a given period depends on the state of the race at the moment - does he want to focus in one area or another. While we're in the pre-debate holding pattern, he may want to focus on trying to lock in the Kerry-leaning states before he moves the national needle in the debates such that he can pour money back into the Bush-leaning ones.

Yes, so do I unfortunately. If I was in the US I would be tempted so smash things up upon Bush winning a second term, and I'm a pacifist.

How are you feeling about Bush, though, that's the question.

I think I tolerate Bush more than the average ILXor because I'm much less politically cynical than the average ILXor.

As a member of the entire fucking world, I can confirm this as a fact.

'Politically cynical' indeed. Fuck's sake.

Anyway, to this stultifyingly uninformed Brit, it all seems to come down to 10-11 states (the rest yielding a slight Elec Coll lead for GWB) where there's less than five %-age points between them.

The big 'uns are Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania (where, entirely irrelevantly, but maybe not, my 75-y-o aunt lives - a Democrat since attaining citizenship in the 1950s but a Bush-voter last time purely on the abortion issue) and anyone who takes all three is home and dry. Two of three is possibly enough too. Kerry is behind in all three, I believe. I can appreciate the concentration of resources. And now I hear NJ has slipped into the 'toss-up' column at Rasmussen. Good grief.

But then..... I travel.

NYC is, sadly, not wildly indicative of how the rest of the USA thinks. I just spent a week in Houston, TX, and lemme tellya....that there's solid Bush country. And those fuckers vote. The rest of the US of A still, apparently, think going into a Iraq was a good idea "`cos of 9/11" (oblivious to the fact that Iraq had no hand in September 11). I had a testy lunch with a relative today (from Denver) who got all hot under the collar about the lack of any WMD's. "I don't care about the WMD's, we had to get that despot out of power!!!" When I cited several other despots still in power....many with WMDs that they positively gloat about (hello, North Korea), she looked me square in the face and said "They'll be NEXT!" When I cited the 1,000 + American troops killed in Iraq so far, she (literally) pounded her fist on the table and cited the fact that 14,000 American troops were killed in the first few minutes at Omaha Beach (her point, i gather, is that 1000 is a small number of troops to lose during a war time, regardless of the reasons for going to war).

By and large, there's really NO TALKING to your "average American" about all this. More people here are pro-Bush than we think.

I'd expect a lot more dead "insurgents" in Iraq and a lot more collateral damage, the kind that's rather unpalatable before elections. American elections, at least.

It's like religious people. When you talk about how religion's all based on myth, religious people go quiet because they know they can't win. Same thing's happening here with Bush supporters.

That's what irks the bejesus out of me when pantsless rodeo clowns like Dick Cheney suggest that "the terrorists" want Kerry to win. It doesn't matter to them (let's remember that the 9/11 plot went into effect when Clinton was in office, and was executed when Bush was in office). So long as we give unilateral support to Israel and have a military presence in Saudi Arabia, we could have Bonnie Raitt as president, and they'd still want to fly planes into our buildings.

Bush was talking to the UN the other day about how Saddam had flaunted UN resolution after UN resolution; and Im sure the entire Arab world was yelling at their tvs that Israel is guilty of the same sorts of misgivings.

gee, ya think?

that's it, just concentrate on the "positives", cowboy.

-- Sexual Air Supply (ada...), September 23rd, 2004.

well, a rather sizable portion of bush supporters ARE religious, so...

I'm not saying Gore would've necessarily handled it any differently (would he have put those warnings on the back burner like Condee Rice?), but for fuck's fuckin' sake, DON'T YOU DARE BRAG ABOUT KEEPING AMERICA SAFE, YOU FATUOUS, LEAKY ANUS!

OTM. A full-out withdrawal would only kick the last leg out from an already-toppling table.

No, he's a senator. If Kerry is a "flip-flop," then 90% of the Senate is, as well.

As are a lot of Kerry supporters, Sweet Cheeks.

alex otm, again

Yeah, but Bonnie would've foiled those terrorists right in the nick of time.

No, he's a senator. If Kerry is a "flip-flop," then 90% of the Senate is, as well.

try 99.99% of the human race! Consistency, hobgoblin, small minds, etc.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/09/23/MNGQK8TI8O1.DTL

NEWS ANALYSIS:
Flip-flopping charge unsupported by facts
Kerry always pushed global cooperation, war as last resort

Making flip-flopping an issue really makes me believe in the existence of a right-wing PR machine.

NYC is, sadly, not wildly indicative of how the rest of the USA thinks.

here's a sign (literally) of hope from this past tuesday. i was traveling on a SEPTA train deep out into the Main Line -- historically GOP territory in a bona-fide battleground state -- and in the seat next to me was a guy w/ a zillion "kerry/edwards" signs, buttons, and bumperstickers. before i got off at my stop (and after the train conductor made a joking comment about it being "a republican train"), i walked over to him and gave him a thumb's up and had a brief chat w/ him. he told me that he'd gotten some flack, but also a lot of POSITIVE reactions.

this gave me hope. we can win this thing, people!

"In an unofficial but very formal poll taken in my freshman writing class the other day, George Bush beat John Kerry by a vote of 13 to 2 (14 to 2, if you count me). My students were not voting on the candidates' ideas. They were voting on the skill (or lack of skill) displayed in the presentation of those ideas.

The basis for their judgments was a side-by-side display in this newspaper on Sept. 8 of excerpts from speeches each man gave the previous day. Put aside whatever preferences you might have for either candidate's positions, I instructed; just tell me who does a better job of articulating his positions, and why.

The analysis was devastating. President Bush, the students pointed out, begins with a perfect topic sentence - "Our strategy is succeeding"- that nicely sets up a first paragraph describing how conditions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia four years ago aided terrorists. This is followed by a paragraph explaining how the administration's policies have produced a turnaround in each country "because we acted." The paragraph's conclusion is concise, brisk and earned: "We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer."

It doesn't hurt that the names of the countries he lists all have the letter "a," as do the words "America" and "safer." He and his speechwriters deserve credit for using the accident of euphony to give the argument cohesiveness and force. There is of course no logical relationship between the repetition of a sound and the soundness of an argument, but if it is skillfully employed repetition can enhance a logical point or even give the illusion of one when none is present.

The students also found repetition in the Kerry speech, about the outsourcing of jobs, but, as many pointed out, when Mr. Kerry repeats the phrase "your tax dollars" it is because he has become lost in his own sentence and has to begin again.

When he finally extracts himself from that sentence, he makes two big mistakes in the next one: "That's bad enough, but you know there's something worse, don't you?" No, Senator Kerry, we don't know - because you haven't told us. He is asking people to respond to a point he hasn't yet made and, even worse, by saying "don't you?" he is implying they should know what this point is before he makes it. As a result, the audience is made to feel stupid.

And if that wasn't "bad enough,'' consider his next two sentences. Up until now Mr. Kerry's point (insofar as you could discern one) had been that current tax policies reward companies for moving their operations overseas. But he goes on to add, "it gets worse than that in terms of choices." The audience barely has time to wonder what and whose choices he's talking about before it is entirely disoriented by the declaration that "today the tax code actually does something that's right." Excuse us, but how can getting something "right" be "worse"? It turns out that there is an answer to that question later in the speech - Mr. Kerry says that while the tax code now rewards companies that export American products, Mr. Bush wants to eliminate that good incentive - but it comes far too late for an audience discombobulated by the sudden and unannounced change in the argument's direction.

Senator Kerry, my students observed with a mix of solemnity and glee, has violated two cardinal rules of exposition: don't presume your audience has information you haven't provided, and always pay attention to the expectations of your listeners. They also felt that when he concludes by declaring that "when I'm president of the United States, it'll take me about a nanosecond to ask the Congress to close that stupid loophole," he undercuts the dignity both of his message and of the office he aspires to by calling the loophole "stupid" (instead of "unconscionable" or "unprincipled" or even "criminal"). "Stupid," one student said, is not a "presidential kind of word."

So what? What does it matter if Mr. Kerry's words stumble and halt, while Mr. Bush's flow easily from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph? Well, listen to the composite judgments my students made on the Democratic challenger: "confused," "difficult to understand," "can't seem to make his point clearly," "I'm not sure what he's saying," and my favorite, "he's kind of 'skippy,' all over the place."

Now of course it could be the case that every student who voted against Mr. Kerry's speech in my little poll will vote for him in the general election. After all, what we're talking about here is merely a matter of style, not substance, right? And - this is a common refrain among Kerry supporters - doesn't Mr. Bush's directness and simplicity of presentation reflect a simplicity of mind and an incapacity for nuance, while Mr. Kerry's ideas are just too complicated for the rhythms of publicly accessible prose?

Sorry, but that's dead wrong. If you can't explain an idea or a policy plainly in one or two sentences, it's not yours; and if it's not yours, no one you speak to will be persuaded of it, or even know what it is, or (and this is the real point) know what you are. Words are not just the cosmetic clothing of some underlying integrity; they are the operational vehicles of that integrity, the visible manifestation of the character to which others respond. And if the words you use fall apart, ring hollow, trail off and sound as if they came from nowhere or anywhere (these are the same thing), the suspicion will grow that what they lack is what you lack, and no one will follow you.

Nervous Democrats who see their candidate slipping in the polls console themselves by saying, "Just wait, the debates are coming.'' As someone who will vote for John Kerry even though I voted against him in my class, that's just what I'm worried about.

Stanley Fish is dean emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Vicar, I will send you an e-mail.

"He's strong, he's determined, he's friendly and he's patriotic - we love him," she said of her dog.
"

I have read that about 10 times, and it just keeps giving. yay neighborhood news.

Once again, I tend to agree with the Vicar.

I want to turn Iraq into a Utopia, as a way of saying sorry.

You'd have to destroy the religion first.

Kevin: Your points are better than my pith.

btw the fish analysis of bush's style reminded me of an andrew o'hagan article in the LRB, calling cheney's style "one fact followed by six lies", eg. 'President Bush delivered the greatest tax reduction in a generation, and the results are clear to see. Businesses are creating jobs. People are returning to work. Mortgage rates are low, and home ownership in this country is at an all-time high. The Bush tax cuts are working.'. (full article here: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n18/ohag01_.html).

We know that they *can*, but it's not inevitable. And, equally, states can break down into tribal or tribalistic groups - see Yugoslavie ten years ago, or Iraq now.

canada thinks you're fucking crazy. we're hoping you get better, because we've really got nothing against you as people, but the longer this crap goes on, the less we can hold out hope.

sincerely,
your neighbours to the north

p.s. we'd vote for kerry 60% - 16%, according to the latest poll. if the sensible among you lose traction, there might be space for you in northern manitoba. we'll see what we can do in terms of settlement.

please send weed. we're gonna need it.

ok thx,
USA

p.s. is there cable in northern manitoba, or should we bring satellite dishes?

What Canada said

The UK

It really is time you fucked the fuck off.
GOP Mailing Warns Liberals Will Ban Bibles

Thanks.

Fuck off soon-
-Dave

The UK

Dear UK

You are black.

Signed, The Kettle.

I think I you left that grey cardigan at our house

Love and Hugs

Porl

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/27/1433241

Local Fox affiliate announces on the air that UA student voters are commiting voter fraud. Not just a scare tactic, an outright lie.

It gets worse. We broke hockey.

sorry,
U.S.A

A Big Increase of New Voters in Swing States
September 26, 2004
By FORD FESSENDEN
COLUMBUS, Ohio - A sweeping voter registration campaign in
heavily Democratic areas has added tens of thousands of new
he rolls in the swing states of Ohio and
Florida, a surge that has far exceeded the efforts of
Republicans in both states, a review of registration data
shows.

The analysis by The New York Times of county-by-county data
shows that in Democratic areas of Ohio - primarily
low-income and minority neighborhoods - new registrations
since January have risen 250 percent over the same period
in 2000. In comparison, new registrations have increased
just 25 percent in Republican areas. A similar pattern is
apparent in Florida: in the strongest Democratic areas, the
pace of new registration is 60 percent higher than in 2000,
while it has risen just 12 percent in the heaviest
Republican areas.

While comparable data could not be obtained for other swing
states, similar registration drives have been mounted in
them as well, and party officials on both sides say record
numbers of new voters are being registered nationwide. This
largely hidden but deadly earnest battle is widely believed
by campaign professionals and political scientists to be
potentially decisive in the presidential election.

[...]

re: breaking hockey. EAT MY FUC.

best wishes,
canada

Australia is not your 51st state.

Regards,
Australia

You are not the 51st state of the US.

Regards,
Everyone but Howard

re: softwood lumber. eat all of our fuc.

see you in hell,
canada

Dear Howard,

Get your nose out of that Bush.

re: wheat. eat some fuk bread. on us.

die,
canada

For fuck's sake stop talking. Just stop talking.

Regards,
Common Decency

Do not move to northern Manitoba. Do not be fooled by their attempts at hospitality, it is fucking cold there and they don't even have electricity and running water. Move to Burlington, it is a lovely city near Toronto and your commute to work will only be 1.5 hours each day.

in solidarity,

Concerned Citizens of Upper Canada

re: the arctic. shove our fuc up your ass.

fuc you,
canada

our problems aside, you really don't want to move to "borington".

you can still rot in hell tho,
canada

Filed under: Vitriol
To The Assholes At Easter Seals,

Thanks for once again ignoring my yearly letter of complaint entirely. I have written to your 'non-profit' organization for 10 years now without a single response to my well-organized attack on the meaningless pork-barrel shithole you call a chairty. Suffice it to say that I find it necessary to re-iterate my most salient points. I really only have the one point, so I'll give it to you, AGAIN, in the hopes that some semen-guzzling half-mammal at your little club gets wise to the shenanigans you try to pull off in the most blessed name of Easter.

EASTER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SEALS: I can't stress this enough. I don't know why you INSIST on linking the glorious resurrection of Christ with a murderous pack of artic hooliganimals. Everyone knows that seals are athiests at heart, cruel faithless scourges of the snow. I mean, when have you seen a seal lovingly paint an Easter egg in celebration of the renewal of life with Spring's coming? Or gently guide a child through the mysteries of the Lord's benevolent return? Never. I have only seen them smother their own children so that can get another bite off of the smoldering carcass of an innocent beluga they've zapped with their laser eyes. I bet you didn't know seals had laser eyes. I mean, I don't know why you would; I've only told you about it FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS.

Everyone knows you're using innocent terminally-ill children to funnel funds to the seals. I don't know what you plan to gain from this. Perhaps your brains are so fermented by socialist poppy-cock and reefer smoke you can't see that seals are, in fact, anathema to everything Easter stands for. But let me tell you this: if your blasphemy is allowed to continue, I shall be forced to write you another letter of complaint this time next year.

Yours in hate,
Mike Freeman

Dyson will be nicer once you arrive. Canadians really are nice people. You will have to convert to Canadianism, though. And don't be offended that we're shipping you out to Burlington, we do that with all the immigrants. You can't move to the city with your fancy greenbacks because I don't want my rent to go up any further.

Concerned Citizens of Upper Canada

i might be nicer if you become devout canadianismists, mend your wicked ways and move to alberta - where you belong.

dystantly yours,
dyson

What the fuck's going on in the world? I haven't gotten a letter for sixteen years now.

Pitcairn Island

PS - Send more ketchup; we're out!

Emai supplanted letters 16 years ago.

Best,
Everyone