Mad World
Last night, I was talking to my dad (a good old ’60s liberal) about the presidential elections and was foaming at the mouth about all of the unbelievable disasters Bush and Co. have created for this country and the world. After patiently listening to me rant for far too long, he finally cut me off by assuring me that he didn’t need convincing that Dubya’s got to go in November. So, I told him that I felt like I’m the crazy one – how can so many of my fellow citizens believe that Dubya’s done a good job and has their best interests at heart?
It defies all logic and common sense that Bush is even in the running for president with his record over the last four years (the biggest security failure in the history of the US leading to the deaths of 3,000 civilians; legalized torture of suspected enemies of the state; the suspension of due process/civil rights for American citizens; 5,000 arrests of suspected terrorists, but ZERO convictions; the creation of the largest deficit in the history of the United States; shifting the tax burden to the lower and middle class, while enriching the super rich; corporate welfare and deregulation on a scale never before seen; huge increases in poverty and unemployment; the outright dismantling of many of the New Deal and Great Society programs that comprise our tattered social safety net; tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead and wounded in a war based on lies, disinformation, and more lies, with no reasonable end in sight – no WMDs, no connection whatsoever to bin Laden; systemic replacement of non-partisan civil servants with right-wing evangelical ideologues throughout every federal agency; packing the federal judiciary with ultra-conservative judges who tend to impose their worldview on the law; pouring federal funds into dubious "abstinence only" programs, while unwanted pregnancies and abortion rates rise; favoring ideology over science at the FDA and CDC; the complete gutting of EPA regulations, etc., etc., etc.).
Apparently, my answer lies in a new survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and Knowledge Networks, which reveals an astounding level of ignorance/denial among Bush supporters regarding his actual policies and their results. (It turns out they mistakenly think Bush is for policies that Kerry actually supports, and are clinging to beliefs – like the Duelfer Report found WMDs in Iraq – that have been widely and thoroughly debunked!) Here’s some analysis from the PIPA survey:
It defies all logic and common sense that Bush is even in the running for president with his record over the last four years (the biggest security failure in the history of the US leading to the deaths of 3,000 civilians; legalized torture of suspected enemies of the state; the suspension of due process/civil rights for American citizens; 5,000 arrests of suspected terrorists, but ZERO convictions; the creation of the largest deficit in the history of the United States; shifting the tax burden to the lower and middle class, while enriching the super rich; corporate welfare and deregulation on a scale never before seen; huge increases in poverty and unemployment; the outright dismantling of many of the New Deal and Great Society programs that comprise our tattered social safety net; tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians dead and wounded in a war based on lies, disinformation, and more lies, with no reasonable end in sight – no WMDs, no connection whatsoever to bin Laden; systemic replacement of non-partisan civil servants with right-wing evangelical ideologues throughout every federal agency; packing the federal judiciary with ultra-conservative judges who tend to impose their worldview on the law; pouring federal funds into dubious "abstinence only" programs, while unwanted pregnancies and abortion rates rise; favoring ideology over science at the FDA and CDC; the complete gutting of EPA regulations, etc., etc., etc.).
Apparently, my answer lies in a new survey by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and Knowledge Networks, which reveals an astounding level of ignorance/denial among Bush supporters regarding his actual policies and their results. (It turns out they mistakenly think Bush is for policies that Kerry actually supports, and are clinging to beliefs – like the Duelfer Report found WMDs in Iraq – that have been widely and thoroughly debunked!) Here’s some analysis from the PIPA survey:
“The roots of the Bush supporters' resistance to information very likely lie in the traumatic experience of 9/11 and equally in the near pitch-perfect leadership that President Bush showed in its immediate wake. This appears to have created a powerful bond between Bush and his supporters – and an idealized image of the President that makes it difficult for his supporters to imagine that he could have made incorrect judgments before the war, that world public opinion would be critical of his policies or that the president could hold foreign policy positions that are at odds with his supporters.”I love my country and all…but, man, there are a lot of dumb, gullible Americans out there.
posted by Steve from Moon | 7:16 AM
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