I think by this point after all has been said and done most people have already made up their minds are firmly entrenched in it. It is just that it is so close that any little thing can effect just a few hundred votes and that could make or break the election.
If I had to guess, right now there has been enough told to give the majority of folks who like pistoff said are not all caught up in the news events reasons to doubt Bush. People know themselves that they are not better off now that they were before Bush. Bush has been in office long enough to where he can't get away with blaming Clinton for the economy and it is only so long that the people buy the line about how the economy is improving and is going to improve even more. It starts to sound like, "the checks in the mail" after so long. On the other hand Bush is attacking Kerry on some of his voting records which could make him vunerable if he don't explain them in a clear cut fashion in the few seconds that he has on TV verses the unlimited time Bush can have; but being careful not to dwell on them too long thereby giving life to a nonstory. Kerry has got to message out through other people on talk shows. The democrats have got to keep ploughing ahead and not focus on statergy or worry about what works and what don't work, but just keep talking about Bush while at the same time offer up alternatives to how Bush is handling things. Which again they have the problem of Bush having a good organization with lots of money and unlimited air time. But they can't let nothing stop them, even if they loose, they got to keep fighting and not worry about loosing.
Well, Fedral, an an agnostic, I must acknowledge that I do not know who will win the election in November.
But I will keep this thread in mind and post a comment or two after the election.
We'll see.
My hopes are that George ADubyaOL Bush loses in a landslide. My reason for those hopes are that I want to think the American public can see that he is one of the most incompetent men ever to hold the job.
But as I said -- we'll see!
I think it is irrelevant who wins in November and worse that people talk about only two candidates - is this all America has to offer? There is something else at work here and that is the national character - it has changed, not in the realm of politics, but through the public perception about the way we all see things. Notice people are only talking about who can win, well that's fine, but what do they stand for?
John Kerry talks at length about being the best candidate to win, who is he talking to, people still upset about the 2000 election, get over it already it happened. Moreover, is he talking to people that just want to win at any cost? Fringe liberals and Americans who just want things to be better but really do not know how do accomplish the task? I have not heard much about what John Kerry wants to do with this country, where is his vision besides winning and establishing affordable healthcare? Will democrats always say the same thing? Play on the same platform?
Leadership is a quality that resides in a few people in this world. It is not only the ability to stand up for what is right but to be able to take others with you and create a "better tomorrow". We can all look back and quote a Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, and Ronald Reagan when it comes to leadership and what it takes to guide a nation to a better place. And yes, we can all complain about things they did, but they were Presidential - they strove for something better and got us there when you look back on their administration.
President Bush lacks much of what is needed as a President, but I find it hard to believe he is the worst or most incompetent we have ever had. Bush understands perception and people when he is on a one-to-one level, but struggles when the pressure is on or an academic question is posed. The country has not fallen apart, as some would like to believe, and it is stronger than when he took office. He has helped America just as all presidents do, but he does have problems. This new support for a constitutional amendment on gay marriage could sink his campaign. It is never wise to hold tight to a certain view, especially one so controversial, in an election year because it can destroy a political career and benefit the competition even if that person never says anything about it.
I do not find much vision with Bush for his second term and I know it is still early in the campaign, but a President does not bow to anyone - he/she raises the heads of the people to look out far beyond their own minds and achieve the impossible - does John Kerry do this, does George Bush do this?
Are we to blame for the candidates offered? And, have we become so concerned with winning, then "tooting" our own "horns" that we have lost sight of something - lost the dream of America and what it still stands for whether we see it or not? Maybe, maybe not?
Just a thought I would like to share.
You seem very confident Bush will win Fedral. I saw an amazing news item here only yesterday about the wonderful Diebold electronic voting machines. They are wide open to attack aparantly (had to put that in for legal reasons) by anyone who knows what they are doing and has access to some sophisticated hardware, namely a modem. This guy demonstrated, first by swiping his personal id card through the machine, then touching the screen to register his vote. "How do I know its registered my vote?", the man asks. Long silence. "You don't really".
But all is not lost, aparantly the more sophisticated machines will give a little piece of paper with your vote on it, as a receipt. So if there's a query or a recount, people will be able to produce their bits of paper, and they can be counted. But they couldn't do that if they've lost it, or the dog ate it etc etc, so that means putting your receipt with your vote on it in a special collecting box at the polling station.
This is high tech stuff indeed. I hear the Diebold R&D department are working hard on developing a special ultra thin graphite rod, sheathed in (can you believe this) wood which can be used to mark things like papyrus. Or paper as it will soon be known. What will they think of next?
farmerman: sorry I was not very clear, I meant that it was very good of fedral to share (yuk what an ugly word) with us this other opinion.
from Trevor Bothwell of course
