13 Sep 2004
I just heard on the news this morning that war monger George W. has managed to duped the majority of citizens, by one poll at least, that the War on Terror is the greatest issue concerning the U.S.A. He appears to have put enough Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt in the minds of most American's to win his re-election. What a disgusting way to win an election. The politics of fear masking the real issues that effect all citizens of the United States, issues like health care, environment, economy, gun control. That's not to say I don't believe that we should overlook terrorist threats, but it just strikes me as odd that although he lauds the capture of Saddam Hussain, which all experts agree had nothing to do with 9/11, you barely hear him talk at all about Al Queda "President" Osama Bin Laden, who nearly everyone largely agrees was responsible for 9/11! Isn't that strange? Heck, good ol' George W. has actually got me a little scared too, even though I know what he's doing! I guess that's what scares me, it just feels as if he's responsible for creating more enemies than allies. |
(2004-09-13 11:20:04.0) Comments [12] // Permalink
Comments are closed for this entry.
| archives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| links | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Today's Page Hits: 109 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Maybe this site will help cheer you up a bit. Or maybe not. The longer term graphs are interesting too. The year 2000 results by counties are also quite interesting.
PS I'm technically British so I'm following this more out of curiosity...
Posted by Chris Rijk on September 13, 2004 at 11:48 AM PDT #
Posted by Sharij on September 13, 2004 at 12:41 PM PDT #
Posted by Anonymous on September 13, 2004 at 01:55 PM PDT #
It doesn't take any FUD by the Republicans to cause smart, well informed voters to at least question the wisdom of electing John Kerry. Does it pain you to even contemplate that possibility?
If the latest polls bear out and Bush wins re-election, it would do the Democratic Party strategists good to at least recognize that there are legitimate reasons to oppose their candidate and that reasonable people may find him lacking. If they spend 4 years nursing the idea that everyone who voted for Bush must have been 'duped' they'll find themselves on the short end of the stick for some time to come.
Posted by Anonymous on September 13, 2004 at 02:46 PM PDT #
Posted by Anonymous on September 13, 2004 at 02:54 PM PDT #
As far as the issue of the war on terror, I'll leave it to the New York Sun employees who fled 1 World Trade only to witness fellow New Yorkers willfully falling to their death rather than burning alive in 2 World Trade. Or the survivors of Phil Rosenzweig, the Sun manager who was on American Airlines flight 11 which was crashed into 2 World Trade.
The merits or lack thereof of invading Iraq belong to another day. If you don't consider Iraq a part of the larger war on terrorism, it does not change the very real threat of terrorism. The war on terrorism continues to be the most important issue facing most American citizens (according to a poll I saw last night on TV).
Those who believe the threat of terrorism is not real are very similar to the isolationists in the 1930s. They did not believe facism was a threat. They were wrong.
As for other issues, the economy is doing well. Unemployment is at a lower rate than when Bill Clinton was reelected in 1996. Crime is at its lowest level in thirty years. While health care is an issue, few voters (<10%) consider health care as the number one issue, and my guess is the environment is even lower.
Posted by Mark on September 13, 2004 at 03:08 PM PDT #
You don't really believe what you are saying, do you? The Republicans have such a poor track record on so many issues their only hope is to use FUD to distract the population. Its brilliant. George W. is much smarter than I had thought. Start a war, and they will re-elect you.
The voters were duped in 2000 when George Sr. and his buddies bought his son's election, and now the same thing is happening again. It's ok. I understand how you feel. If I realized I had been bought out I would have to make the same argument that you have, in order to feel good about myself.
BTW. I'm neither a Democrat nor Republican. Thank god, they are both f****d up.
Posted by Watt on September 13, 2004 at 03:10 PM PDT #
Mark, where do you get those figures? At least this graph of the Unemployment Rate shows the numbers about dead even for Clinton's 1996 re-election and what they are now. However, what you failed to mention is that the numbers under Clinton's second term only went down, down to around 4%. But for most of George W.'s presidency, they have gone up, up to a high of 6%
Posted by Watt on September 13, 2004 at 03:28 PM PDT #
Yes unemployment went up over the last 4 years. Remember, the bottom fell out of the economy in November, 2000. I remember John Marselle's America's Sales Managers conference call in early December, 2000, where he revealed Sun's orders basically stopped (but almost everybody in the sales force already had figured that out, except for those convinced customers were delaying purchases for UltraSPARC III systems). The bubble had burst, just like in 1929. I suggest reading the recent Business Week article on Sun. Ed Zander mentioned the same thing. In late 2000, he was talking with Cisco's John Chambers who said orders had dried up.
Sub 4% employment was not realistic or sustainable, it was an aberation. Look at the way Sun was hiring at that time.
So at the end of 1999 the country was entering a corporate capital spending recession. September 11th should have made that a depression. It would have anywhere else or any other time. What saved the U.S. economy (the only place where 6% unemployment brings the harbingers of doom, gee does anyone remember the late 1970s anymore?) was the large number of two income households, and very low interest rates. I mean really, if you brought anyone from the late 1970s into 2003 and told them it was bad they would think you were crazy. Especially with every kid now having a color TV and a Playstation 2 in their own room.
So somehow, you have to believe the bubble bursting at the end of 2000 was Bush's fault, and September 11th was Bush's fault, to believe the economic downturn was Bush's fault.
Perhaps it is easier to believe in conspiracies rather than business cycles. But not for me.
As for my numbers, I got them from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Standards web site. The 9% who believe health care is their #1 issue was from a recent poll I saw.
Oh, and the boom that led to the drop in unemployment in the mid 1990s was as much due to the innovation and hard work of employees in the IT sector as it was due to any politician. Bill Clinton had nothing to do with the Sun's E10K. Okay, Bill Clinton did encourage SGI to buy Cray (during his famous 1992 visit to silicon valley), which caused them to sell the E10K to Sun. So I will credit him with that. Thank's Bill.
Posted by Mark on September 13, 2004 at 05:38 PM PDT #
I stand corrected on the unemployement rate. It is currently slightly higher than 1996. However, it is very close. I still think the economy will not be an issue that will cause many people to vote against incumbents this year.
Posted by Mark on September 13, 2004 at 06:10 PM PDT #
Posted by Chris on September 13, 2004 at 09:24 PM PDT #
Posted by Unknown on September 15, 2004 at 05:34 PM PDT #