In “The New Map,” Evan Derkacz notes that there’s No more Jesusland… …
“Dreaminonempty, who has more than just the map at left, writes:
I checked out Dreaminonempty‘s diary and Evan’s correct — there is a lot more good news. Among that news:
Survey USA lets you see all the data in all the subcategories, and the number of respondents identified as Republican (summed over 50 states) is decreasing since the first 50-state poll last May. It’s about a 5% decrease. Maybe they just won’t answer their phones anymore? Maybe – but the number of people identified as Conservative or Pro-Life is not decreasing. So maybe they just don’t call themselves Republican anymore. And if they don’t call themselves Republican, I’m guessing they’re not as interested in voting, donating, or volunteering Republican anymore. And that’s at least 5% good news.
Heck, even my aunt and uncle — who are staunch Hawks and Republicans — tell me that “we can’t STAND BUSH either!” (They already know that Darcy and I don’t like him.)
How are the politics in your extended families? Are you seeing any “softening” or outright switching of affiliations?
And, I just have to tell you one of my favorite family political stories. One of my brother’s five sons fell at school and hit his head. Concerned about head injury, my brother and his wife had him airlifted to a Seattle hospital. The neuro doc had to assess his mental state, so asked my 11-year-old nephew, “Who is the president of the United States?”
And my nephew replied, … BELOW THE FOLD:
“That IDIOT!”
Everyone knew then that he was just fine. And he was.
……………………………
P.S. Amy Goodman is on Hardball today with Chris Matthews. She’s becoming a regular on Hardball! It’s classy of Tweety to invite her so often!
yes they hate bush now
but they dont like any dems either…no one is really coming forward as a dem they would vote for for pres
if mccain runs they will happily vote for him at this point
Yup. If it’s John Kerry or someone like him, they’ll all vote Republican again … it won’t be Bush running, so whoever is the GOP candidate will look awfully good by comparison.
Do we have to invent a candidate?
How about that cowboy rancher Montana governor?
Howyabout… doing something novel like… standing up for a change…
Yup.
And your post instantly made me think of Amy Goodman’s show the other day when she featured the film about George McGovern’s run for the presidency and what a TRIUMPH that was for people opposed to the war … and that it was NOT a disgrace that he lost so badly … and all that …
Here’s a snippet from the entire piece and interview that alludes to the revelations about how the Bush administration has LIED to us about the Iraq war:
Yeah, first we must convince people he is really from Connecticut and likes the Red Sox.
Yep… so far the Dems strategerie is winning if the otherside implodes… which means anyone can step into their vacuum and win…alas McCain who is getting more vile by the minute.
…but if they don’t show up at the polls, that helps the Dems, too.
I don’t think the religious nuts will vote for McCain, and generally speaking I think the larger component of the (soon to be former) Bush regime’s base will vote for another person who’s really pretty stupid if for no other reason than voting for a smart type person will make them feel stupid again, just like they felt about themselves before Bush the imbecile came into their lives and, by his own ignorance, made them feel smart.
With this in mind, I think the “second dumbest person in DC”, (George Allen), may have a very good shot at the throne.
I’m gonna need a whole new Rand McNally.
Did you notice how we’ve got Idaho and Utah circled now?
We could unite and dump the rest of the riff-raff country! Those pink states too!
Oops … for all BooTribbers who are in pink and red places, we’ll take you in! Hell, we can even invade and surround your land, keeping you safe!
I live in Washington, I really do. I just do grad school in Idaho. FWIW, Moscow ID aint Rexburg* (sorry shirlstars).
*South Idaho is pretty damn red, although Boise does have one of the few openly gay state legislators around.
and Bush is going to need a whole new Man McDate.
I would appreciate that very much, Susan!
Nice folks from the country baptist church up at the corner used to stop by semi-regularly to ask if we wanted to join them. We always politely declined (not telling them what a pair of flaming agnostic gaia-worshipping socialist queerloving add-your-favorite-fundie-red-flag-adjectives we are). Several years ago they stopped coming by. I just know the local fundie network has us on a list for when the theocratic uprising starts.
I’m happy to see that my own New York is darkest blue but this seems to confirm the increasing number of disenfranchised Independent voters. It will still take a strong candidate to win.
this is necessarily good news.
He’s been trying to serve the corporate masters AND the Christofascist masters, and doing neither well. I’m seeing a switch away from Bush among conservatives based on the meme that he’s not a real conservative, and a fair number of Christofascisti are looking for someone even MORE of a mindless zealot. (That’s a brain-twister, ain’t it?)
As nice as it is to see der Shrubbenfuhrer’s numbers drop, he’s not losing the moderates, he’s losing both factions of the far right, and the fact that his numbers are dropping in part because he’s not sociopathic ENOUGH is worrisome.
In our local Indian American community (Los Angeles), there are a few Orange County Republicans, who always vote to put more money in their pockets, at the expense of the future of their children.
One particularly aggresive woman had claimed after the 2004 vote that she had read all the facts and figures and did not believe in them much. Her fear was that a Kerry presidency would drive this economy into a recession. She had completely forgotten that her husband’s new found wealth was under the Clinton presidency. We all gave her up as a lost cause.
Three months back she circulated a petition asking George Bush to lower gasoline prices. Hmmm…
Now she tells my wife that one thing she can agree on is that Bush has to go!!!!! Because? Because of high gas prices, and his pampering the far right. Probably there are other reasons also that she did not highlight. But this indicates that amongst those who have not lost their right brains completely, there is hope!
Fascinating post, Suvro, and I’m pleased to find you here …
It’s sad that such people only think of their own wallets first. We had the same problem here (Olympic Peninsula of Wash. state) on a proposition to save farmland that would add .5% excise tax to property purchases only (not taxes). And the real estate agents succeeded in frightening everyone into thinking it’d cost them property sales and lead to higher taxes.
That lady will always vote her wallet. And you know that she’ll vote for the Republican candidate in 2008. There’s no chance of winning her over …
but those “gray area” and “pink people” might be persuaded. If we could but find an outstanding candidate who could excite people.
It also indicates, regrettably, that personal selfishness is a principle factor in determining how people vote. And this is not always a good thing, as such motivation is easily exploited to divide the populace against itself. This was a huge part of the rubric the Bush regime used to catapult themselves into power, turning us against each other with such inventions as the culture wars, etc.
If selfishness guides our voting, we’ll always wind up with disasters to one degree or the other.
IMHO.
“Bush and the Republican Party”
don’t criticize bush – criticize the GOP and TIE BUSH TO THEM
Make 2006 a referendum ON BUSH and make EVERY member of the GOP defend their support for this man and his misadministration.
every one of them will have dozens, hundreds of quotes.
he’s drowing – the more of the GOP we can tie tightly to him the more he can drag down with him.
What we have to make clear is that all Bush has done is be the face of GOP Policy – it’s not Dubya America is turning on – it’s the failed policies he represents. If we can make that connection – we can change the political landscape.
I was in 3rd grade in 1976. So most of my life I have seen the GOP run against the Carter administration – the economy went to pot and we were “shamed” overseas. “We wouldn’t want to go back to that” has been the refrain – even to this day. (yeah it’s unfair and complex)
The current is far, far worse – and people are starting to see it – let’s make Bush Republican into that kind of shorthand for failure
my family is yellow dog democrat for at least four generations (that I know of), so I don’t have any news from the front to share.
Other than: glad the country is finally catching up with us.
I would say criticize the extremists who’ve hijacked the GOP and who’ve usurped the label “conservative” as a disguise for their own authoritarian agenda. By attaxcking the extremos, we help createa climate that would allow true conservative moderates in the GOP to speak out against their own party’s maniacs. If we tar the entire GOP with the same brush, we run the risk of uniting the GOP under the mantle ofparty unity. If we say, “We respect rational GOP moderates who are the true conservatives of the party and who, just like us, deplore the actions of this extremist Bush gang”, we look good and we get some of these GOP moderates to defy their corrupt and insane leadership.
Are there any Dems in our leadership who wouldimplement such a strategy? I won’t hold my breath.
This really makes me worried about 2006. The Democratic party seems obsessed with running to Bush’s right – Casey being just the most memorable example. They’re fixated on trumpeting their support for the President’s policies from the rooftops.
This seems to open the perfect path for the Republicans to not just recover, but counterattack: run against Bush.
The candidate with the clearest path to the presidency in either party right now is John McCain.
Democrats need to focus on 2006 as a party, because they have no identity except as imposed by Republicans.
Missouri is getting bluer and bluer – YEAH!
(Go Claire McCaskill!!!!!!)