Endorsements for Kerry
by Volker Weber
It looks like almost every major publication is endorsing Kerry as the next president. That does not mean however that there is nobody supporting Bush. The country seems to be equally divided. From what I read I get the impression that you have to be either extremely stupid or extremely wealthy if you support Bush. So, if you are a member of the Bush camp, I hope that you are extremely wealthy. ;-)
Comments
Well, almost every publication. The Chicago Tribune has always endorsed the Republican presidential candidate, and they made no exception this year. They are the largest paper in the US to endorse Bush.
The "flip flop" factor is interesting -- The Democrat has now won endorsements from at least 35 papers that went for Bush in 2000, while Bush has earned only two Gore papers. from Editor & Publisher.
Not being extremely wealthy, I guess I'll just consider myself extremely stupid, then, Volker. I'm guessing/predicting that my fellow extremely stupid countrymen (since most of us are NOT extremely rich) will assist me in re-electing George Bush.
"From what I read" - every get the idea that the stuff you're reading is off base, or would you rather just condemn a huge percentage of my countrymen to extreme stupidity?
Mission accomplished? ;-)
Actually, a "huge percentage" didn't vote for Bush in 2000. And, again cited from Editor & Publisher, it would be easy to argue that at least 42% of my countrymen in fact are extermely stupid, or at least ignorant. You would also think the people assisting you in re-electing Bush by making threats against the Editor of the Lone Star Iconoclast, Bush's hometown newspaper, are also either extremely stupid, or ignorant.
If you're condemning 40-50% of the country of extreme stupidity, that's a huge percentage. Somewhere in that range voted for Bush in 2000, and somewhere in that range voted for Gore. If you really believe that approximately 50% of the US is full of extremely stupid people, you need to re-evaluate your position on humanity or maybe consider antidepressants. :)
With regards to the post about the editor of the Lone Star Iconoclast - you know as well as I that there are sick people that come from all walks of life. If you want to go out and find anything to prove your point on the Internet, you can find it and post it here. Go through life looking for shit, and you'll find it. Congratulations.
And Volker, if were foreign to the US, it may be that all I was worried about is US foreign policy.
I'm fully willing to admit that Bush made mistakes, and one of those could be that we shouldn't have invaded Iraq. However, that does not mean that I would vote for John Kerry.
Jon, did you read the report vowe linked to at comment #3 - "mission accomplished"? That's a real eye-opener for me. The mind adjusts the truth to fit the perception of reality. Fascinating.
Ed, Jon does not need to read it. He knows the truth. ;-)
Call my cynical, but yeah, I think that about half of Americans are fairly stupid. "The herd" is led by the 30 second soundbite and has extreme difficulty coming up with an original thought on their own. The herd is easily led, easily swayed, and is completely complacent - and the way the candidates, BOTH of them, structure their campaigns to fit into the amazingly short attention spans of the herd does nothing but support my view.
And, unlike you Jon, I cannot forgive this administration for putting our country into an unjustified, unilateral, unwinnable conflict. That you can so easily dismiss it is very, very disturbing.
Jon, please don't tell your grandchildren in 40 years time "I didn't know what was going on", like my grandmother has said to me, when talking about the Nazi lies. She could have known then. You know now.
Ed, yes, I read it. You should be fascinated by it, you're in marketing. Same stuff, isn't it, just with a political slant? - the making of a product, I mean, not the reporting. What's the difference between "branding" a president and branding Lotus Notes?
I don't find Volker's post at all that shocking. You have a media that is so clearly biased that those on the right are becoming more entrenched in their position. The left think it's biased to the right, and vice versa. Amazing how that works. Reality is, it's biased towards reporting whatever sells, and that's mostly bad news, or whatever can stir the pot, and get everyone riled up and that's true everywhere throughout the world. The media has trotted out tons of left wing and right wing pundits in order to sell more airtime.
Unfortunately, this has lead to more entrenchment. You have a Michael Moore movie presented as a 'documentary' (fact) when it is clearly not. You have CBS putting out documents that were falsified regarding Bush's military record. Any credibility CBS had is gone with Bush supporters. If you can't trust them on that report, why would you trust them on anything else?
Ed - does anyone really trust the reports that Microsoft puts out other than Microsoft supporters? No. Why do they believe them? Because they want to. When people on the left watch Michael Moore's movie, do they believe that stuff because they want to, or because it's the truth? What about Al Franken, Molly Ivins? What about Bill O' Reilly? Ann Coulter? All of these people do the same thing - they show a single side of an issue and discount everything else.
I don't believe people are generally stupid. People have stopped listening to each other because the level if discourse is directed at the lowest common denominator. Is it any wonder that people have stopped listening to the "truth"? Whose truth is it?
Bottom line for me is not that I like George W Bush. It's that I don't care for John Kerry. As bad as Bush has been, and as many mistakes as he's made, I do believe that John Kerry is an even worse choice. I think he's even a worse choice for the world. The world has an interest in having a stable Iraq. I don't believe that John Kerry can stabilize Iraq because I believe he's too much of a placator and that is not what is needed right now. If you think I'm stupid because that's my position, then go ahead and think I'm stupid.
World opinion - can someone please tell me why world opinion of the US is important? Volker, maybe you because it's your site, instead of posting links to other sites, maybe elaborate on your own opinion as to why I should care, as a US citizen, what Germans think of my country? Seriously. It's an open-ended question to which I would appreciate some alternative opinions.
Jon, my opinion does not count. Just look at the facts.
Hi Jon, just a couple of opinions... conservatives don't trust bureacrats with running the public school down the street, why do they insist they can go to a volatile foreign country and "fix" it?
Aggressive US action is just creating more "freedom fighters" aka suicide bombers and terrorists. I have no idea how middle eastern countries are reporting/spinning the news, I can imagine not all is complimentary to the US. The vast majority of Muslims are moderate, I think this is fertile ground for a percentage of them to turn violent.
Jon -
World opinion matters because if the world becomes sufficiently displeased with the United States, we can expect to be attacked more frequently, not less. Clearly, the quagmire in Iraq has already invited those who wish to wage jihad and die as martyrs to "bring it on" and come after American troops. That's Iraq. When Bush decides to go after ____ in his second term, then who will want to join in the fight against us?
World opinion matters because people will shun "made in the USA" labels all over the world. Our economy will suffer.
World opinion matters because those that control the oil will raise prices to inflict economic damage on the US in a way that we can't escape.
World opinion matters because most successful American companies are really multi-national these days. There's a reason the bombs in Indonesia have targetted "American" hotel chains, right?
I never said you were stupid. I suggest, though, that being jingoistic is not the way to keep America great.
oh, and as for the report vowe links to - and your comparison to MS - I don't think it's all that easy to bias a random survey to one side or another... hence the reason that truly random polls tend to be generally accepted in the US media -- left or right.
Ed - good points on world opinion. You're right, you didn't call me stupid, it was implied by Volker.
Volker - there are very few "facts". There are left-wing facts, and right-wing facts. That's the problem. When something comes along that might actually be impartial, it's hard not to dismiss.
Tony - Forget the news in the Middle East, the news in the US isn't very complimentary about anyone or anything.
You are correct about creating more terrorists. We perhaps are. However, I don't believe that the extremist/terrorist problem will be solved until the moderate Muslims begin to reclaim their religion, and I don't think that'll happen by itself.
Even though I plan to vote for Kerry, I agree that we are a profoundly stupid nation. I'm surprised most of my countrymen have enough of a brain stem to feed themselves.
Jon, I also don't agree with the stupid comment, but I do think the public is too trusting. They trust that elected politicians (esp at the presidential level) are doing their best to serve the people.
Honestly, most of us are too busy working, getting the kids ready for school, working on the house etc to seek out in-depth objective information about where they stand and how they handle all the issues.
For what it is worth - I think that this election is killing consumer confidence. Say what you will, I think that the economy is taking a beating because of the negative campaigns. And as the US economy goes, so does the rest of the world's. This isn't good for any of us. I certainly don't know what the answer is (or even if there is one), but I think all of the negative ads and the divisions are really dragging confidence down. And no good comes from that.
To Tony's post: It takes a lot of work to find out where any one candidate stands, a lot of effort. Democracy is hard. I think that most people care more about how the Red Sox, Patriots, or Lakers are doing than what is happening in Washington (because it is easier). Correct me if I am wrong, but whether or not any of those teams win have absolutely no bearing on my family, schools, or salary. Yet what happens in Washington affects me almost every day (as does Columbus, the capital of Ohio). We all need to work harder at this, keep all of those yahoo's as honest as we can. The internet has certainly helped, but you have to filter it, too. Sites like factcheck.org or usavoter.info are great starts.
