Why is Bush so freakin' popular?

[Charlie Brown]

I mean really? Why was he picked over other more experienced and successful statesmen and public officials like McCain, Elizabeth Dole, Powell, or even Steve Forbes to control the White House? He comes across as an idiot and simpleton in virtually every speech. His worldview of us/them is so black and white and potentially catastrophic it keeps me awake at night.

What the hey kind of appeal does he have to all the wing-nuts?

[Emboldened Chimp]

1. He's not popular...not with an approval rating just under 50%...

[Midlodemocrat]

22. He has the lowest approval rating of any president

returning to a second term in history. He is not popular. He stole the election.

[hector459]

32. He isn't. You are swallowing the FOX News propaganda.

Bush is probably the most hated man in the world and in this country right now.

[OutsourceBush]

2. because he is the anti-Christ

they see what they want to see

[Lerkfish]

62. yup.

[rustydog]

3. winning the election with a 3% margin is NOT popular

[lancdem]

8. It was even less than that

Try 2.4 percent (not factoring in any fraud, of course.)

[McKenzie]

4. he speaks in monosyllabic grunts

and the r/w bamsticks can empathise with the lingo.

[AndyTiedye]

5. His Stupidity Appeals to the Wing-Nuts

Dumb All Over...
And a Little Ugly on the Side

(Frank Zappa)

[yurbud]

7. "He's stupid just like me!"

Hell, I could be president too...

[On Par]

6. It's Not Popularity....

...it's owning the voting results.

OP

[On Par]

10. I Saw The Best On January 20th....

A neighbor with a full size 20 ft. flag poll, had his American Flag flying at half-mast. That says it all.

OP

[Cha]

35. Cool!

:toast: to your neighbor!

[Kurovski]

9. He's not as popular as

the Media and Diebold seem to think he is.

[KittyWampus]

11. The Media Refuses To Show The Real Junior Although Sometimes

his real self slips out... and the media pretends nothing happened.

[Mountainman]

12. He is popular with only 1/2 the public.

I think that the wealthy like him because they think he will help them get wealthier.

I think the fundies like him because they think he will help them create their theocracy.

The rest are a bunch of ignorant souls who don't know what's good for them.

[Hardrada]

20. And then there are the undefinable people

who want a president they can feel superior to. They think probably that they could do what Shrub does better. (This might be true).

[WritersBlock]

13. You answered your own question, I think....

"Why was he picked over other more experienced and successful statesmen and public officials like McCain, Elizabeth Dole, Powell, or even Steve Forbes to control the White House?"

The key is in the word "control." Controlled, actually. Because the others wouldn't be, and he could be.

That's the only way I can make sense of such an obvious wanker of a choice.

[HockeyMom]

15. Fear

He plays on people's fears and he is the "only" one who can help them. Everything from fear of WMD's, no SS, gays, etc, etc. Hitler was a master at it too and * (or ROVE) is a page right out of that playbook.

[Longgrain]

14. He 's not popular that much. Rove just knows

how to press the wingnut's buttons to make the other guy seem unpopular...

[against all enemies]

16. Don't know about everyone else, but I like him because he's a uniter.

Not a divider.

[GRLMGC]

17. He's not THAT popular

50%. That's an F

[geniph]

18. Because propaganda works

and Rove studied Lee Atwater's evil manual very carefully.

[SmokingJacket]

19. He was chosen by the Repubs for his name.

That's it. People voted for him in 2000 because of a sense that they wanted to get back to the pre-Clinton days -- not that many people, either, but a few percentage points above all the other Republicans, who you'd have to be active about getting to know.

His connections to the Bush One regime didn't hurt, either, of course.

A cynical choice, IMHO.

At this point, his main selling point appears to be his LACK of personality. He's just a blank slate: you can impose anything you want on him. He doesn't come out with any quirks or demands.

[Johonny]

21. He's a good yes man

First off he wasn't picked over anyone really. The money men of the republican party basically annoited him savior before he ever even said he'd run. Then froze out almost every other canidate. The one person with the guts to run (McCain) they smeared without mercy. Why did they chose him? He comes off as an every man very well. He has no real interests in politics nor any real mission in public life. Also he enjoys the role as leader. Today he is still that man. A person with very little care of the power he holds nor any real mission to do anything. The perfect person if you ARE a person with an agenda and have a real vision of the future, but prefer to live behind the curtains.

[Sequoia]

23. He's con"troll"able and too dumb to know it.

[Melynn]

46. You got it.

Bush is just a front man for the big money interests.

It's the big money class which has put W.Bush in the position he is in. And it took a lot of work and money to make Bush president because he has no talent for the position.

Now that Bush doesn't have run for reelection, the big boys are going to get their big payoff.

[agincourt]

24. It's because,

he has good fulfilling sex with barnyard animals, and that's just all the rave now. People now think that makes a straight shooter. Get over it now, accept it , and quit being in denial.

[MrSlayer]

25. The Pukes didn't even want him. But he plays the hardest politics.

He clawed and murdered and character assassinated his way to the top. His crew plays the hardest of hardball and that's why they are where they are. They just run right over you using lies, deception and just plain meanness. No one steps up to the plate against them and so they always win. You have to outdirty them and no one seems willing to get in the hogslop with them to do it.

[rurallib]

26. He's not popular - the bigotry and arrogance

and psuedo religion he represents is. That's what scares me. I think a vast majority of people think he's a total schmuck but he can front their drive to 'change' the country. The endemic bigotry and hate that is rampant in this country scares me. Bush is just the face of it. He's just more palatable than the other fronts they could have had like Dicky or Newt etc.

[tnlefty]

36. I think greed should be added to your comments and they'd

be spot on. I'm not well off and sometimes we struggle, but we try to help others who have even less than we do. I've been absolutely stunned at comments made by my mother when it would be mentioned that we'd pay other kids' school fees, or band fees, or for materials for a school project. It's beyond saddening.

[sweetheart]

27. Why is he, interesting conundrum.

Perhaps its because he's a scumbag, and many american scumbags feel
left out by good hearted people, so as the majority of america is really
scumbags, they've screwed an election so that a real-scumbag is now
the president, killing as many people as he can given his short tenure.

He wants freedom for cockroaches and homeless people... none of this
"having a home" stuff.... freedom means having nothing left to lose.

[TomClash]

28. The American People are Stupid?

After all they don't want "the Gays" to get married, so they vote for a former male cheerleader at an all male prep school who became a cheerleader to be closer to the jocks.

Go figure.

[leesa]

29. He's no. The RW media tells us he is and most Americans, being followers

believe the lie. Americans believe whatever their teevees tell them.

[MeDeMax]

30. empty, but simple to understand, promises...

however misguided, many people like simple answers to what they hold dear.

However impossible to keep, he promises them that they'll get what they want if he is in the whitehouse. (p = promise)


o Christian right - want to limit/stop abortion, feel muslims are evil.

p "Protect all life including unborn", fighting "them" in their heartland (middleast).


o Vietnam vets & family members - they simply can't stand Kerry, feel his actions/positions in the past were traitor-ous.

p "I will not flip-flop like he does, I respect & honor out men & women in uniform"


o Soldiers on active duty and their near & dear - want family member to return home safetly, don't really care who is in charge.

p "I'll protect our soldiers, don't change horses midstream", hint: kerry didn't support our soldiers after he returned home from 'nam.


o security moms - feel reassured by tough talking cowboy after 9/11.

p America's is safe with me in charge, "Dead or alive" comments, willing to alienate everyone incl next door neighbors.


o Wealthy enthreprenuers, large corps - tax cuts, outsourcing, plunder environment, no negotiating drug prices, etc.

p he already kept all the promises he made to them, in the 1st term. if he hadn't they would have dropped him like a bad habit.


That's quite a few people supporting him. Rowe's calculation probably showed that you will alienate - homosexuals, pro-choicers and a few other demographics. Which was ok since enough people will take the bait.

And perhaps you can even rein in a few from the alienated by weakening Kerry's position on the things they hold dear.


-max.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

31. Think William Hung.... and then ask yourself that same

question again.... it's in to idolize what is usually not idolized... half of the country is getting spiked kool aid...


http://www.williamhung.net/

[spanone]

37. LOL America in a nutshell......

[ElsewheresDaughter]

57. LMAO...exactly!

[Cha]

33. He's not "popular" with my

crowd. They see him for what he is..a snotty little pretender that doesn't know shit from shinola.

[ScreamingMeemie]

34. $$$$$ Daddy's money bought him faux popularity.

n/t

[meow2u3]

38. Because he paid off the payola press

to repeat that Big Lie until idiots with no critical thinking skills believe that crap.

[teakee]

53. Didn't he once say, "I'm a media-made man!"

He is a bullsh!tter, tells people what they want to hear to get them hooked. We all know people like him, one that does squat at work but piles it on to the boss. "Always comes out smellin' like a rose" comes to mind, never mind how many people are swinging in the wind because of this person.

Bush is narcissistic. His supporters are his 'supply source' or enablers---take those away and he would look like a certain someone did coming out of a little hole in the ground. UNMASKED.

Karl and GW have to be the greatest manipulators of all time.

The problem with manipulating people, is you never know when they will turn on you.

[journalist3072]

39. Bush's 'Popularity'

I don't think Shrub is all that popular. I generally take polls with a grain of salt, but if the polls are to be believed, people are, at best, ambivilant about Bush.

And I also think there are a lot of people who voted for him, who may have buyer's regret now.

[Lexingtonian]

40. Easy- he lives their 'Lebensluege' and appeals to their vanity

He reflects the way they are, the fallacy or fallacies central in their own lives. Or, at least appeals to that.

People are grateful to the Leaders and Wise Men who affirm them in the them in the things they know to be wrongful but cling to emotionally, want to believe anyway, can't bear to hear declared wrong. It's disgusting, but it's the way human vanity and selfdelusion works.

He appeals to fallacious things like:
-inherent virtue and historical Messianic role of white American serfdom
-inherent depravity and historical White Man's Burden of all nonwhites and nonAmericans
-Anglo-Saxon American citizens are 'the real Americans', best looking, wisest, etc
-the Stars and Stripes represents 'freedom' and Pure Virtue and Messianic Hope
-'free market capitalism' works, 'socialism' doesn't (unless you're have a gov't contract)
-there is an infinite amount of America: take, sell, use, and destroy as you desire
-the United States has (or should have) rigid, hereditary, classes
-laws are for Other People to follow, especially if you Have Money
-It's Your Money/social contracts magically don't apply to wealth
-Other People should pay all the taxes: after all, you don't benefit from them
-the Government deserves to be cheated and is unbelievably inefficient
-'They' want to take away your guns, then prod your orifices with novel gadgets
-felons are Eternally Evil Demons unless they happen to be your drinking buddies
-provincialism is a Virtue, xenophobia a God-given entitlement
-'conservative' Christianity is the One, Biblical, Truth For All Time; Hell is for everyone else
-gay people have offensive kinds of sexual practices; straight people don't

This is only a sample of the whole range of medievalism that Americans don't admit to outright, but these kinds of things are easy to find and overt in really Republican parts.

[ultraist]

61. Nice list of "messages" within the Bush propaganda war

Play the Bush album backwards and all of those messages can be heard! People feel superior and powerful when they adhere to such dogma. It's a cultish type mindset.

The ANTI-Choice speech Bush gave today via telephone is riddled with such messages: women are inferior sluts, we need to regulate and control the morally inferior sinners, etc.

[Piperay]

41. Chimp is NOT popular...

he was picked by the insiders because he is a dolt and can be controlled by them.

[TrustingDog]

42. he isn't.

[Blecht]

43. He is popular

... with the people who gain from his rape of our country. You know, the ones with the money.

The only other people he is popular with are the fucking morons who eat up the propaganda spewed out by his bought media.

[SoCalDem]

44. He's NOT... He's so well choreographed, he just LOOKS popular

He speaks at "hand-picked" friendly venues.
He speaks only to "friendly reporters
The press is afraid to "dis" him too much or they get "shut-out"
FOX/MSRNC/CNN are corporate toadies who have orders from "high-up" to accentuate the positive. (They ALL have "business" in front of the republican-controlled house.senate/regulatory committees)
Polls are SHIT, and can "say" what the polltaker WANTS them to say.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

45. It's a deliberately created cult

peopled by a charming combination of macho-macho men, mad dog militarists, dumb and proud of it ignoramuses who have never been outside their own county, unrepentant greedheads, and brainwashed fundamentalists.

The rightwing media, especially talk radio, FOX news, and various fundie publications, reinforce this cult at every opportunity.

As a result, the followers exhibit cult-like behavior, speaking of their Great Leader in glowing terms, believing everything he says (even if it contradicts the last thing he said or makes no sense), and attacking anyone who dares to criticize him.

[mockingbich]

47. He's not popular

THe problem is Democrats have spent more time worrying about what the rest of the world thinks than what middle America thinks. He wins cuz conservatives think Democrats are sell-out traitors, not because they like Bush.

STOP harping on Abu Ghraib, and START at least pretending that there is a terrorist enemy. Say something nice about America once in awhile. GOdammit it's not that hard. Hell it worked for shrub and he's an idiot

[Lydia Leftcoast]

49. We do say nice things about America, BUT

would you have told anti-Hitler activists, "Stop harping on the concentration camps. Say something nice about Germany"?

I know it's hard for people to acknowledge that their country is doing wrong--I went through that process in my teens. But gee, you know, people have to grow up.

The Bushies are EVIL by every measures of civilized humanity. Pretending that they're not makes us look wimpy.

[SiouxJ]

58. Exactly! Jim Jones was popular too

among the people he brainwashed. The same thing has happened here. It is a calculated plan, implemented by the media- Faux News, rightwing radio, Sinclair etc. I've seen my own parents fall under the spell. Sadly they are now part of the Bush Cult - Koolaide drinkers who blindly follow him and can't see what's really happening.

[Tacos al Carbon]

48. May I suggest that you're asking in the wrong place?

Try a forum where 99% of posters don't actually loathe the man and you might get some legitimately interesting and revealing answers.

[MARALE]

50. I have been there

Still can't figure it out. Most of them do not know history and do not know what * even stands for and what he has done (positive or negative) for this country. Most people I know don't really like *, they were just swayed by the lies and fear on TV and the conservative news. Maybe you can enlighten us, since you seem to go to those places a lot.

[ultraist]

59. It's not W's popularity, it's a highly effective propaganda campaign

It's the brilliant propaganda campaign that the Republicans have been running for years that gets their people elected. Bush is just the front man who is seemingly a "good messenger" in that he appeals to "regular Americans" with his simple speak. He makes the masses comfortable in that they are not intimidated by his intelligence and believe that he does have strong convictions. His image was modeled after the "malboro man," the rugged cowboy American icon.

It worked for Reagan and it worked for Bush. The masses do not look beyond the propaganda and the stagecraft.

The Republicans have THE BEST marketing/advertising consultants and devote far more money to Repuke think tanks that craft the lingo and the devious presentations.

It doesn't matter if your product is superior, it WONT SELL if your marketing campaign is weak. (Remember the case study on "beta max"?)

[UdoKier]

51. He's as hated as he is popular.

REAGAN was popular. Even many liberals grudgingly liked the man.

Clinton was popular with center-right independents and moderate dems. And even liberals who hated his conservative policies liked the man.

Bush is loved by his right-wing freak zombies, and tolerated by some more centrist folks who voted for him out of fear of terrorism or disgust with the wishy-washy Kerry.

That is not my definition of popularity.

[Crankie Avalon]

52. He's not really that popular...

...his support is "deep" but not "wide." In other words, a small segment are fanatical about him and very vocal about it, but most people are ambivalent, at best, and even disapproving of him.

[sabra]

54. Name recognition...

and his pops money and friends doesn't hurt either...

[bamacrat]

55. He may be popular, but only with the ignorant.

In my PR class at BAMA the teacher (self proclaimed knower of *, condi, powell, and roy moore) asked us what party we affiliated ourselves with. then asked if we chose that because our parents said that was the way to be. only ONE repuke said yes. but on a campus overrun with "W The President" stickers on the back of an 18 yo girls, $65,000 BMW SUVs. but no they chose * cause he's against gays.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

56. sniff sniff

[KurtNYC]

60. He lost to McCain in Iowa and New Hampshire

Even the Right wasn't in love with the guy and many RWers still aren't.

[Stinky The Clown]

63. He is popular, actually, but in a weird way

I am with most of you. I simply can NOT understand how any senient being can find Chimpus Khan the least bit likeable. I truly doubt I would pass up root canal surgery to listen to him.

I've given the whle notion of his "popularity" some thought in my frequent "self sanity Checks". I've come up with three reasons why he appears to be so popular. This is pure conjecture, but it is how I see it.

1. He appeals to the dumbed down masses of Americans. These people are all over this great land, not just in the "Red States" (which are NOT actually red). These are the great unthinking (used to be called the great unwashed). They eschew anything intellectual and they are, sadly, the majority of our population. They're not stupid. They simply choose not to think, or at least not to think deeply. They're quite capable of knowing all there is to know about who got voted off the island and what the rushing record of each back on the Dallas Cowboys is, but they choose not to think beyond that. They like King Khan because they can relate to him. Black and white. Simple terms. Frequent malapropisms.

2. He is truly popular with what I'll call "the secret plotters". These are the people who are part of, or sympathetic to, the whole BFEE cabal that wants to use this country's wealth and might for their own personal benefit. These people are real and have real power. And why would he not be popular with them? He has the right name and he is as maleable as they could have ever wished for in their wildest dreams.

3. He is actually popular with the Republican "pit bulls". These are the ones with no real ideology, but a need to win at any cost. The ones for whom power is little more than a way to keep score. People like Rove. In many ways, he appeals to them as he does to group 2, above.

I am sure it is more complex than this, but that's my simplified version. I have nothing to back this up .... just my own musings.