http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=22959Charles Cutter: 'America's immoral majority'
Date: Friday, September 30 @ 10:05:30 EDT
Topic: Republicans
By Charles Cutter, Magic City Morning Star
Many pundits believe we are now seeing serious cracks in the Republican Party's monolithic control of our federal government. Many others feel this is simply wishful thinking; to them, an electorate that has accepted everything from Abu Ghraib and nonexistent WMDs in Iraq to the Patriot Act and tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy at home...well, let's just say that it's hard to gauge the public's threshold of tolerance. What will be the tipping point at which a vast majority of Americans refuse to endorse the policies of Bush & Co.? Does such a tipping point even exist?
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First, George W. Bush. FEMA's inept response to Hurricane Katrina provided a stark example of Mr. Bush's policy of preferring political patronage over crisis management skills, leading to a further drop in Mr. Bush's already falling approval ratings. Some were suggesting that this was the "tipping point," and the president's numbers were in free-fall. Not so, according to CNN (9/29/05): "President Bush's standing with the public improved over the previous week as he made a highly visible effort to manage the consequences of the second major hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast..." The CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll showed an increase for Mr. Bush from 40% to 45%. This improvement is being attributed to the fact that Mr. Bush put on more of a show for Hurricane Rita than he had for Katrina; and certainly he benefited from the fact that a much weaker hurricane hit a much less vulnerable area. Perhaps the poll simply reflects a sense of relief that gasoline prices did not spike to $4-5 a gallon.
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If these numbers are to be believed, Americans are not turning away from the war because it was illegal, because it was brought about through lies, because it has slaughtered tens of thousands of Americans and Iraqis. They are turning away from the war because it costs too much money.
Ultimately, we must conclude that Bush, Frist and DeLay will be safe if they keep one thing in mind. For too many Americans, it's not about morality, or values, or ethics.
It's the economy, stupid.
(c) Copyright 2005 by Magic City Morning Star
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