Election '04: a referendum on the intelligence or stupidity of america

[soggy]

The bush camp's philosophy the last few years has been "If you screw up, cover it up. If you get caught, make up any excuse you can as long as it can never be proven". Up until last week, it's worked like a charm. The explosive story comes out and the spin is "the stuff was gone before we got there, and you can't prove otherwise!" Well, their luck finally ran out... who knew there'd be a tape??? America waited for the bush campaign to somehow defend the indefensible, but from bc'04... silence. What could they do? Admit they were wrong? That would go against everything they stand for, and would be an obvious sign of weakness and incompetence this late in the game. You could just HEAR them scuttling around grasping at anything they could find to make it go away, but they'd finally managed to paint themselves into a corner...

Enter bin laden.

Once again, the terrorist extraordinaire had swooped in to try and save bush. His remarks were pretty ambiguous and not particularly noteworthy, but it was such a pathetically obvious attempt to influence our elections that the underlying message was crystal clear, at least to the great american pundit... "i HATE bush! Please, please, don't re-elect such a strong and resolute leader who'll stop at nothing (snarf) to bring me to justice! i can't hold out much longer, here in iraq!" the punditry was quick to translate for us all.

Is anyone else reminded of "brer rabbit"?

Explosive-gate? Gone. Shitty economy? Who cares. The last few days come down to Osama, terrorism, and who's better to lead the fight. Will americans remember the so-called extraordinary leadership of bush in the days after 9/11, and the promises to "do whatever it takes" to bring OBL to justice...

Or the admission 6 months later that he didn't lose much time thinking about OBL because he wasn't that important, followed by the subsequent excursion into Iraq? It's time, I think, for americans to take their global test, to find out just how intelligent we really are, and I have to admit being a little ashamed at the worry I feel that it will even be close.

[PSU84]

1. OMG - if this election is a referendum on

the intelligence or stupidity of America, god help us.

After 40+ years of observation, I can only conclude that the modal (most common) American is complacent, self-absorbed, and comfortable with his/her ignorance of politics, economics, and anything else that does not offer instant gratification. We are also increasingly sedentary, overweight, and living in worlds of our own where TV, games, and the internet are our daily reality. Sad.

[Deja Q]

2. Especially if * wins and doubly especially if * wins legitimately

I know people who think * is great. And, yes, they are clueless or haven't kept up with the actions of our leader.

And I wonder how the world will respond...

[RafterMan]

4. Thankfully

you'll never know how the world would respond to a Bush victory.

[AlinPA]

3. Agree. I like the Edward Abbey quote; he is from a town near here.

[PSU84]

5. Wow. I didn't know Ed Abbey was from PA.

Me too!