Modifying my assessment of the Bush core supporter.

[Inland]

I have previously said that Bush's core support is mostly religious conservatives who know full well that the man is a craven incompetent, see the war is a failure, can see the human suffering from Katrina, but still support Bush because they hope to see the social agenda pushed through a packed supreme court and republican national hegemony reversing abortion rights and gay rights and establishing a religiously oriented state, and moreover, will lie all day long about approving of Bush's policies in order to protect him.

However, I think there is another element of America that will never, ever admit Bush is anything but right every single time.

The people who would rather have an incompetent, deadly president who rips them off and sends their family and friends to die, than to admit that the peaceniks, gays, democrats, minorities, city folk and liberals have a point.

The people who are so alienated from America that they saw the best thing about Bush is that a) "those people" hated him to distraction and therefore just having Bush as president was huge fun and b) that being "for Bush" meant that you had an ideological and cultural basis for hating all "those people" for a reason other than their money, education, success, etc.

I think it comes out in Katrina responses. The backflipping to find reasons why they don't like the DPs, don't care and shouldn't care, and why Bush is the best-----so much hate. One post I saw said the hurricane refugees were "liberal welfare criminal democrats", and he had the sense to leave out "black", but it was all the same---he isn't going to give up his hate in order to let any of YOU people score a point against Bush.

[cssmall]

1. Know what you do if you hear that in real life?

Call them on it. Say, "wow, you said every other name for black person in the book, why don't you just say the insult, so I at least know off the bat you're a racist."

[displacedtexan]

4. That's what was so frustrating growing up in Texas...

in a yellow dog Democratic Party family.

It wasn't the blatant bigots that were the problem: you knew who they were, and there weren't very many of them.

It was the closet bigots, who hid behind their "Good Christian/ I Heart everyone" smiles, who were the scary bigots.

If you pissed them off (by being openly liberal), your job might be on the line.

[cssmall]

7. Been there done that.

Gotta love my little community.

[applegrove]

2. Once they "get a Bush supporter" then they work them till they

have no compassion for others.

[tex-wyo-dem]

3. Nail meet hammer...

"The people who would rather have an incompetent, deadly president who rips them off and sends their family and friends to die, than to admit that the peaceniks, gays, democrats, minorities, city folk and liberals have a point."

You are spot on about this. Core * and Rethug party supporters see this as us against them...like being a hardcore fan of a football team where you may not like all the players, but, by God, they're your team and they are fighting for you. Admitting that the other side might be right would be tantamount to treason in their mind.

This isn't about what's good for America anymore, it's about party and beating the other side no matter what it takes.

[Inland]

12. Post no. 6 agrees, and so do I. nt

[FightingIrish]

5. That has had me baffled too.

I think it's pretty obvious that a lot of Bush supporters are blissfully ignorant and wouldn't take the time to buy a brain if they went on sale at Wal-Mart. There are however some very bright people who have seem incapable of seeing what is so obvious to us. Maybe it's like Democrats overlooking Clinton's peccadillo's because he was brilliant and got things done. I just don't know what possible redeeming trait that Bush has that would allow anyone to overlook his obvious incompetence and the terrible price we are paying for it. Keith Olbermann compared it to being in alternate realities. If we can't solve this, I don't have a lot of hope for our future as one nation.

[Old and In the Way]

6. Political Identity as a Sports Fan metaphor.

Think of Republicans as Yankees and Democrats as Red Sox fans (editorial note :-0, OK, so I'm a Red Sox fan)...you get the idea. The identification with your team is more important than whether the team is cheating to win or totally incompetent. Sadly, we've become programmed to view our politics in that same frame.

That said, if the Democratic Party was in power with these people in charge...I'd have become a registered Republican a long time ago.

[liberal43110]

8. People have internalized politics as part of their identity

I think "identity" is critical. I think so many people have internalized the political game as part of their image of themselves.

Perhaps it's because so much of the Republican party is full of contradictions--party of small government, except regarding religion and sexual expression. The Republican party hasn't been able to stand on intellectual integrity, so it has focused on dirty tricks as a political strategy to get candidates elected.

[Iris]

10. you are right. I cringe when I hear people identify themselves

as "conservative" - oh, so proudly. Like they are saying, "I'M a good person because of this."

[Iris]

9. good analogy

[Inland]

11. I agree. Part of that is the MSM treatment of politics as horserace

athletic contest. The heartbreaks, the triumphs, the tactics.

I think it leads to the identification of team loyalty that passeth understanding.