Utah Town Has Question About President: 'What's Not to Like?'

[kurth]

Bush Highly Revered in Utah
Support for the president continues to be nearly unanimous in the tiny town of Randolph.
By David Finkel, Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; A01

RANDOLPH, Utah -- ... Sooner or later, everyone stops by Gator's, which makes it the best place in Randolph, population about 480, to listen to people talk about their beloved president. In comes Debra McKinnon, 53, who says she nearly dropped dead nine months ago from heart failure and is working for one reason only: health insurance. She takes 12 pills a day, for which she pays several hundred dollars a month, which, without insurance, would be four times that. Is that Bush's fault, though? "No," McKinnon says. "It's a problem from the drug companies to the lawyers to the doctors to Congress, and it's not because Bush isn't a caring man. I think he's a very caring man. I think he's a decent, God-fearing person, and I hope we are, too."

In comes Blair Hurd, the high school shop teacher, who says: "This whole thing with domestic spying? I think there's a little bit of it that needs to go on. I do. And if he" -- meaning Bush -- "is listening to my calls? I'm not doing anything wrong. Why would I care? He'd be bored to death is what I think." In comes Charlene McLean, who runs a flower business out of her garage and says that the problems in America are due to a "gimme, gimme, gimme" attitude that is the fault of the Democrats and is turning the country cockeyed. "We can't do this because it offends the gays. We can't do that because it offends the atheists," she says. "Well what about the average American? What about the common person?"

In comes Lois McLean, Charlene's mother-in-law, who is 77 and works at Gator's part time because Social Security isn't quite enough to finance her modest life. "I think he's doing a good job," she says, her voice hoarse from having a tube pushed down her throat. That happened when she went to the dentist to have a tooth pulled and she suddenly stopped breathing, and then passed out. She woke up in the hospital emergency room, where, once she was stable, the dentist finished yanking out the tooth. Adapt to your circumstances, she says. That's what the dentist did, that's what Bush has done, and that's what she tries to do, too. "I myself have to make my life better," she says.

Bush's believers: One after another, in they come to say "It's not Bush's fault" and "He's trying to protect us," and on this goes until early evening, when what must be the entire population of Randolph gathers at the high school to cheer on the basketball teams...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/30/AR2006013001608.html

[Teaser]

1. What the fuck is this?

They find some podunk town where people don't hate Bush? whoopty-do!

[Cobalt Violet]

2. How stupid can people be?

:puke: A state of morons.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Jim Jones must be rolling in his grave.

These people have swallowed the kool-aid and pissed it on each other.

[Fox Mulder]

4. Remind me to never go to Randolph, Utah.

What is that town? A radiation dump site? Lead in the water?

Something weird is going on there...that's for sure. Something is making those people delusional.

[ComerPerro]

5. Its good to read about Bushbots who deserve what they get

77 year old woman in poor health who has to work part time because she can't afford retirement.

She deserves to work. Especially if she thinks Bush even remotely gives a shit about her.

[oasis]

6. Bush has created a heaven for these Kool-Aid swilling fossils. (eom)

[ComerPerro]

7. Well, for starters, I don't like

Liars. People who repeatedly drive drunk. Braggarts. Idiots. Arrogance. Hypocrisy.

I could go on and on...

[liberal N proud]

8. Did anyone check the water in Randolph?

[HughBeaumont]

9. Battered-Wife syndrome as it applies to real life.

Every Thomas Frank and George Lakoff book in the world couldn't build a bridge large enough to make me understand what the FUCK is wrong with these people. Seriously. This is just one town like many.

But a telling piece of the article is that the ones who support him the most and believe in all of these wedge issues that have shizNIT to do with governing a country are the ones who will most likely never encounter examples of these issues that they either fear and/or hate SO much.

[Mossadeq]

10. These people will reap what they sow.

I hope they all suffer.

[Trillo]

11. "domestic spying? I think there's a little bit of it that needs to go on."

I don't like paying for a private line, and getting what might as well be party line service.

[grateful581]

12. another story that shows the ignorance in my state

I love utah but the repukes are getting out of control here. This blind faith in president bush needs to stop. bush can strangle a baby and still have support in utah!
:wtf:

[mwb970]

13. It's a spectacular example of "groupthink".

They have all convinced themselves and each other of the wonderfulness of the fiction they have substituted for the real, and desperately failing, Bush.

They have constructed a wall of belief in something false that is so high, so wide, and so strong, it can't be knocked down. Not by anything. And especially not by facts or the truth, to which this town is evidently impervious.

If this were a group of people who were all convinced that, say, Ashlee Simpson is the greatest vocalist the world has ever known, we could just laugh, e-mail the article to a friend, and file it under "N" for "Nutjob" in the Twilight Zone. But these are people who think that Bush is a great president. These are the Bushbots we are always asking about: "What's wrong with them?"

Well, I don't know exactly what's wrong with them, but I do know that they are what's wrong with our country.

[stevedeshazer]

26. That's the exact term that came to my mind as well

Groupthink exists in liberal circles, too. This thread is a perfect example.

[standup]

14. This is a great illustration of how the 42% of Americans think -

not just in Randolph, Utah, but throughout the country.

[IdaBriggs]

21. Welcome to DU. Yup, people sure can be dumb. nt

[grateful581]

23. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[tenshi816]

15. Didn't Utah have the highest percentage

of Bush voters in the 2004 election?

This story doesn't surprise me. I lived in Salt Lake City for two years before moving to the UK and I never met a native Utahn who wasn't a rabid Republican. The only Dems I met came from out of state. I know there are Utahns who are Democrats, but they're few and far between and most of them probably post on DU!

Edited to say I just found the answer to my question in the article - yes, Utah gave * 71.5 percent of its vote, the highest of any state.

[ProfessorGAC]

16. There Must Be An Intellect Vacuum There

What's not to like? Practically everything!
The Professor

[Jackpine Radical]

17. I wonder what kind of drugs they're testing in that town's water supply.

[Ino]

18. It's the God factor

They can't believe someone with so much professed faith in God would actually be a godless liar. 95% of the comments supporting Bush at congress.org mention God. They have faith in Bush just like they do in their religion, and apply as much critical thinking to him as they do at church.

I've had some contractors trying to get my business who, if they see me wavering, throw out the comment, "We're a Christian company." I always get the impression they mean I can trust them. It makes me trust them LESS, but I'm sure many fall for it.

[kurth]

19. Yep, Christian-fish companies are great

A Christian-fish roofing company recently overcharged one of my neighbors by a large sum, and called her all kinds of names when she dared to complain. And a Christian-fish auto repair shop tried to rip off an acquaintance with a $600 brake job...

[tenshi816]

20. I've had experiences like that.

They get all hurt and offended when you call them on their bullshit, saying "but I'm a Christian" as if that excuses their dishonest behavior.

Real Christians don't feel the need to remind people of it every other breath; instead they live by example. Nowadays, whenever I encounter anyone who constantly has to tell me how pious and Christian he or she is, I immediately doubt the motivation behind it.

[kevinbgoode]

22. "God-fearing". . .yep

That's their code word for orgasmic religious pleasure.

[robbedvoter]

24. Randolph, Utah - Population 51 million - right?

That's who "elected" W, right? next time , we just need to win - beat Randolph, Utah....

[Rob H.]

25. The short answer: "Pretty much everything."

Bush's legacy will be one of failure, incompetence, and chicanery, and people like this will still think he's one of the greatest presidents we've ever had. :puke:

[Jack The Tab]

27. Reminds me of that line in "Blazing Saddles"...

Something like.. "These are good folk. Kind folk. Country folk.........you know........morons"

[kurth]

28. Yep, the common clay of the new West

Jim: You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.

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Reverend Johnson: Now I don't have to tell you good folks what's been happening in our beloved little town. Sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped. The time has come to act, and act fast. I'm leaving.

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Hedley Lamarr: Qualifications?
Applicant: Rape, murder, arson, and rape.
Hedley Lamarr: You said rape twice.
Applicant: I like rape.

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[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

29. Stupid M..Fers

I don't mean this about ANY DUers from Utah.

[opihimoimoi]

30. Its the Battered Voters Syndrome..

Minds are lost in that town. Stolen a long time ago...sad