Sour Americans hungry for change as election approaches

[Yael]

I know that many here decry *any* support of our candidates from the (R) base -- but what if the (R) "base" is actually changing their ideals and redefining what is important to them? Some will go even farther right -- but others are starting to see things more the way that we do.

And I for one think that is a good thing. :)

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/19378.html

Snippets:

DES MOINES, Iowa — A year before they choose a new government for the post-Bush era, Americans are desperate to change the country's course.

According to opinion polls and interviews with political experts and voters, the U.S. population is more liberal than at any time in a generation, hungering to end the Iraq war, turn inward and use the federal government to solve problems at home.

Phillips once considered herself a proud Republican. Small-town. Anti-abortion. Pro-gun.

But she soured on Bush's landmark education overhaul, the No Child Left Behind Act. And she turned against the war — and Bush — with a passion that underscores how deeply the national unity that rose up after 9-11 has given way to cynicism.

"People don't trust anything coming out of Washington,'' she said. "When Bush says we're winning the war in Iraq, I say, 'Oh really?' The weapons of mass destruction weren't there. Why are we still there? We want our people to come home. There are so many things at home that need to be taken care of."

Her husband, Matt, works two jobs, one in a power plant in town, the other raising cattle on their farm. He's also a Republican, but is starting to question the war and wonder whether the country should turn its focus homeward.

"Maybe we shouldn't be there. Maybe we should get out,'' he said. "I would never vote for a Democrat, and certainly not for Hillary Clinton. ... But — and I hate to say it — but maybe a Democrat is more apt to get things done at home.''

As the cost of the war continues to rise, that's one big common refrain: Stop spending money in Iraq, and spend it at home. It's feeding a resurgence of support for liberal notions of using the federal government in ways that had been in decline for more than a decade.

"We need to fix things,'' said Mary Howell, an independent from the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale. "We need to fix health care. We can spend billions in Iraq. But we have people at home who need help.''

Even with a healthy economy — a new census report this week showed the poverty rate declining for the first time this decade — a lot of people feel squeezed by gas prices, health-care costs and college tuition.

[MadHound]

1. Even more interesting is that more and more people are turning away from the two party system

Especially on the left. They are tired of corporate controlled, crony capitalist, corrupt govenment and are looking for real change. This could be a real factor in '08, especially if Hillary gets the Democratic nod.

[Warpy]

2. That party has devolved into a racketeering organization

complete with money laundering, election fixing, and that's just what we know about. I don't care how reasonable they try to sound. I remember how Stupid sounded more like a Democrat than the DLC packaged Gore did in 2000. The one thing you can be sure of with that party is that they are liars and utterly corrupt.

That party will have to be kept out of power until they manage to clean house.

I don't care what they do or how they do it, it's their problem, not mine. I do know that anybody who falls for a new moderate tone is just as big a fool as anybody who fell for Stupid's "compassionate conservatism" without checking out his actual record.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Idiot dumbfuck Repugs at the end of the article are most concerned

about illegals and "winning" Iraq so the war wasn't all in vain. Hate to tell ya, assclown, but it WAS all in vain. Put that in your pipe and smoke it. And I'm sure illegal immigrants are REALLY dragging down rural Iowa's economy. These people have no perspective on what really causes problems--too much right-wing talk radio building their hysteria.

[Yael]

4. Those are the ones keeping *'s popularity numbers soaring into the 20s

Ignore them. They will never think clearly about this all -- the Koolaid has stained their brains.

I am more encouraged that there are some who are moving left. We don't need them all.

:hi:

[TwilightGardener]

5. I know, it's just that I know farmer-types like this in western Iowa and Nebraska, and

and I can just hear them echoing these chuckleheads' sentiments, and it drives me NUTS.