Taking the Pulse of Bush's America

[NVMojo]

This is what we are up against, folks.

July 24, 2005

President Bush has visited this city just once, but his imprint is everywhere. His impact is evident in Bill Langley's living room, where there's a shrine to the son who died in Iraq.

It's in the sagging public-housing projects whose redevelopment was recently delayed by the rejection of a $20 million federal grant request.

Money from his budget will soon be used to help clean up a stagnant pond at Gainesway Park so kids in a low-income neighborhood can get fishing lessons from senior citizens.

Police cruisers have new computers thanks to homeland security funds, but community development director Paula King has seen four years of "decreases in federal funding for social service programs ... and really stiff competition" for everything else.

Sometimes a president's legacy is not apparent until after he leaves the White House. However, Bush's presidency has been marked by dramatic events such as the Sept. 11 attacks and the 2001 recession and his aggressive responses: war with Iraq, deep tax cuts, new emphasis on homeland security. Here and across the nation, he has altered budget priorities, the way public schools are run and how people think about politics and religion.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-24-lexington-main_x.htm

[ironman202]

1. puke...how revolting...who wrote that rubbish?

[NVMojo]

3. I agree, it is rubbish but where I live in Nevada, we have many

towns just like this, including the one I live in that worship old Georgie-boy just like this. I posted this article because I think we Dems still need to understand how it is that poor people can hang onto every word this evil empire administration hangs onto ...

[rkc3]

10. You might be able to check their pulse - but don't look for a good EEG.

My guess is that for most it's flat-lining.

[Kolesar]

Read the whole article, please

David Baseheart, 61, owner of a small shop that sells horse gear, worries about criticizing a president whose openness about his faith has made him popular here. "They think it's un-American to say anything bad about Bush," he says. "Religion and politics have become too mixed, and that's not healthy."

...
As Keck talks, a steady stream of people come into the shop with stereos and jewelry to pawn.

"Things certainly haven't improved in the last four years," he says. "Inflation keeps moving but wages haven't. Times are tough."

[Stand and Fight]

2. Reading this part of the article makes me ill -- literally:

Sharon Purcell was drawn to Bush because of his blend of faith and politics.

"I look at his faith background and his values, and I feel he puts people's feelings first in any situation," says the bank supervisor, 47.

Because of him, she says, her future votes will always be based on candidates' morality and values.

David Baseheart, 61, owner of a small shop that sells horse gear, worries about criticizing a president whose openness about his faith has made him popular here. "They think it's un-American to say anything bad about Bush," he says. "Religion and politics have become too mixed, and that's not healthy."

How can people be so wrapped up in illusion? How come so much of America is blind to what this man and his party have done to America? The sad thing -- they don't even need to read the news or watch it to see the negative impact he has had. It breaks my heart that despite that fact he is seen as having a "positive" impact of any kind whatsoever...

God help us. America is has lost its way.

[Skittles]

13. disgusting

how anyone can see that liying, thieving piece of shit GWB and think morals, favth and values - dear LORD it is pathetic

[leveymg]

4. USA Today - America's Non-Newspaper. Comes in a TeeVee set.

Does anyone really read it? Can anyone who does read it, read?

[Mr.Green93]

5. This article is dreck

Lexington is a very Progressive city with an enlightened Liberal leadership. Mayor Teresa Issacs is a popular strong leader. From health care to mass transit to condemning the German owned water company, Lexington is in the Progressive vanguard.

[mojavekid]

6. O.K.!,

"They think it's un-American to say anything bad about Bush"

When I read a quote like that it makes me crazy, but then I have to step back and understand where it is coming from. I have to keep tings in perspective, my state and especially my neighborhood is a deep, deep Blue.

[youspeakmylanguage]

9. Your state is mostly dark, dark red...

...the blue cities help keep it's progressive head above water.

[UpInArms]

7. more from your link

David Baseheart, 61, owner of a small shop that sells horse gear, worries about criticizing a president whose openness about his faith has made him popular here. "They think it's un-American to say anything bad about Bush," he says. "Religion and politics have become too mixed, and that's not healthy."

College student Amanda McMullin, 28, has her own story about Bush's impact on her life. A senior who's majoring in political science at UK, she got a $1,000 federal Pell Grant last spring but was denied when she applied again. She had been counting on the money to pay for books. Budget-driven changes in the formula used to factor state and local taxes into students' need led to an increase in her household income that made her ineligible.

I am of the opinion that churches have been promoting this idiot and his policies in a way that should endanger their tax status.

The commonality of "church-going" and "*Co-supporting" is far too strong.

When/if these people put down the kool-aid, there definitely will be hell to pay.

[NVMojo]

8. Iraq: Dad of Marine killed in action supports war, Bush

(The Mods hate me.) Anyways, here's another article that ran with this one:

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Bill Langley knows better than most people how decisions made in Washington can change a family forever.

President Bush's decision to go to war with Iraq led to the death in November of Langley's son Sean, a Marine lance corporal who was 20 when he was killed in action.

Sean Langley enlisted four days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when he was just 17. He needed his parents' permission to sign up. Reluctantly, they gave it. "I begged him to wait," Bill Langley says. "But Sean had wanted to be a Marine for a very long time, since he was a little kid."

Sean's medals and memorabilia, including the flag that was draped on his coffin, are displayed in a cabinet in Langley's living room. He chokes up as he shows a visitor a photo of his son handing food to Iraqi kids.

more...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-24-lexington-iraq_x.htm

[WhiteTara]

12. I think that some of the parents of soldiers who have been killed

are unable to bear the thought that they died for nothing but a lie and so they keep telling themselves that it must be right because how could a president lie about something so important.

[Skittles]

14. I believe that too, BNL

it is too painful acknowledging the truth

[Kurovski]

11. We're mostly up against Corporate Media spin.

Here's the most telling part of the article:

Jack Keck, 58, a clerk at Dan's Discount Jewelry & Pawn, a pawn shop on Versailles Road, thinks his neighbors' feelings about Bush are complicated. A lanky Vietnam veteran who has a son in the Navy and another in the Army, he says people here "agree with Bush on social issues, perhaps — this is a pretty conservative place."

As Keck talks, a steady stream of people come into the shop with stereos and jewelry to pawn.

"Things certainly haven't improved in the last four years," he says. "Inflation keeps moving but wages haven't. Times are tough."

*snip*

"perhaps" indeed.

Did they seek out any folks who voted for Bush and now regret that? It's certainly news, in that it happens every day.