Anybody talk to Bush voters who are starting to get "buyer's regret?"

[PlanetBev]

I know it's a little early yet, but there has been so much talk as of late with the Christian Right bragging about what Bush is going to do for them, I wonder if it's giving some of these "swing" or "Democrats for Bush" voters the jitters.

[goddess40]

1. Those that I know that voted for the dipwad would never admit it

I don't know what he has to do before they pull their heads out of their you know what and get it.

[MrSlayer]

2. No, they are oblivious to the facts.

I told a few people about the Mental Health screenings, the lowering of ethical standards and the omnibus bill and they tell me I'm being paranoid and the "Government would never do that" even though these things are already passed. 90% of the population simply doesn't follow politics or government and know almost nothing about it.

[SemperEadem]

49. if their pastors don't mention it or give focus to the reality

then it's not a reality. They're not going to read anything for themselves.. they'll let their pastors make the decision for them, which absolves them of their responsibility to themselves... that way, they can blame their negative plight on everyone, everything but the person in their mirror.

[blondeatlast]

68. If you believe that it's all that simple, we are doomed as

a movement.

[SemperEadem]

91. go sit in a fundamentalist church tomorrow

and then let us know what you've deduced on this issue.

[Ms_Mary]

51. I agree. Many don't actually follow what's going on. nt

[catzies]

3. Yup. One of my best friends while sharing a 12-pack a week afterwards.

I told him, "I don't want to hear it. "

He said, "I don't like what I'm seeing." I told him, "Get used to it."

He said, "I'm not sure if Bush is as good a man as I thought he was." I told him, "You fell for the marketing. You bought what they were selling you. You deserve what you got."

[PlanetBev]

4. I like what you said to your friend, Catzies

These nimrods that bought into Bush's bullshit need to be reminded of it everyday, with no mercy shown.

[catzies]

9. Exactly. I plan to say it once for every time I was told to "Get over it."

My friend: "Bush did {fill in the blank}!"

Me: "Get used to it."

[Stand and Fight]

15. That's a great retort.

If some Republicans bitches to me, I'm going to use your tactic!
"Get used to it" is so indicative of their arrogance and stupidity on election day.

[tx_dem41]

16. Yes, I believe alienating potential Dem voters is the way to go.

:eyes:

[otohara]

24. Oh Please

since when did the truth become taboo?

[tavalon]

63. When politics

became big business.

[southpaw]

27. Alienating?

Possibly. But at this point, I don't really giva schitt!

I will be smug about how they were duped by this monkey and I wasn't! When the Bush 2nd term shit-rain is in full effect, I will tell them they are getting exactly what they asked for! This is the price you pay for being an easliy misled fucking idiot!

The thing that will make Democratic voters out of them will have to be the suffering they will endure at the hands of the republican administration they helped elect! I will not extend the hand of pity to the terminally stupid!

</rant>

[tx_dem41]

37. And you will not help us win in 2006 and 2008.

People aren't going to be persuaded by people who call thim "fucking idiots" and "terminally stupid".

[southpaw]

41. I live in Alabama...

What am I gonna do, make it be MORE red.

The only upside of living in a hopeless bubba-publican cesspool is that you don't have to worry about turning too many folks off to the progressive message. I can rail with impunity about the worthless piece of shit that is G.W. Bush and not make my state significanly worse than it already is.

[tx_dem41]

43. Well, I'm in Dallas, so I understand what you mean. n/t

[southpaw]

44. Actually...

I plan to vent my frustration for a little while, but my long term plan is to seek a means of reaching the conservatives that surround me with a message of love, peace and acceptance. Try to live the values of the Democratic/Progressive/Liberal philosophy.

Unfortunately, I don't suffer fools well, and willful ignorance makes me mad enough to bite a 2x4 in half. I'll have a long row to hoe.


Peace!

[madmark]

48. Suffering

The middle class and lower classes will suffer a great deal over the next four years (and long thereafter because of irreparable, systemic harm occurring to these groups now) in part due to Bush Admin policy. The people in those classes that voted for Bush will deserve this pain. How one wants to spin this I'll leave to others, but as for myself I have been released of the burden of empathy for 60 million of my countrymen. While I think it is in the long term economic interest of the wealthy and upper middle class of this country to to have a strong middle class and working class (that's why I supported Kerry), if 60 million middle class and lower class people don't want that, what can you do. I will be alright either way, and these 60 million can just suffer and contemplate their pain. As for the other 57 million, you don't deserve your fate but at least you can have the satisfaction of not having signed up for your own destruction.

[tavalon]

64. Welcome to DU

[SammyWinstonJack]

81. I can't eat my "satisfaction" , it won't clothe me nor put a roof over my

head. It is of little comfort to me. :cry:

[depakid]

97. Amen

Not only do they richly deserve what's coming to them, but I expect that more than a few will be hard pressed to get any sympathy from the likes of us. There are a number on my list who I've resolved not to lift a finger to help or lend much of a shoulder to cry on.

Tough love is what they prescribe- so let 'em dose up on some of their own medicine.

Welcome to DU btw. Sorry your 1st post had to echo those sentiments....

[trayfoot]

54. And you'll have to draw them a picture.......................

"The thing that will make Democratic voters out of them will have to be the suffering they will endure at the hands of the republican administration they helped elect! I will not extend the hand of pity to the terminally stupid!"

And you will have to draw them a frickin' picture to show them how they have been hurt! Even then, they will probably NOT believe you - or will rationalize the horror away.

[hatrack]

33. People who didn't like the way Kerry "looked"? People who watch Fox?

No, no, no, we must not do anything that might offend anyone, even the mouth-breathing part-time small-engine repairman from Minot or the schoolbus-driving militia member from Tulsa by pointing out that they could have paid attention, but didn't!

Yeah, right.

There are tens of millions of people out there who need to be good and clubbed with a rhetorical 2X4 and have their noses rubbed in the stupidity of their own actions. And if the small-engine repairman and the schoolbus driver get "alienated", big whoop.

[tx_dem41]

38. You can surely point out they should have paid attention....

...but if you want to be effective, give them a better reason to vote for our side. No one will vote for someone who humiliates them.

[KitSileya]

61. Don't you do that with dogs?

Rub their noses in their accidents inside to teach them not to do it anymore? Well, as you, I sincerely doubt that treating them nicely and with understanding will make them realize they just made a mess on the carpet. Stronger measures must be used.

And as for "alienating potential dem voters" - ::snort:: The way I read this, it's more of the 'become Republican-lite to try to lure those Repubs to vote for us' - which will not only fail, but will destroy us in the process, because abandoning our principles is not the way, darnit! And if I read it wrong, it's still not the answer, because we should not, as the Norwegian proverb puts it, put pillows under their arms in order to ease their pain of everyday life. That's appeasement.

[FlaGranny]

80. No, you DON'T do that with dogs,

Dogs want to please and they don't need punishment. They only need to be shown the right way and be praised when they make correct choices.

That's not to say that the ignorance of voters can be treated the same way - in some ways dogs are a lot smarter than some people.

[KitSileya]

86. Glad to get that corrected - even tho' Iæll never get a dog myself.

I'm too afraid of them (dog biting incident in my childhood) and besides, my brother is violently allergic.

As for dogs versus voters, we've tried the praising method on the voters. When people voted for Clinton, they got prosperity. When they voted for Bush, they got terrorist attacks, wars, and an economy going down the toilet. I say, they need to be tossed into the mess of their own making, and left to wallow there for a while. After that, we can help them clean up, and praise them as they don't make the same mess over again

[catzies]

36. My friends isn't a Democrat to begin with. I appealed to reason

and he responded with emotion.

A great deal of our identities are wrapped up in our belief systems, including our political and partisan leanings. Repugs aren't any different in that way.

Some of these people just can't bring themselves to vote for the other party's candidate, because they mistakenly feel it would compromise who they are in a way. I don't get it, but I think I understand where they're coming from, even if I don't agree.

[tx_dem41]

39. I'm not quite certain I would call

saying "You deserved what you got" as appealing to reason.

Appealing to reason would have been pointing out issues that he probably didn't know about it and convincing him that he should learn about them.

[catzies]

40. No, I meant in our many discussions before the election.

n/t

[tx_dem41]

42. Okay...well unfortunately it does take bad experiences for ....

.... some people to learn. I just don't know if browbeating them about their poor judgement is the best remedy. To me its snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

[catzies]

45. He's a lifelong Repug...no chance of converting...wasn't the point

...n/t...

[SemperEadem]

50. then tell us... what is your fool-proof method of winning them over?

[tx_dem41]

78. Get them involved...

Get them to read newspapers, magazines, books. Get them away from talk radio and/or cable news as their primary source of information.

[SemperEadem]

90. how do you 'get them' to do what they already don't want to do?

force them? Chain them to a chair and make them read aloud then quiz them afterwards? If they wanted to open their minds up, they'd have done it willingly by now.

Define "get them" for us all, please.

[XemaSab]

57. You should read

"Don't think of an elephant" by Lakoff.

8 bucks, 130 pages, very easy read, really really interesting analysis.

[TexasChick]

52. Amen!!!! My answer would be "Hey, you made your bed, now you lie

in it! You knew exactly what this administration has done in the last 4 years. You had a chance to change the course of this nation, but no, you just had to vote for that Chimp! I don't want to hear it!"


Anytime someone comes up to me bitching about policies and crap, I'm going to ask them who they voted for. If it's Kerry, I'll tell them that they have my sympathies, but if it's the Chimp, I'm just gonna tell them the same thing I posted above! It's about time people started suffering like we Dems have for the last 4 years! Let all hell break loose. We tried, Dems, and none of this is our fault! They can't blame this crap on Clinton any more!

[Lone_Star_Dem]

5. One lady at the school was complaining about how he cut College Grants

She was going on and on about how it hurts our children and what was he thinking. I asked her if she voted for him, she replied, yes. I looked her in the eye and asked if she was having second thoughts yet. She didn't answer but gave me the worst look. Brrrr.. I then told her I sure didn't and I knew he was going to do this before hand. Just to rub salt in the wound I said, pretty much everyone did who had read up on it. How else was he going to keep from instating a draft? :)

She did not actually say she regretted it, but it was in the air. She went on complaining about how she couldn't afford to send her son to college now and how he was NOT going into the military.

Typical, vote for a war monger but don't send your son to go and fight. I did not say that to her, however. I wanted to but held my tongue.

[blondeatlast]

69. Well done. We need to arm ourselves with knowledge of the

Radical RW agenda, most of which, as you mention, WE knew about before the election.

It's worked for me on a different issue. My example of "voter's remorse" is as close to literally kicking herself as one can get without doing the act.

And I hate to admit it, but I'm ENJOYING it like crazy.

[Mend]

6. IT HAS BEGUN!!!

A young man in his late 20's, an Army veteran, married with kids, skilled blue collar worker, ardent bushit supporter, told me how sorry he and his men are now that they voted for him. We live in an affluent area with lots of development and in the past month 75 guys have been laid off. He has had no overtime for a month. He said he thought bushit was "a nice guy" stuck with some bad guys like rumsfeld but now sees bushit has kept rummy and added even worse guys into the cabinet. "I realize he is not nice either or he wouldn't have done that". A lot of anger and resentment towards the really rich who "treat working men like garbage" (he just noticed?). The capper is "I am not really a republican, I am a libertarian" . We all knew this was going to happen, that this is necessary for the change, but it is still so sad to see the worry and suffering of a decent if deluded man. PS he said he really hated the right wing talk shows now. Yes, we have lived to see the day.

[Cats Against Frist]

12. Any "libertarian" who voted for Chimp isn't a "libertarian" -- just an ass

Libertarians get a bad rap because of these guys -- they're just GOPPERS who don't want to pay their taxes.

[joeprogressive]

75. I agree for the most part but Bill Maher isn't an ass.

N/T

[uppityperson]

14. I've had a couple of these conversations too

They were both embarrased. One said she only voted for bush because she didn't like how Kerry "looked" and is worried and regretting it. One because of being a small business owner who felt the need to vote repug and can't see anything good coming from this. Then there are the guys at the feed store who don't regret it, yet. sigh

[ladjf]

7. No. And since their cognitive processes don't include logic

they never will realize what they have done.

[chelsea0011]

8. You have got to be kidding

If anything they are estatic over the Bush nominations. Not a moderate in the group and a complete freak and inexperienced clown for Homeland Security. Man! How far away is Canada?

[yankeedem]

10. Yes, and a lot of good it does us

Fuck em all. They had the chance to make the right choice and they blew it. Now we all have to suffer. And still, * won't "have a beer" with any of them. That is why they voted for him, you know.

[AlinPA]

11. They will starting to get pissed if he doesn't start locking up gays and

lesbians, throwing out abortion rights, implementing forced prayer in schools and burning a lot of impure books.

[shuffnew]

21. and kills thousands of teens due to lies in "Abstinance Curriculum"! (n/t)

[BillZBubb]

13. Not a one

No matter how bad the Chimperor is, they'll just fall back on "but (insert Democrat name here) would be much worse!".

Morons don't experience regret.

[insane_cratic_gal]

17. I've already seen it

In my own family..

Who I had to inform, just 4 days ago by phone.. btw My husband, your grandchild's father..son-in-law.. who voted for Kerry, has been offically asked to volunteer for Baghdad. (combat journalist/public affairs guy who I made take a desk job in 2002. We won't know anything until Jan on whether he is going or not.
I was a bit angry when I said it, but I told mom (kerry voter) should anything happen to him, should he go.. they will have to beg for my forgivness for how they voted. Because there isn't a "next" time for me, should something happen.

I only wish all people had considered the lives and wants of military families, before casting that vote. There should of been pictures of faces of lost soldiers who died for nothing pasted all over the polling booths. A reminder, a vote for Bush is a death for a family, a broken promise, and an uncertain future.

[grasswire]

18. powerful words, those

A reminder, a vote for Bush is a death for a family, a broken promise, and an uncertain future.

My thoughts and hopes are with you.

[blondeatlast]

70. Beautifully said. Thank you, and I'm so sorry. Please keep us posted. nt

[Sara Beverley]

19. It will be like the Reagan years. After his second term I couldn't find a

single person who would admit that he or she had voted for Reagan. And believe me, my workplace was teaming with Reagnites and Reagan-Dems just before the second election. They were hurt so badly economically by the end of Reagan's second term I could find no one in my office who said they had voted for him.

[hatrack]

20. Kicking for the Friday Am crowd

:hi:

[akwapez]

22. Yes, 3 days later, a coworker told me she should have voted for Kerry

Her husband (in the reserves) is getting shipped out announced right after election.

[WI_DEM]

23. No as a matter of fact I've heard from several Kerry voters

who are ok with how the election turned out. It is depressing.

[West Coast Democrat]

46. Right....

[fortyfeetunder]

74. From depression to schadenfreude

yeah, I was depressed beyond belief when the Chimperor won.

After seeing more pain being distributed from the White House, undoubtably affecting those who voted for him, it's schadenfreude all the way.

Yeah, I am glad he won but only for seeing his voters suffer for what they voted for. That is the only comfort from this debacle.

[ernstbass]

25. They remain blissfully ignorant

and most haven't given the election 2 thoughts since they left their voting boothes on NOv 2. It's sickening:puke:

[ThorsHammer]

26. Me

Voted for him in 2000, did NOT vote for him in 2004. I was foolish enough back then to believe he'd govern as a moderate and try to get some bipartisanship. 9/11 and the national unity we had then gave him a second chance to bring people together, but he chose to divide us instead. Needless to say, as a moderate, I was very displeased with his cowboy ways and did not vote for him this time.

[southpaw]

29. Who did you vote for this time?

Kerry or one of the 3rd party candidates?

Just curious

And Welcome to DU!

[ThorsHammer]

34. Kerry, no question, and thanks for the DU welcome

I strongly support 3rd party candidates in principle, as I think the 2 party system is no good. However, after seeing how close 2000 was, I didn't want to "waste" a vote on someone who had no chance. Without getting into the Diebold/BBV theories, I don't know what else Kerry could have done. War hero, well spoken, destroyed Bush in the debates, diplomatic, understands the concept of nuance, and so on.

[Stephanie]

53. That's a succinct analysis and welcome to DU

I don't know what else Kerry could have done either. Short of morphing into an actual rock star, he leapt every hurdle. I hate the blame Kerry movement. They miss the point.

[trayfoot]

56. I am not part of the bash Kerry movement, but

I will say that I feel betrayed by his early concession and failure to join the fight to exposes fraud. That does bother me immensely!

[tavalon]

65. welcome to DU

What took you so long? Pull up a chair.

[blondeatlast]

71. Welcome to DU. As a moderate, you are outnumbered here, but I welcome

other's ideas (as long as they aren't those of the RW).

:toast:

[maxsolomon]

28. me ma n' da

cc'd me their email to * protesting the appointment of that dr. hager nutcase to the FDA.

i told them i didn't get it. that's what they voted for!

we haven't talked since.

[ThorsHammer]

99. Thanks for the welcomes all (n/t)

[mtnsnake]

30. I haven't seen much buyer's remorse, but I haven't heard any bragging

either. I think the overwhelming silence speaks volumes as to their mistake they now have to live with, knowing they're part of the problem for voting for the turd.

[Bouncy Ball]

31. Oh yeah

it was pretty obvious to me starting with the fact that I didn't see any celebrating or happiness from them and I'm in a red state. That was really baffling to me. I would have been celebrating for a month or more.

And then I've had a few confide to me that they are "worried" now about what he might do.

Worried NOW. Yep. Worried NOW.

Dipshits. They deserve it. We don't.

[Monte Carlo]

32. The Bush voters I know _don't know what they're talking about!!!_

I've tried talking to them, but they've just let themselves be led around by their nose. When the draft comes, I think that may sway a few.

[bunny planet]

35. Not yet but if and when they start complaining I'll tell them

You get the government you deserve!!!!!!! Unfortunately the rest of us have to suffer right along with you. I am no longer speaking to either of my sister-in-laws, both of whom voted for Bush, one because he is a 'friend' of Israel (and she loved her stupid $600. tax cut), and the other because money is her G*d and she'll be one of the 2% who actually benefit (short term) from *'s tax cuts for the wealthy. I told them both, that I consider their votes a contribution towards selling the lives of my children down the river. One answered with belligerence, called me names (pinko was one of them unbelievably). The other just is too ignorant to know that she's morgaged her own baby's future too, all for the almighty dollar. It's such a drag, I spend the holidays with my friends now, need to kick back and have steam come out of the food on the table, not my ears!

[formernaderite]

47. No, but I recently had some people admit to voting for Bush....

...and these were guys I'd never have suspected this of....actually I didn't even know they were planning to vote.
Oh...and one single mom ( a widow) who lives in a pretty left wing town next to Silver Spring in Maryland....told me she pinched her eyes together, held her breathe and clicked on Bush....she calls it her "fear" vote.

[roguevalley]

55. no one talks. NO ONE. Very odd, red (neck) state that we are.

My brothers are upset even though I suspect they voted for the dolt. We now have nine friends/family in Iraq. That probably did it since they both have kids that will get drafted. Dolts. They're all dolts. I don't think they will be unhappy if Ohio goes Kerry.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

58. Not yet, but...

If I do ever hear it, I will get in their face and tell them "you fucking voted for him, DEAL WITH IT!"
No mercy for Bush** voters. No compassion. No respect.
They are now dead to me.

[Qanisqineq]

59. Yep

I haven't personally talked to him but my husband works (in the army) with him everyday. The only soldier he personally knows that voted for the man. This guy was not fond of the Iraq war but liked Bush otherwise. The guy started having major regrets when the big attack on Fallujah happened.

[Contrary1]

88. Good grief!

Doesn't he keep up with the news? It was all over the place
that the troops would go into Fallujah right after the election.

[jamboi]

60. A friend talked w/ her best friend and after a weekend together she agreed

she'd voted for the wrong candidate. It was like she was leaving a cult or something. In order for this to happen she actually had to leave her normal "red" environment and go to a "blue" environment to get a different perspective. It was like she really wanted to vote for Kerry, but since no one she respected in her normal life was for Kerry she felt it was unwise to do what her heart told her to do. When she was asked she'd say "things are such a mess right now that I just don't think its a good time to switch leaders" -- arghhh! Maddening, sad and true story.

[radfringe]

62. told bush-voter neighbor who was complaining about bush*

"if you voted for bush* - you haven't been paying attention. We're stuck with him for another 4 years -- get use to it, it's gonna get worse"

[callous taoboy]

66. My dream LTTE about this:

My dream letter for this primitive/conservative little bush village I live in:

To all of the Bush supporters proudly sporting "W" bumper stickers I offer a challenge: Can you keep those stickers on your car and continue adding a new one each year until 2008?

[blondeatlast]

72. The damn, disgusting, awful, "W" stickers are disappearing

from the Phoenix area in ever-increasing numbers.

I used to see about 50 on my morning commute, now I'd say it's about 10, and a lot of those are on snowbird cars.

How RETIREES could be proud of their votes for him just boggles my mind.

[callous taoboy]

77. Not around here, my brother:

I suspect the stickers in this town are having sex and multiplying each night. This town is eat up real bad with the dumbass. It takes every ounce of energy to talk myself down from wanting to take a ball-peen hammer to every W sticker and jesusfish.

[blondeatlast]

89. Sister, but no matter.

I feel your pain; on the few occasions when I still see one, I just SEETHE.

[blondeatlast]

67. Proud to say a resounding YES! She voted STRICTLY on the wedge

issue of abortion, and when I told her that they are chomping at the bit to take the deduction businesses can take for providing health care, it didn't take much for her to realize what that meant to her personally.

She has multiple health problems (as do I).

She always said she "likes" W.rong as a person, but now she is seeing that's a damn poor reason for blindly following ANYONE, especially a career politician.

[BrightKnight]

102. Interesting information from the Wedgie Page

History of Wedgies

... "Philip of Macedon encooraged his son after a creul wedgie at school--that boy grew up to be Alexander the Great. They say Michelanglo gave pope Paul the 3rd a wedgie. ... Upon the arrest of Alven "Creepy"Karpis in 1936, J Egdar Hoover hikked Karpis' boxers up to the nape of his neck...

...Ammong Presidents, Nixon, Bush and both Rosevelts got wedgies in their youth while Jackson, Lincon, LBJ and Clinton gave them. Ammong baseball greats Tye Cobb and Pete Rose were notorrious givers of Wegdies."


http://www.waltermillerhomepage.com/wedgie.htm

[Nightwing]

73. So far, just the opposite here in Ohio

At least where my wife and I live. You would not believe all the idiots that STILL have their "W'04" and "Bush Cheney" bumper stickers plastered to their cars, vans, trucks and SUV's. We even have a few idiots that have Bush Cheney signs in their yards. It's like they are proud to show they're wearing a badge of honor in supporting the idiot in the White House.

When I'm behind one driving, I tailgate the hell out of them, honk my horn and occasionally flip them off. What I'd really love to do is get a hold of some deer blood and smear it all over their sorry ass * stickers.

[joeprogressive]

76. I agree with the notion that they dont think about it after the fact

I have been in a state of depression since the election but most repubs either don't follow issues enough to care or think about their choice once a year, April 21st.

[seabeyond]

79. three days after election i had a fundie friend profoundly thank

me for convincing her to vote kerry. 6 months of everytime i saw her me speaking hours of what an ass bush is, what a poor leader, all his mistakes, he isnt a christian, kerry is good, this is his history, this is what he is saying

nov 2 she marked kerry

nov 5 she said thank you. already i see what bush is doing. you saved me from feeling guilt and shame

[AlinPA]

82. I don't initiate discussions with the stupid assholes who voted for Bush**

[GRLMGC]

87. I'm avoiding them like the plague too

I wouldn't wanna blow up or anything.

[orpupilofnature57]

83. nope they know im waiting with baited breath to pounce,assholes

From now on I address the 51? percent that thought this was another fucking game.I dont expect much from a guy brought up(three generations)on the governments tit.

[Zynx]

84. I know some who wanted a different candidate than Bush.

[Contrary1]

85. I had an interesting conversation

with fellow shoppers waiting in the checkout line right before Thanksgiving. One had commented on how busy the store was, and it
was obvious that people were spending a lot of money.

I said that I thought it was probably a good thing, that people enjoy themselves while they still could. That's all I said. In very Republican Indiana, I was surprised at the reaction I got.

One lady who was two ahead of me, turned around and said..."Nobody better complain to me, I didn't vote for him!"

The older woman directly behind her said that both her daughter and son-in-law had lost their jobs, that most of the food in her cart was for them. She started tearing up when she related how she couldn't help them out as much as they needed, and it would just be a matter of time before they lost their home. She was fearful for what the next four years would bring.

Yet another talked about her son who was in the National Guard. It was just a matter of time before he would be involved in a war that none of them supported.

These people can't be much different than Republicans as far as experiences go. Yet, their outlook couldn't be more so. I don't think we will ever hear the sheeple talk like this, no matter how bad it gets for them. It would be considered blasphemous for them to admit they made a mistake, just like their infallible leader.

But, we will be able to tell when it finally sinks in...by the absence of their bravado, when they stop reporting all the "good" things going on in Iraq, when we no longer hear "Get over it",
when they start spending less money, and on and on.

It will be written all over their faces. They won't have to say a word.

[EVDebs]

92. Bush is the Republican version of Gray Davis

Wow, dudes. Out here in Kalifornia, Ahnolds was put into power in order to fix the mess that Gray Davis started... Davis started office out in 1999 with around a $7 to $8 billion dollar SURPLUS...we are now struggling to pay off an estimated $10 billion deficit, even with Ahnold's borrowing of $15 billion from Wall Street.

George Bush started off in 2000 with budget projections of surpluses of $2.4-$2.7 trillion over the years 2000 to 2010, what we are looking at now is truly the ABYSS (see http://www.commondreams.org/views/020700-106.htm article published in 2000) ! And with trade deficits changing with the only hope of a falling dollar (see http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6529487/ ) we can only hope and pray this holiday season that some form of a RECALL of W is put into place by our friendly conservative friends BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.

For more info on how bad the Bush-o-nomics team is just read Friedman's column http://nytimes.com/2004/12/02/opinion/02friedman.html

Also check out the plans for rescuing CA's economy. They look just like the TABOR-Taxpayer Bill of Rights (see http://www.cato.org/research/articles/new-021106.html enacted in 1992).

See http://www.rescuecalifornia.com/news/read/?id=8

[poppet]

93. Thanks for mentioning this

I was wondering whether it is possible to recall * in the same way that Davis was recalled in California. Is it possible to recall *? What exactly is a recall?

[erniesam]

94. How much of that surplus was stolen by Enron, El Paso Gas . . . .?

[NuttyFluffers]

95. all of it... ahhnold is part of the cabal, IMO

he needs to be removed as well. he's a joke ruining california, again!
see what happens to a state with over 20+ years of republican rule? to see california go from being the crown jewel of america in the 60's to being reduced to its saddest level yet. conservativism is just bad, unadulterated bad, no redemptive qualities.

[EVDebs]

98. How true, but Gray was playing Enron's game too

Gray Davis was supporting the energy deregulation, as were all the other Dem's in CA-- in fact Steve Peace of SD wrote the damn law.

The natural gas ripoff was being promoted by all the neocons (Cambridge Energy consultants --Dan Yergin--, the Economist magazine, former Gov Pete Wilson, all the Chamber of Commerce types were selling this as a 'done deal') and everyone thought deregulation was another necessity. Well, looking back, we find that everything that ever was deregulated -- airlines, trucking, natural gas, energy, you name it-- has ended up screwing Joe Consumer and benefitting Joe CEO and Co.

Ahnold is still in bed with Enron & the other deregulators. The whole scam is always sold on how it's going to SAVE consumers money in the long run...Just you wait and see. Our local media especially in SF Bay Area with KTVU reporter Tom Vacar were always telling us how great this 'done deal' was going to be. KTVU is a Fox affiliate.

The Colorado-style TABOR taxpayer bill of rights proposals that are set to take place in CA to stem the red ink are based upon per-capita spending and inflation...This is not a bad idea per se, but you have to start out with an ideal budget from day One in order for it to work correctly. They usually end up picking Mississippi budget levels ! It is no wonder why Colorado is going Democratic nowadays ! Check the trends from 1992 to now. CO has new Democratic leader Andrew Romanoff (see http://www.coloradodems.org/ ) and big gains. The Republicans are losing fiscal credibility at both the local AND federal levels and CO and CA are proving this to us. Just hang in through these rough times a little while longer and expose these Republicans for who they really are: Corporate Fascist self-enrichers.

[disconnected]

96. buyer's remorse

I know plenty of folks who wished they'd had better choices...i've heard republicans and democrats both say that.

[faithfulcitizen]

100. yep, my dad did election night!

he saw the exit polls, and kept saying..."but i thought he couldn't win"

[vol5516]

101. no way!

Most of the physicians I work with voted for Bush and not a one of them has an ounce of regret, or remorse. They're still gun ho for Bush.

[Strelnikov_]

103. Ask Them What They Will Be Doing When Medicare Is Gone

and only the wealthiest 2% have health insurance.