While talking to a guy about Bush, it was clear why he's still in office..

[Gloria]

for the second time...

Walking past a neighborhood house and started chatting with the guy hanging out. Probably in his 40's, said he had a 6 year old girl. He's been here in Las Cruces for 13 years, his parent moved in from LA about a year ago...

One thing led to another and it turns out his father worked 3 jobs and told him never to vote Republican.

Yet, the main thing on this guy's mind was....Safety. He felt that people were moving here because of "safety." He first referred to not being on a coast, but what was really on his mind was ....terror. I pointed out that we had White Sands Missile Range on one side of us and Ft. Bliss on the other, so we could be a target just as much as any place else. Yeah,he said, but at least the army is here...

He then asked me how I felt about Saddam and 911 and I had to contain myself...told him there was NO CONNECTION. Well, he said, how do you feel about how Saddam treated "the Turkish people." Obviously, he meant the Kurds. I said that wasn't the original reason we went into Iraq, it was WMDs, and that was one of a series of "reasons" concocted by Bush.

So then I ventured into the economy, how the priorities were to hire cronies and to exploit the government. And how VULNERABLE we are with our debt to other countries.

Then he got a bit defensive. But at the same time you could see the problem we have. People are RESIGNED. He said he was heading toward working 3 jobs, too, he works 60e hours a week, and that's just the way it is. It's just a hard life. He said that "people have to 'rise up' if they feel strongly" but it's obvious that he won't be one of them.

He said he didn't have much interest in what the government is doing, or the local council. He said it was a beautiful evening and he didn't much like to talk politics.

And that was that. I kept urging him to find out what was going on. But he had absolutely NO INTENTION of doing so. His life is work, and enjoying the beautiful evening.

He comes from a Democratic background, obviously, but he buys into the "terror" crap.

But more importantly--he DOESN'T BELIEVE HIS LIFE CAN IMPROVE. This is a real problem for Democrats. If people don't believe their lives can improve, then the fears about losing their lives fill the vacuum.

So, who is the candidate who can 1) allay the fears of bodily harm and also 2) wake up the belief that LIFE CAN IMPROVE without Republicans???

[chaska]

1. Uh ... Clark?

[Captain Hilts]

7. Yes, Clark. (nt)

[chaska]

9. Damn right!

[davidwparker]

10. Clark.

For lots of reasons. Treating the troops with respect being high on the list.

He is also an economic scholar from Oxford.

We can get along without the Clintons.

[Captain Hilts]

13. He also doesn't have to prove he's "not liberal" the way the Clintons...

are always being forced to do.

People just assume an army general is adequately conservative.

He's smart and he's squeaky clean.

[omega minimo]

14. "People just assume an army general is adequately conservative. "

Pretty bizarre statement.

What "people"?

What "adequately"?

What "conservative"?

[samdogmom]

2. Oh my! Did he check out his fellow citizens plight from Katrina?

How close are you to a hurricane zone? Or, more seriously, can he equate a Katrina "refugees" plight to an imagined plight should he encounter similar circumstances?

I get so frustrated because I SIMPLY CAN'T BELIEVE SO MANY PEOPLE VOTE AGAINST THEIR BEST INTERESTS!!!!!

EDIT: Any Non-Republican candidate of the past would have been a good choice!

In the future...(uh--get a brain)THE NON-REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE i.e. the DEMOCRAT

[TransitJohn]

3. That candidate would be

Bill Clinton. j/k....honestly don't know, but I was sure as hell pissed at the torpedo job Dean got in Iowa....John Kerry, you're a wonderful American, but you were not the right candidate.

[alittlelark]

4. I went to NMSU and remember the fallout shelters connecting

almost every building on campus.... point those out to him. Las Cruces is a GONER (as is most of NM) in the result of a 'noocklear war' started by a shit-for-brains pResident. In Las Cruces it is even worse than most large cities in NM.

Alb. has the nuclear storage facilities behind the Manzanos, and the silos (at least 50) which are quite visible for an hour after sunrise.
Santa Fe is soooo close to Los Alamos that they are instant toast too.

Las Cruces gets massive fallout from White Sands and Alamagordo... I'd rather go quick.


Give him some cognitive dissonance by pointing these things out. Ask him if he is comfortable w/ an idiot wanna be cowboy at the helm.

[jody]

5. Ignorance is bliss. n/t

[MissWaverly]

6. I too have talked to a die hard Bush fan

She supports Bush because he cares about unborn babies and her minister
likes him. What about the live babies that begged for water in the Convention Center and the Superdome, did he rush every available resource there to help them or did he strum the guitar and eat cake. I think we need to see more reality shots with George Bush. It's easy to support "pie in the sky." when there is nothing going on.

[nickshepDEM]

8. Feingold is obviously the candidate your thinking of...

Damn shame he's divorced (twice).

[truth2power]

11. Learned helplessness...

"he DOESN'T BELIEVE HIS LIFE CAN IMPROVE."

When people believe nothing they do makes any difference, they become immobilized and engage in learned helplessness.

Common in spousal abuse situations. There was a psychiatrist (female) who wrote a long article saying Bush treats the American people like an abusive husband treats his wife. Can't remember the name of the doctor.

.....either that, or collective Stockholm Syndrome. :evilfrown:

[Lexingtonian]

12. Call it what it is: stupidity.

People like that don't respond to being told stuff. A day later you come along and there's been a reboot of the internal hard disk and everything you've told them is as good as forgotten.

They bang their head into the reality of things. Really, it's when people around them start doing better than they do that they change- out of envy and a desire not to lose status. Until then it's pretty hopeless: the world is okay as long as they can keep their relative standing within it or improve it.

[omega minimo]

15. Eurasia or Oceania today?

:smoke:

[MadHound]

16. That is why the Democratic party needs to stop being so moderate

And actually start supporting issues that will make a real difference in the average Americans' life. Rather than pussy footing around with Clinton's non-sensical health coverage plan, we need to come out four-square for universal health care(which the majority of Americans DO support, don't let the conventional wisdom fool you). Or come out solidly for a living wage, not just a minimum wage.

These are the types of issues that will not only raise the party profile, but they are issues that the average American cares about, and would love to see enacted, and would get people out to the polls in droves. Bread and butter money issues, things that ordinary folks can see plainly will make a huge positive difference in their lives, these are the issues we need to be pounding on.

But heaven forbid, this means that the Democrats would actually have to go against the wishes of their corporate masters, and we know damn well that isn't going to happen anytime soon, if at all.