Reply #29: To an extent, I agree [View All]

[lastliberalintexas]

At least as your argument pertains to elected officials.

But I think we lose a lot of voters if we target them with this. There are people who really did believe Shrub and the administration when they said that Hussein had weapons, could attack in 45 minutes, yadda yadda. Even more damning for a lot of people I know was the fact that Blair signed off on the deal. For many this was the kicker- yes, they thought Shrub was probably too blood/oil thirsty, but asked me "Blair is an intelligent, moderate fellow. Why would he go along with this if there weren't legitimate reasons?"

And these people are VERRRRY ANGRY right now. And their anger is directed at Shrub and the repubs. For the most part, they are giving the Dems a pass b/c they see them as being duped JUST LIKE THEY WERE. I think psychologically, a lot of people want to believe that the Dems were fooled so that they themselves don't look so foolish. (The ones I know don't give the repubs a pass b/c they assume Shrub took care of them and that they knew everything he did.)

Now while I believe that these people should be angry with themselves for not taking the time to be fully informed, and with the media for not doing their job of informing the public, and with the Dems who voted for the resolution, I am at least encouraged that these people are coming back to the land of the thinking. They are starting to question things. Heck, by next November, they may be Greens for all I know! And keep in mind that most of the people of whom I speak are in Texas for God's sake!

I would just ask that we give these voters the benefit of the doubt. They were manipulated by expert marketing. While I do not completely exonerate them, I don't think we should condemn them as cowards or fools either.