I'm not going to comment...

[heidi]

I'm just going to toss this out into the world of my flist for comments & discussion. I will make one guideline, though - even though I never delete comments in my lj, any negative comment about "all Republicans" or "all Bush supporters" will be hidden, as the poll clearly says nothing at all about all Republicans, or even all Bush supporters.

Comments

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should be surprised, but I'm not, really. It's so sad.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I wonder to what extent the poll responses relate to the news sources most frequently watched by the respondents. It is certainly true that Bush and Cheney have continued to make statements that are outright wrong ("The Taliban have been defeated." "I never said that about Osama.") and are often not held accountable for these statements by the media at large.

As for me -- I'm a proud member of the coalition of the reality-based. ;)

Did you Know?

[alyeska.livejournal.com]

Stupid LJ decided to post before I was finished.

I wonder how many people know that only the U.S. Senate can ratify international treaties such as Kyoto. This treaty ratification was defeated by the Senate 95-0 under the Clinton Administration. Because of this overwhelming opposition Bush has chosen not to sign it.

Also under Clinton's watch the Senate failed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 48-51 on 10/13/99.

As for the ICC:
The United States signed but did not ratify the statute during the Bill Clinton administration but withdrew its support soon after Bush assumed the presidency. The U.S. fears that American soldiers and political leaders may be subject to "frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions". The United Nations has not removed the name of the United States from the official list of signatories. It is important to note that signing a treaty and ratifying a treaty are not the same thing. Also the main reason Clinton signed it was so that the U.S. could still participate in discussions.

and finally the Oslo Treaty on banning land mines:
(Excerpt taken for a DOD news release in 1997)

Saying his responsibility for the security and safety of American service members is paramount, President Clinton announced Sept. 17 the United States will not sign the Oslo treaty banning anti-personnel land mines.

"As commander in chief, I will not send our soldiers to defend the freedom of our people and the freedom of others without doing everything we can to make them as secure as possible," Clinton said during a White House news conference.

The United States asked for two concessions in the land mine treaty. First, U.S. negotiators asked for a nine-year transition period to phase out anti-personnel land mines. Second, the United States wanted an exception made for the demilitarized zone dividing the Korean Peninsula.

People are blaming things on Bush that he had nothing to do with to begin with. and yes I know he still doesn't support any of these treaties.

[sageofgodalming.livejournal.com]

Heidi, thank you for this link. I went and read the pdf of the report (http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Pres_Election_04/Report10_21_04.pdf) It's the most interesting thing I've seen come out of your election.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

I was amazed that only 58% of Bush supporters said we should have gone to war even if there was no intelligence of WMDs in Iraq...thought that was one of Bush's strong points for his supporters, convincing them that there were multiple reasons for going to war even if we never found any WMDs.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

It is a bit naive or obnoxious to claim that Bush supporters are all the same. I would mention the Outfoxed film referring to the 5x number of Fox viewer's vs PBS viewers / NPR listeners that got direct facts wrong when questioned. Does make them all ignorant? Definitely not. I do question rather a large percentage has been misled by the White House and Conservative media to believe in things that are factually incorrect. Do the Democrats do the same thing? Certainly. The question is: Are people supporting Mr. Bush because of an incorrectly perceived idea about the War on Terror? And would it make a difference if they understood the truth?

PIPA put out a poll today. I have put the info on my LJ and the news story is Here