Reunited, and It Feels So Good
For those of you wondering where the heck I've been the last couple of weeks, I've been busy getting myself married to the love of my life. Now that the pre-wedding week, the day of celebration, and the post-wedding week (where we took about 20 friends and family members up to San Juan Island) are over, I can get back to the business of informing ya'll of important stories out there concerning our upcoming regime change.

First off, it seems that the biggest news of the last week has been Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire (which truly is a crappy show). I've read several pieces that compared his "outburst" to that of the fictional Howard Beal of the movie >Network, and I'm sure many a right-leaning pundit would like to convey that to the general public. But I found Stewart's point--that Crossfire's so-called debate show is just another funnel of memes from both parties--to be salient and cogently argued (with the occasional "dick" thrown in for good measure). If you've not seen it, here's an online version.

Looks like the major dailies are coming out with their endorsements, with the NYTimes and WAPost each giving the nod to John Kerry. Also, not so surprisingly, both The Nation and The New Republic have endorsed John Kerry for President. But did you know that Pat Buchanan's American Conservative magazine has also gone for Kerry, too?

George W. Bush has come to embody a politics that is antithetical to almost any kind of thoughtful conservatism. His international policies have been based on the hopelessly naïve belief that foreign peoples are eager to be liberated by American armies—a notion more grounded in Leon Trotsky’s concept of global revolution than any sort of conservative statecraft. His immigration policies—temporarily put on hold while he runs for re-election—are just as extreme. A re-elected President Bush would be committed to bringing in millions of low-wage immigrants to do jobs Americans “won’t do.” This election is all about George W. Bush, and those issues are enough to render him unworthy of any conservative support.

It seems that Bush supporters just don't have the handle on the man or the administration that Buchanan and his cronies do. PIPA (the Program on International Policy Attitudes) did a study finding that Bush/Cheney supporters have incorrect assumptions about their candidate (read the full report):

Even after the final report of Charles Duelfer to Congress saying that Iraq did not have a significant WMD program, 72% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq had actual WMD (47%) or a major program for developing them (25%). Fifty-six percent assume that most experts believe Iraq had actual WMD and 57% also assume, incorrectly, that Duelfer concluded Iraq had at least a major WMD program. Kerry supporters hold opposite beliefs on all these points.

Similarly, 75% of Bush supporters continue to believe that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, and 63% believe that clear evidence of this support has been found. Sixty percent of Bush supporters assume that this is also the conclusion of most experts, and 55% assume, incorrectly, that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission. Here again, large majorities of Kerry supporters have exactly opposite perceptions.

[...]

Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments, "One of the reasons that Bush supporters have these beliefs is that they perceive the Bush administration confirming them. Interestingly, this is one point on which Bush and Kerry supporters agree." Eighty-two percent of Bush supporters perceive the Bush administration as saying that Iraq had WMD (63%) or that Iraq had a major WMD program (19%). Likewise, 75% say that the Bush administration is saying Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda. Equally large majorities of Kerry supporters hear the Bush administration expressing these views--73% say the Bush administration is saying Iraq had WMD (11% a major program) and 74% that Iraq was substantially supporting al Qaeda.

People! Let's get it together! It's finals week, and it's time to make sure that your friends and neighbors (and maybe even family members) truly understand what's at stake here and what this administration has really done. If you need background materials, this bit from The Nation--100 Facts and 1 Opinion: The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration--is invaluable (and will make your blood boil). I'll be using it while I canvas for Kerry and MoveOn in the next week.