Its too easy to sit back and be anti-Bush and just say Americans are dumb and that's why Bush won the popular vote. So I'm going to attempt to give a number of reasons, without a lot of detail, why contrary to what popular logic dictates Bush won the popular vote. Bear in mind this isn't an exhaustive list.
Why Bush won the popular vote:
(1) Fear. Most Americans don't know who attacked them on 9/11. Al Quada, Iraq, Afghanistan? What's the difference? To them its all some non-white, brownish looking people with funny headgear who live somewhere outside America and may have some oil. Hell even Puerto Ricans are suspect these days. Bush has done a good job of using this confusion to his advantage. So what if Kerry says Iraq isn't Al Quada or there are no WMD's. All the average citizen knows is that someone attacked America and they should pay and that's what they think Bush is doing; making it safer for Americans.
(2) Bush is a maverick. He went against the wishes of the UN, he went against what all the poindexter dudes in suits and the hippies were saying about peace and he is kicking ass and taking names. Watch any good American action movies lately? Americans love the misunderstood, often criticized action hero who charges in to beat up the bad guys and save the city/town/girl/family, save somebody from evil intentions. In this election Bush is that maverick and heck he's even from Texas so he's a good ol boy. He's John Wayne with rocket launchers.
(3) Bush is opposed to gay marriages. What is less known is hey so is Kerry but the Republicans have instilled into the populace that if Kerry is president gay marriages will be legalized and the whole country will become 'girly-man' capital. A vote for Kerry was a vote against the bible was apparently the slogan in some states. Good God-Fearing Americans cant let those liberal hippie dudes do that to their country.
(4) Stem Cell Research. I really don't know much about this one but seems like the Republicans did a good job of making this an issue
(5) Bush's propaganda machine was better oiled and ran smoother than Kerry's.
(6) In a climate where soldiers were dying daily, fear of terror attack was high, jobs were being outsourced, the economy was doing poorly and basically anything negative that could happen was happening to the powers in the White House. Kerry just played too timid and didn't attack the incumbent well enough. Kerry just hasn't made an overwhelming case for himself so better the hard-nosed devil you know that the so called flip-flopping one you don't right?
(7) Sadly Bush is the more charismatic of the choices or rather Kerry is the least charismatic of the two. While we would hope that persons pay more attention to issues than the actual leader's charisma or charm alas that's not the way it goes.
Its more complex that the few reasons I've listed but I just thought of these few ideas as to why Bush might have won the popular vote. Maybe Americans are stupid, maybe they are silly, maybe they don't know the real issues but I think they can still rationalize why they voted en masse for Bush.
5 comments:
I won't go as far as saying they are silly.I have seen Carribean governments returned to office in the face of much talk about corruption etc.I just figure the 9/11 incident accompanied by the feeling that Bush is strong on terrorism may have helped a lot.Kerry was also seen rightly or wrongly (I don't know) as being in favour of same sex marriages-something that surely did not endear him to the "religious".Am somewhat surprised though that Kerry could not win Florida especially after all the fuss in 2000
The march of the right wing machine. In london here people were holding election night parties. hmmmm strange.
Bush and his republican people have successfully instilled that siege mentality. like you said only the "misunderstood" hero can win the hearts and minds. The rest of us have to deal with the fallout. John Wayne vs. the indians anyone? At the end of the day it didnt matter what Kerry was offering. He was dead ducky unlucky to compete in this climate.
4 more years. the race continues...
Kerry probably didnt win florida because alot of the hispanic vote has drifted to the right
Bush basically got alot of religious votes. His morals vs kerry's ambiguous stance on some moral issues gave him the upper hand.
Most americans consider themselves moral and religious hence the vote for teh right. Mind you some of the most immoral stuff comes out of the US . go figure
What a bummer? Kerry lost :(
"Choose a better devil!", and American has chosen the worst one this time!
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