Anything less than a 53%+ Kerry win...

[aldian159]

will convince me that the stupidest human beings on mother
Earth live right here in the good ol' U.S.A. If this damn electorate had half a damn brain, Kerry would make 1964 look close.

What more do we need to do? Someone, please reassure me Americans aren't this dumb. Please.

[kevin881]

1. I cant. Americans are very stupid.

[mark11727]

21. Not stupid, but very LAZY...

...they don't bother to fact-check whatever the media spews out ("Ah heard it on Fox, so's it must be true..."), and since so much of the so-called "news" is no longer independent, the American public is all getting the same (generally false and/or incomplete) story, soundbite by sorry-ass soundbite.

[mn9driver]

2. Sorry. I'm already convinced. nt.

[4morewars]

3. I'm not going to lie to you,

About 50% of registered voters are as stupid as a bucket of spit.

[RunningFromCongress]

5. Americans should be forced

to spend 1 year in Europe after they graduate college, perhaps going outside the US would allow some of them to understand what it means to LIVE IN THE WORLD. I really think the majority of Americans think europe is where the "lesser" people of the world live.

[TransitJohn]

7. Uh,

shouldn't Americans be forced to go to college first? ;) Most of us don't, I'm the first on either side of my family.

[RunningFromCongress]

14. Honestly, I don't think you can force people into college

not to mention, if everyone went to college there would be an even larger shortage of skilled workers, seriously. It's increasingly hard to find skilled welders, CNC operators, etc.. Things that take years of experience; while I think every American should goto some sort of "advanced education" I don't necessarily think college is the answer for everyone. Trade schools need to be promoted much more than they are IMO. But either way I think 1 year off in between HS and higher learning wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I know when I entered college I didn't take it nearly as seriously as I do now that I'm a bit older.

[aldian159]

15. Americorps.

Make that mandatory. I had a girlfriend who did that and she swears it changed her life. Since she rocks, it must have done something right.

But seriously folks, maybe Kerry's plan of national service isn't such a bad thing. At the very least essential things get done, like cleaning up parks and such. It might change someone's life for the better.

[TransitJohn]

26. No kidding.

I tried college right out of high school. Didn't work. Spent 6 years in Grateful Dead land. Went back after. It's the only way to fly.

[SoCalDemocrat]

31. There are plenty of stupid college graduates

A four year degree does not immediately mean you're an informed, inquisitive, engaged voter.

[4morewars]

19. It's the arrogance.

Many of us DO believe that we are better than the rest of the world, we have 185 channels on our TVs, dammit !!! Americans are guillable, and under educated. So it's not too hard to fool at least half of us at all times. Many Americans believe that socialism is a bad thing, or that labor unions are evil. Or the "welfare cheats" will drag us down, or the "illegals" or the "gays" or whichever scapegoat it is this month.
They believe the charlatains and the scoundrels !! They have no concept of history, so they can't see through the bullshit.
Many also choose not to educate themselves on the issues. I don't really understand that one though.

[regnaD kciN]

27. And there are two reasons why we're so arrogant...

...the Atlantic and the Pacific.

The U.S. is not only big, but isolated. No contact with other countries except Canada ("Hey, they're just like us!") and Mexico ("Illegals make such good cheap help..."). In the U.S., it's quite possible to live your entire life without once crossing into another country, or dealing with a significant number of citizens of that country. Not so, say, in Europe, where it's virtually impossible to ignore other countries since people are always travelling between them.

When you're as isolated as the U.S. is, it's a lot easier to believe that you're superior to everyone else, as there's really not a whole lot of evidence to convince you otherwise.

[4morewars]

28. Thats a good reason,

but,It's not a good excuse. Canada is big and isolated by three oceans, they only border one country. Yet most Canadians speak two languages, they have health care for all, and they don't murder nearly as many people as we do. Although the one country they share a border with IS starting to have a BAD influence on them !

[GHOSTDANCER]

6. It's not just stupidity it's racism at work.

[4morewars]

12. Oh, No Doubt !!!!

They vote their bigotries !!! Another way racism hurts all of us !!!!

[choicevoice]

4. Don't want to step on any religious toes here but

it does seem to be the opiate of the masses. I'm not saying all but anyone who things God put Dumbya in the White House, well, need I say more. Add those to the money grubbing immoral pukeballs with no souls and bingo, the Bush base.

[alittlelark]

8. If all the TV antennas could be pulled dowm

a la 'Monkey Wrench Gang' then Americans would not be as stupid and stuporous (I don't think that's a real word, but it fits!) as they are. W/in 1 week of no kool-aid they will wake up. W/O that type of SLAP in the face, I'm afraid a great many are indeed that stupid, vapid, vacant.....

[The Zanti Regent]

9. I've got 100+ relatives ready to vote for God's Man Bush...

...that's what their pastor says!

[autorank]

10. My refrain: How about the 70% who supported Clinton at impeachment?

Seriously, maybe 30% are the equivalent of a pet rock or the uber greedy but not 50%. The coalition we want is our 50% plus the 20% who were smart enough to smell a big rat, impeachment, without any help from the media. They're still there and probably more influenced today by the misinformation on 911 and the misguided notion that to 'support the troops' you need to support the misleader. Lighten up a bit. We're in this for the long haul and we've got big mo! Remember, we started with * at 70+% approval, we've reclaimed tha base, now lets get the additional 20% who can think.

[aldian159]

13. Well, what the hell happened since?

And what's taking the soft 20% so damn long to shift over, if they shift over at all.

And John Kerry, as good as he is, is no Bill Clinton in terms of getting people to like him.

God I hope you're right.

[Wapsie B]

22. I like your analysis.

I think there's a significant portion of thinking republicans out there who cannot get themselves to vote for chimpy again.

Kerry/Edwards Landslide. Believe it.

[deckerd]

30. How can Kerry win a landslide if

if they've disbanded efforts to fight and GOTV in Mo, Ark, WV, VA?

[w4rma]

11. Most people, in general, are stupid. Our problem here is that we get

more propaganda than alot of other 1st world countries due to the fact that so many ultra-wealthy folks have alot riding on our ignorance.

[Radio-Active]

16. Stupid? No. Brainwashed? You bet.

You can't blame someone for being brainwashed.. Thanks to the media, many people really don't see any problem with Bush.

[omnithrope]

34. No, supid is correct...

I'll have to say that part of being "stupid" is being able to be brainwashed like this.

Sorry, we're mostly stupid...

[RevolutionStartsNow]

17. American idiots?

This is what plays in my car a lot these days:

Don't wanna be an American idiot.
Don't want a nation under the new media.
And can you hear the sound of hysteria?
The subliminal mindfuck America.

Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the alienation...

--Green Day

(It does seem apt, especially when played real loud.)

[aldian159]

20. Sounds good

Man, we as a people aren't the brightest, are we?

[dolstein]

18. You're kidding yourself if you think Kerry can get 53% of the vote

He's going to have a hard enough time getting above 49%, which is what Clinton got in 1996.

[aldian159]

23. See? My point exactly

In any other place, with a leader this fucking bad, my epileptic dog could get 53%. But Kerry won't, through no fault of his own. Damnit, are these neighbors of mine really stupid. At least I get a great reception when I wear the Kerry/Edwards button, but I live in Chicago. We shoot Republicans in Chicago, or scare them to the 'burbs.

[ljm2002]

24. Time will tell,

...I'd like to think it that 53% is possible. If it were only a referendum on the challenger's popularity, then I see your point about Kerry vs. Clinton; however, it's also a referendum on the incumbent's *un*popularity, and I think GWB has it all over Poppy in that arena: I think there's a lot more people mobilized to get out and vote *against* this Bush, this time.

I've got big hopes for this election day.

[Awsi Dooger]

25. On the other hand, let's say Alan Keyes was the Democratic nominee

What would he deserve of the Democratic/progressive vote, based on his views, political and otherwise? Even 1 percent?

He would receive at least 30-35% of the poplular vote nationwide, simply by being the presidential nominee of our party.

I don't understand these threads questioning why Democrats vote Democratic and Republicans vote Republican.

[Guaranteed]

29. I met one of these folks today...

I was talking to a fellow student of mine, a nice girl with just a hint of redneck in her, and she mentioned how she didn't really like either candidate, and that she was probably just going to vote for Bush. Before you freak out, it actually was a pretty effective conversation. Trying to be nice, I agreed with her that Kerry is far from perfect, but that I think the country really needs a change, that I couldn't imagine another 4 years of this. She said, believe it or not, yeah, "I don't think we'll even have a country left."

She certainly didn't seem like she was dead set on voting for Bush- it's just that she's kind of uninformed. She said she doesn't watch the debates. But I think I gave her something to think about in very simple terms, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if she came around in the end.

[aldian159]

32. Kick for the lunch crowd.

[demokatgurrl]

33. Sorry, they really are. Anything less than 53%

is an invitation to Rove and Jeb to start the stealin'.

[blue sky at night]

35. Hey Dems, its time to get off your asses and work

Go at once to Move On Pac and volunteer to walk your neighborhood to talk to swing/undecided voters. They make it easy, will supply you with a list of names and addresses. We have to stop sitting around and expecting everyone to suddenly "get educated" about what a mess our country is in. Here is the Website.
http://www.moveonpac.org/