2004-19-17
The Bush administration has brought us a disastrous war, a mind-boggling budget deficit, an economy hemorrhaging jobs. Despite all this, the one thing they have done right will probably win the election: they have chosen the perfect constituency.
By choosing to appeal to religious fundamentalists, his constituency is a self-selected group of people who, of their own volition, believe what they are told rather than what they see. They choose to be reminded in the pews every Sunday to believe the simple fantasy over the complex truth.
They do not notice that the Bush doctrine of preemption and his remarkable ability to collect enemies makes us less secure, not more, because they are told that Bush is the anti-terror president. They do not notice that their paltry tax cuts are a smoke screen for huge tax cuts for the rich, and will be paid for, with interest, by their children, because they have been told tax cuts are good. They do not notice that Bush has flip-flopped yet again, this time on the security czar, because they have been told that Kerry is the flip-flopper. They gleefully challenge some of Kerry's purple hearts, but do not notice that Bush didn't even serve properly in the Vietnam-era sinecure his daddy gave him, because they have been told that Kerry is not a patriot.
What politician could ask for a better constituency? What democracy could ask for a worse electorate?