Comments on: It’s got a danceable beat, I’ll give it a nine.

By: mig

mig — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 22:22:00 +0000

The terrorists no doubt timed the bombing deliberately to influence the elections. But calling it appeasement, as some Bushies did, was putting it too strongly, IMO, and attempting to profit politically from what happened, or at least cut losses, and oversimplifying. You’re right, spin goes both ways, or many ways.

By: scotty the body

scotty the body — Mon, 29 Mar 2004 19:04:20 +0000

First, let me just say that I am voting Kerry. I find Bush to be a petulent, mean-spririted, jesus-freak little chimp of a man and take serious, serious issue with how he runs this nation.

Second: media spin goes both ways, for certain. I can tell you that, IMO, the Spanish Government “lies” are the result of media spin. You can, if you dig into the chronology of the news reporting, see for a fact that the Spanish “Defense Minister” (can’t remember the exact title) reported the fact taht it could be Al Qaeda or foreign terrorists almost immediately after the evidence was discovered. There was no “cover up” to speak of, but they DID fail to drop ETA out of the equation until it was overwhelminly evident that this bombing was not their crime.

I’m not saying that the conservatives didn’t deserve to get the boot, but I’m definitely not willing to flatly rule-out the idea that the bombing influenced the elections. In fact, that is the majority world-wide perception, and it’s going to happen again and again. This keeps me up nights more than worrying about George Bush.

Like I said, I’m not voting Bush, but I think that there’s a very strange force at work when more people are worried about Bush’s actions than are worried about the actions of Islamic terrorists and the regimes that harbor and sponsor them. To me, it defies logic. But, then again, I’ve survived a terrorist attack (although a domestic terrorst), so my perspective may be a bit skewed.

I’m not making sense. Nevermind

By: Marjorie

Marjorie — Sat, 27 Mar 2004 08:31:58 +0000

I can’t help but see a vote for Nader, at this point, as a vote for Bush. I respect Ralph- I used to work for his public interest group MassPIRG, but he’s not going to get the votes, and Bush is a serious threat to all I hold dear.

By: Marjorie

Marjorie — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 13:07:35 +0000

My great optimism for ousting Bush is that many people who supported him in the first election, seem to have changed their minds. And, all those people who voted for Nader, thinking that both parties were the same, will now be voting for Kerry.
I read an article on the ease of tampering poll booths as well though, and am very frightened that a win for Bush might happen through tampering (as I personally believe the first election was stolen).

By: mig

mig — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:30:04 +0000

also, i don’t really think that all dubya voters were fucking stupid. some were, of course. i know some fairly smart people who voted for him.

By: mig

mig — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 11:27:54 +0000

i’m considering registering in several states and renting a 1958 chevrolet apache half-ton and driving from voting booth to voting booth.

By: zulieka

zulieka — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 10:52:02 +0000

not all voters are really really fucking stupid, just the ones who voted for Dubbya.

I just counted five votes to oust him. (mig can you vote in absentia?)

By: sue

sue — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 04:14:04 +0000

One of the plusses of foreign travel is the opportunity to hear other perspectives on isssues, even if you don’t speak the native language and just watch CNN Europe (or, in one case, Asia.)
(BTW Mig, I’ll probably be changing planes in Vienna this summer.)

By: sue

sue — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 04:13:18 +0000

One of the plusses of foreign travel is the opportunity to hear other perspectives on isssues, eeven if you don’t speak the native language and just watch CNN Europe (or, in one case, Asia.)
(BTW Mig, I’ll probably be cchanging planes in Vienna this summer.)

By: mig

mig — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 00:53:45 +0000

You know, excuse me if I’m repeating myself, this is a story I’ve told somewhere before, but my eyes were opened to media bias/manipulation in 1986 in a Moscow hotel bar, when I caught a glimpse of Russian news, showing scene after scene of what was wrong with the West: police brutality here, apartheid there, riots somewhere else. Things I knew existed, but had never seen on the news in that detail or with that spin. And of course any images of the USSR were positive. And that got me thinking, if they do that here, what about back home?

By: mig

mig — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 19:46:13 +0000

Eh, media are skewed all over. It’s just when they’re all skewed the same direction that it’s scary, and that seems to be the case in the States, to a large degree. Elsewhere too, of course.

And gullibility and stupidity, or laziness, are not an American monopoly, although we sometimes seem to be good at it. I suppose dumb+powerful is a bad combination.

And, not only Florida. I’ve heard scary things about the electronic voting machines, and how simply they can be um manipulated, and/or hacked, and who owns them.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 19:30:58 +0000

I am constantly baffled at my own overestimation of the average American’s intelligence, awareness, even sentience. Have you ever watched Weekends with Louis Theroux? Even that show, with its critical investigations of odd American subcultures, makes us look like a nation of thinking, feeling creatures, but then you read about another county voting to bring in Walmart, and you remember that it’s only the magic of television.
Couple that with the weirdness of politics, and I’d have to say that Bush is re-electable. At least in Florida. As long as his brother is governor, there.

By: Annie J.

Annie J. — Wed, 24 Mar 2004 17:11:44 +0000

I would hope that as things develop the citizens here in the U.S. would wise up. But in talking to people about Bush, I find that they still support him, with reasons they can’t seem to find. Mostly, I get responses like, “He’s a good talker.” “He talks like regular people do.” “He’s down-to-earth.”

Do they ever realise that Bush uses pathos in his speeches, never Logos? No.

My hopes are that enough people have started paying attention to politics here and have been stirred up enough to get out to the polls.

We’ll have to see how everything pans out between now and November.

As for the attack in Spain, the reports that I have heard and seen have not mentioned governmental lying.

I hate our media.