Poll: Bush support holds despite Iraq, 9 /11 hearin

“President Bush has maintained his lead over Democrat John Kerry in the USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll despite two weeks dominated by a deteriorating security situation in Iraq and criticism of his administration's handling of the terrorism threat before the Sept. 11 attacks.

The survey, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush ahead 50% to 44% among likely voters, a bit wider than the 4-point lead he held in early April. The shift, within the margin of error of +/-4 percentage points in the sample of likely voters, wasn't statistically significant.

The president's job-approval rating was steady at 52%.
Analysts say the lack of movement underscores how polarized the electorate is. About six months before Election Day, they say, most people's minds are made up.

The survey illustrates Bush's strong edge over Kerry when it comes to national security. By 2-to-1, voters say only Bush, not Kerry, would do a good job in handling terrorism.

By nearly as much, 40% to 26%, they say only Bush would do a good job in handling the situation in Iraq. Bush's approval rating on handling terrorism is a muscular 60%.

As long as public attention is focused on those issues - even if the president's actions are criticized - the election is being debated on Bush's turf and to his advantage, analysts say.
Some Democrats argue that Kerry needs to meet a "threshold" but not to beat Bush in convincing voters he can handle terrorism. If Kerry does that, they say, more voters will focus on economic issues that give Kerry an advantage.
By 36% to 30%, those surveyed say only Kerry would do a good job in handling the economy. A 52% majority disapprove of the job Bush is doing on the economy.

• More than 6 in 10 voters say that Bush and Kerry understand the major issues facing the country.

But Bush is given more credit for being straightforward: 56% agree that Bush "means what he says and says what he means." Just 44% say that of Kerry.

Hmmm of all the posts labeling Bush a liar it would appear that many more think Kerry a liar.”

“"....56% agree that Bush "means what he says and says what he means." Just 44% say that of Kerry."

They must be polling a lot of nimrods.

Bush says a lot of nothing.”

“The day I trust a politician is the day the padded van takes me away.”

“So do we assume that 56% of likely voters think MarkO is a nimrod.”

“And 44 per cent think you are, apparently!”

“No bison, 56% of those polled are evil, rotten-hearted cretins.”

“This time of year the only polls I'm interested in are the ones that hold up my tent.”

“Let's not get all gitty over a 6% lead in a poll that in 2 months will have no meaning what so ever.

Let's see what the polls say after Kerry picks a VP and it gets closer to the election.

The fan is just starting to get set up and the first delivery of chit is on it's way. Hang tight, it's gonna be a rough one this time 'round!”

“But in this representative democracy those dubbed by you as "evil, rotten-hearted cretins" will select the president for the next 4 years.

Secession has been tried - it did not work.”

“Polls indicate that 100% of voters think TomT is a nimrod.”

“I don't think you even what to know what the polls say about your dumbass.”

“It never ceases to maze me how much the electorate needs banging over the head with information unitl it actually sinks in.”

“until until until”

“ynami, sometimes it takes 8 years.”

“give or take 5%+or -(don't they teach you anything in statistics) on both sides for an accurate statistical picture means.....1/2 the country is divided on a war president who should have at least 80% favor if he was doing things right”

“"Secession has been tried - it did not work"

What the hell has that got to do with poll weavils?”

“with you being led by a person who is selected by a bunch of "evil, rotten-hearted cretins."

Your choices are to accept, leave, or secede. Secede does not work so you are left with accept or the Alec Baldwin choice.
Of course Alec lied too, he did not leave the country when Bush won despite his very public statement that he would.”

“Oh, share on Alec!!!


Ya like the cretin thing, huh?”

“I guess all the inhabitants of that meditranean Island are.

Now what would you call a Ugandan during Mr Amin Dada's tenure ??”

“Stars Won't Put Passports Where Their Mouths Are
Thursday, January 18, 2001 By Christina Nunez

NEW YORK — Reports of Alec Baldwin's departure have been greatly exaggerated.

Lisa O'Connor/Zuma

Actor Alec Baldwin: 'I never said unequivocally that [I] would leave the country if Bush won. Never.' The actor has had a line of people waiting to serve him crow (or a plane ticket) since he reportedly vowed to leave the country if George W. Bush were elected. But Baldwin was busy as early as September practicing spin control.

You see, his original threat referred to the election of G.W.'s father and "was transposed eight years later to the present election," Baldwin clarified for gossip columnist Jeanette Walls. Unfortunately, wife Kim Basinger — from whom he has since become estranged — updated the comment during a junket in September, saying, "I can very well imagine that Alec makes good on his threat. And then I'd probably have to go too."

That left Baldwin grasping for a straw, any American straw. "I think my exact comment was that if Bush won it would be a good time to leave the United States. I'm not necessarily going to leave the United States — I might go on a long vacation," the State and Main star said in the New York Post.

He explained to the New York Daily News, "When you do those junkets, the studio forces you to do dozens of interviews with people you never heard of... I never said unequivocally that [I] would leave the country if Bush won. Never."

Baldwin may have been the spurious defector with the highest profile, but he certainly wasn't the only one. Robert Altman also had to do his own recant when, like many journalists who called Florida for Bush on Nov. 7, he spoke a little too soon.

While premiering his film Dr. T and the Women at a September film festival in Deauville, France, Altman claimed a Bush victory would be "a catastrophe for the world ... You won't see me for dust. I for one will be leaving the country and living in France."

Altman prefaced this statement with, "I don't think show business personalities should get involved publicly and show their feelings, because that ends up working against them. That's why I stay discreet about these questions in America, but ..."

Oops, that ended up working against him. When American press got wind of his feelings, Altman back-pedaled. "It must have been a slow news day," he told UPI. To the New York Daily News: "Here's what I really said. I said that if Bush gets elected, I'll move to Paris, Texas, because the state will be better off if he's out of it."

No comment from Altman's rep on whether Texas will be gaining a new resident this year.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, a vociferous Ralph Nader supporter, also claimed he would seek friendlier shores.

"With three Supreme Court positions opening in the next administration, I'm frightened to think of a Republican in office, especially one raised by a father who was in the CIA," Vedder told USA Today. "I'm moving to a different country if little Damien II gets elected."

Vedder is apparently not frightened enough to pull up stakes and seek citizenship elsewhere, at least permanently. His publicist did not know whether he will perhaps cross from Seattle up to Canada in the interim.

Pierre Salinger, ex-Kennedy press secretary and conspiracy-theorist extraordinaire, threatened to get rid of his home in the United States to reside permanently in France — the other France, not Paris, Texas. While the Francophile Salinger already spends most of his time in the City of Light, he told the Washington Post, "I'm going to come back to Washington in January to dispose of my apartment in Georgetown," he said, "but otherwise I'll come back here to live for the rest of my life."

Some other vocally anti-Bush celebrities were lumped in with the expat crowd without ever having threatened to leave. Barbra Streisand did worry that "our whole way of life [was] at stake" in the election, but a spokesman says she never threatened to move and doesn't plan to. Too much work to do here, perhaps: The spokesman says she has been talking to senators about her opposition to John Ashcroft's attorney general nomination.

Martin Sheen called Bush a "white-knuckle drunk," but he has his own U.S. presidency term to serve on NBC's The West Wing. Cher branded G.W. "stupid" and "lazy," actually postponing a trip to Europe to campaign for Gore. Nor did she drop the subject after the election: "Oh God," the singer said last month when asked during an online chat about the election outcome. "Gag me with a Texas flag. I hate it. Are you kidding? It made me cry."

Cher will eventually relocate to Paris, permanently: She purchased a plot in the city's Pere Lachaise cemetery in 1999.

If nothing else, celebrity pontificating brought out the sardonic wit in everyone, perhaps more than the election itself. "Altman's Long Goodbye," "Hollywood Babble On," "Of Ignorance and Arrogance," "Baldwin Gives Voters Reason to Back Bush" and other headlines gleefully pounced on free-speaking stars like so many lawyers on a few hanging chads.

The White House Bulletin cited one investment group that facetiously solicited funds for the HELP-US Fund (Help Eliminate Left-Wing [show business] Personalities [from the] US) to help defray the cost of ushering out disillusioned luminaries.

Newspaper editorials, columnists and letter-writing citizens joined the haranguing. "He is one tough hombre, that Baldwin," wrote the Detroit News' George Cantor, "but I think the republic could survive his departure."

Of Altman, the British Guardian complained: "We should beware of such threats. Remember when Andrew Lloyd Webber threatened to leave England if Labour won? He still hasn't buggered off."”

“'I never said unequivocally that [I] would leave the country if Bush won. Never.' - Alec Baldwin

Wow I thought he was an actor, sounds like a politician to me.”

“It would appear that they surveyed heavily in nascar-land, <guh-hilk>”

“are you suggesting that this poll may be as tainted as the left wing polls showing Kerry in the lead ?

What does NASCAR have to do with politics? neither candidate has come out with a position on auto racing, or did you slip and let us catch a glimpse of your elitist attitude and contempt for those who disagree with your position.
Nice, really nice.”

“Make fun of the “uneducated south” if you will but that is the heart of America. The one’s people look down on are the salt of the earth types. It almost seems as though people in the metropolitan areas would like to see an IQ test before voting privileges are handed out. LOL! We must remember that there were a few other elections that were neck and neck in the poles that turned into landslides come Nov. 4th. Of course I am hoping for an absolutely embarrassing defeat for Kerry in the likes of Walter Mondale.”

“Don't bet the farm on it ,Nigal!”

“Sorry no landslide here, Bush ain't Reagan, and Kerry ain't Mondale.”

“and I'm sure that everybody on this board has never re-told a redneck joke. Talk about elitist with a dash of hypocritical.”

“And believe me, having lived in the south, I have taken pleeeeenty of anti- NY sentiment in my days! Although, I must admit that when I lived in Pa., it was a lot worse!”

“and I STILL find it real ironic that Bush hasn't ran away with this thing. He's the sitting Pres, for God's sake, during war time at that! Man, what a uniter!!

more like a false prophet.....”

“Now guys...I'm not making predictions here. Just sharing a dream of mine. 8)”

“While a lot of people do not agree with every decision Bush has made, they respect him for making tough decisions and not flip flopping on the issues like Kerry. Both Kerry and Bush are spending millions in early advertising, it's just that Bush's message is playing well with the public while Kerry's message isn't selling.”

“YUUUUp. I've lived around rednecks all my life, and YES, I have contempt for nascar and all that it represents, LOL... (Fire up those "Dukes of Hazzard" reruns, why doncha!)

Then you have the REAL elitists like Bush, Inc. pandering to the so-called "Nascar Dads," while the real taxbreaks go ELSEWHERE, LOL.

I think you people must be brain damaged to still support that fool. This also explains the popularity of Toby Keith and Hank Williams Junior, <G>

Bush the Previous is looking more like a friggin' genius every day for not pushing into Baghdad in '91. Too bad he didn't go just a bit further and wipe out the Republican Guard... and it would have been smarter to not stir up the Shiites and the Kurds and not have them slaughtered by Saddam, but nobody's perfect, right?

Still --- what's up with this sample? Were they dropped out of the cradle onto their heads?”

“wow, right about now my French bashing don't seem so evil. LOL!”

“wow, right about now my French bashing don't seem so evil. LOL!”

“"they respect him for making tough decisions and not flip flopping on the issues like Kerry......."


Oh, PULHHEEEZZEEEEE!

Bush flip flopped on letting Condi testify! Flip flop is the Bush Admin's middle name.

Hey -- ya think we're still outta there by 6/30th? heheheee!

Oooooppppss!”

“Nope, sorry. You're still evil.

Goobers in Georgia are no myth, LOL”

“There were a lot of flip flops. The Homeland Security department was a democratic proposal that the WH opposed at first. Then they championed it like they came up with it...”

“I love Tilt's absolutist stance. All the facts point to Bush being a bad president, anyone with a different perspective is brain damaged, and any contrary facts are hand-waved away or dealt with by using fallacies of debate and logic. To me this is little different from religious absolutism. Ergo, Tilt is the poster-boy for the American Taleban, in a sense.”

“JIHAD MUTT!”

“LMAO!

Of course Muttley holds Bush to no standard of veracity --- He'd have to have some sort of moral grounding for that.

Brain damaged AND improperly socialised.


Take a long hard look at Iraq today, little man. All of the neocons' predictions are in the toilet. Your boys have #&%!$ed up in a most royal fashion ---- As Predicted, and others are paying the ultimate price for their hubris.”

“Tilt, it may surprise you, but I don't particularly like Bush. He's a christofascist scumbag and a dim bulb. I do agree somewhat with the Admin's strategy in the ME, but I strongly disagreed with the timing. And really, no one knows how this is going to turn out. Certainly it's been a mixed bag - we've gotten cooperation from other ME states, but stability in Iraq hasn't materialized. And it's quite humorous to have you criticize my morality when you equate targeting and killing terrorist leadership to be morally equal to terrorists purposely targeting civilians in the most horrible fashion imaginable. You, sir, are a terrorist sympathiser, and for that you deserve to be thrown to the families of terrorist victims for appropriate justice.”

“Poll: Bush edges ahead in Pennsylvania
(04-21) 09:27 PDT HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) --
President Bush has edged ahead of Democrat John Kerry in Pennsylvania, according to a poll of voters in the critical swing state won by Al Gore in 2000.
In a three-way race, Republican Bush is supported by 45 percent of the state's voters, compared with 39 percent for Democrat Kerry and 8 percent for independent candidate Ralph Nader, according to the poll released Wednesday by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The rest were undecided.
Without Nader in the race, Bush still holds a slight 46-42 lead over Kerry, according to the Connecticut-based institute.


It's all over folks, Kerry is losing steam, we may not even have to coin terms like 'hanging chad' for this election.”

“It's all over. Aren't you ejaculating this gibberish prematurely, Manuka?”

“Too funny!”

“Jus funnin' Tree, jus funnin'.

I am amused at how America fought a war with England to get away from a government system dominated by a single all powerful figure known as a King and replace the single decider with a group representing the people called Congress.

England now is ruled by a group representing the people called Parliament, and America to all extents and purposes has a single all powerful person called President. The exact opposite of what was envisaged with the decision to declare Independence.

If the political circle was a clock, where extreme left (Stalin) meets extreme right (Hitler) at 6 o'clock Bush and Kerry are both within 1/2 hour of noon.
But the amazing amount of negative energy created in lauding the one and heaping abuse on the other is ludicrous.

The fact remains they are both rich, priveledged, white males with super egos and relatively squeaky clean backgrounds.

Democrats tax more than Republicans ?? maybe by 1 or 2%. In the last 2 months all we will see is abortion and gun control ads that polarize the population and scrambling to get out the vote in marginal States with screams from both sides that the other is unfair and using illegal methods or funds.

Long live the King !!”

“I know! Me too!!

Don't you just love innuendo???”

“hey prosecutor, bush isn't making the decisions. or any decisions.cheney is. bawahahahahaha
didn't ya see his speech last week? he dudn't even know how to answer a question, and I agree with he isn't very good thinking on his feet, which is why he won't debate. I'm surprised he's been on TV as much as he has been- it only shows how lousy of a speaker he is- and that smirk just about drives me crazy. Especially when he was talking about WMD-seems like he's probably gonna have 'em planted on a turkey farm or sometin'”

“Could Bush be a better speaker? Perhaps.

But when history reviews his wartime Presidency, Bush will end up on Mount Rushmore.”

“Bush will end up on Mount Rushmore?

Oh well, there goes the neighborhood!”

“Yeah, on Mount Rushmore when they re-sculpt the other faces into Larry, Moe and Curly........the REAL Curly, Jerome Howard.”