Thursday, November 02, 2006

The Reckoning

Looks like the party's almost over:
A substantial majority of Americans expect Democrats to reduce or end American military involvement in Iraq if they win control of Congress next Tuesday and say Republicans will maintain or increase troop levels to try to win the war if they hold on to power on Capitol Hill, according to the final New York Times/CBS News poll before the midterm election.

The poll showed that 29 percent of Americans approve of the way President Bush is managing the war, matching the lowest mark of his presidency. Nearly 70 percent said Mr. Bush did not have a plan to end the war, and 80 percent said Mr. Bush’s latest effort to rally public support for the conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy.

The poll underlined the extent to which the war has framed the midterm elections. Americans cited Iraq as the most important issue affecting their vote, and majorities of Republicans and Democrats said they wanted a change in approach. Twenty percent said they thought the United States was winning in Iraq, down from a high this year of 36 percent in January.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The American people aren't idiots. Sure, as Rove knows all too well, you can trick them for a little bit with a combination of scare tactics and outright lies, but in the end they have a pretty good sense for bullshit. And when they realize they've been conned, look out.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yup, yup, and yup. Man, I'm dying waiting for Tuesday. I haven't been this excited for an election since 2004--

Oops, bad example. Seriously though, I'm getting antsy.

And Rove may wanna review Lincoln's quotation, the one about fooling all the people all the time, etc.

Otto Man said...

Tell me about it. When do you suspect they'll release the latest Osama tape? My money's on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I'm suprised more folks on our side haven't been making noise about the cynical decision to sentence Saddam on Sunday.

Otto Man said...

Good point. I think it's just outrage fatigue.

And part of me thinks that voters will actually see this for what it is -- a desperate attempt to put lipstick on a war they already see as a pig.

Anonymous said...

I agree. I think if this election's on the level, it's gonna go very well.

Noah said...

Tell me about it. When do you suspect they'll release the latest Osama tape? My money's on Sunday.

Monday evening in Afghanistan, Monday morning here in the U.S., in time for NPR Morning Edition to glaze over it, CNN and MSNBC to masturbate with it all morning and for the several talk radio hosts to figure out how they will spin it, the day before the election.