LOL, you must be the most obsessive compulsive individual I have ever seen
on the internet. You remind me of the energizer bunny. You must be a fun
guy to go boating with.



"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
February 22, 2004
Disenchanted Bush Voters Consider Crossing Over
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
NY Times

EACHWOOD, Ohio — In the 2000 presidential election, Bill Flanagan a
semiretired newspaper worker, happily voted for George W. Bush. But now,
shaking his head, he vows, "Never again."

"The combination of lies and boys coming home in body bags is just too
awful," Mr. Flanagan said, drinking coffee and reading newspapers at the
local mall. "I could vote for Kerry. I could vote for any Democrat
unless he's a real dummy."

Mr. Flanagan is hardly alone, even though polls show that the
overwhelming majority of Republicans who supported Mr. Bush in 2000 will
do so again in November. In dozens of random interviews around the
country, independents and Republicans who said they voted for Mr. Bush
in 2000 say they intend to vote for the Democratic presidential
candidate this year. Some polls are beginning to bolster the idea of
those kind of stirrings among Republicans and independents.

That could change, of course, once the Bush campaign begins pumping
millions of dollars into advertising and making the case for his
re-election.

But even as Democratic and Republican strategists and pollsters warned
that a shift could be transitory, they also said it could prove to be
extraordinarily consequential in a year when each side is focused on
turning out its most loyal voters.

"The strong Republicans are with him," a senior aide to Senator John
Kerry said of Mr. Bush. "But there are independent-minded Republicans
among whom he is having serious problems."

"With the nation so polarized," he added, "the defections of a few can
make a big difference."

In the interviews, many of those potential "crossover" voters said they
supported the invasion of Iraq but had come to see the continuing
involvement there as too costly and without clear objectives.

Many also said they believed that the Bush administration had not been
honest about its reasons for invading Iraq and were concerned about the
failure to find unconventional weapons. Some of these people described
themselves as fiscal conservatives who were alarmed by deficit spending,
combined with job losses at home. Many are shocked to find themselves
switching sides.

While sharing a sandwich at the stylish Beachwood Mall in this Cleveland
suburb, one older couple — a judge and a teacher — reluctantly divulged
their secret: though they are stalwarts in the local Republican Party,
they are planning to vote Democratic this year.

"I feel like a complete traitor, and if you'd asked me four months ago,
the answer would have been different," said the judge, after assurances
of anonymity. "But we are really disgusted. It's the lies, the war, the
economy. We have very good friends who are staunch Republicans, who
don't even want to hear the name George Bush anymore."

In 2000, Mr. Bush won here in Ohio with 50 percent of the popular vote,
as against 46.5 percent for Al Gore.

George Meagher, a Republican who founded and now runs the American
Military Museum in Charleston, S.C., said he threw his "heart and soul"
into the Bush campaign four years ago. He organized veterans to attend
campaign events, including the campaign's kickoff speech at the Citadel.
He even has photographs of himself and his wife with Mr. Bush.

"Given the outcome and how dissatisfied I am with the administration,
it's hard to think about now," he said. "People like me, we're all
choking a bit at not supporting the president. But when I think about
500 people killed and what we've done to Iraq. And what we've done to
our country. I mean, we're already $2 trillion in debt again."

A nationwide CBS News poll released Feb. 16 found that 11 percent of
people who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 now say they will vote for the
Democratic candidate this fall. But there was some falloff among those
who voted against him as well. Five percent of people who said they
voted for Mr. Gore in 2000 say this time they will back Mr. Bush.

On individual issues, the poll found some discontent among Republicans
but substantial discontent among independents. For instance, on handling
the nation's economy, 19 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of
independents said they disapproved of the job Mr. Bush was doing.

"As the president's job rating has fallen, his Democratic supporters
have pulled away first, then the independents and now we're starting to
see a bit of erosion among the Republicans, who used to support him
pretty unanimously," said Evans Witt, the chief executive of Princeton
Survey Research Associates. "If 10 to 15 percent of Republicans do not
support him anymore, that is not trivial for Bush's re-election."

But Matthew Dowd, the Bush campaign's chief strategist, suggested that
no one in the White House was worried about Mr. Bush's losing much of
his base. He said polls continued to show that the president was
enjoying the support of 90 percent of Republicans.

Many of those interviewed said that they had experienced a growing
disenchantment with the conflict in Iraq over many months, but that only
recently had they decided to change their votes.

A number said they had been deeply disturbed by recent statements of
David A. Kay, the former United Nations weapons inspector, who said he
was skeptical about administration claims that Iraq possessed
unconventional weapons.

"The lack of evidence on Iraq has really hurt him, and the economy here
is bad — there's a lot of unemployment in the mills," said Phyllis
Pierce, who is in the steel business in Cleveland and recently decided
not to vote for Mr. Bush again.

John Scarnado, a sales manager from Austin, Tex., who voted for Mr. Bush
in 2000, said he would vote for Mr. Kerry if the senator won the
Democratic nomination.

"I'm upset about Iraq and the vice president and his affiliation with
Halliburton," said Mr. Scarnado, a registered Republican who said that
he had not always voted along party lines. "I think the Bush
administration is coming out to look like old boy politics, and I don't
have a good feel about that."

Many of those wavering in their loyalty to Mr. Bush were middle-class
voters who said that his tax relief programs had disproportionately
helped the wealthy.

"I voted for him, but it seems like he's just taking care of his rich
buddies now," said Mike Cross, a farmer from Londonderry, N.H., adding,
"I'm not a great fan of John Kerry, but I've had enough of President
Bush."


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Bush goes out the door in 2004