posted on February 10, 2004 12:12:28 PM new
What I find most intereting about this article is that conservative political experts are saying that the same issues that that conservative poster here on the board brush off as irrelevent and rabble rousing by liberals real are problems. I also find the employment stat to be interesting considering the numbers that Linda generally quotes.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some of George W. Bush's conservative political supporters are increasingly restive and anxious about the president's economic policies as well as his attempts to justify the war against Iraq (news - web sites).
Popular conservative television news anchor Bill O'Reilly, usually an outspoken Bush loyalist, said on Tuesday he was now skeptical about the Bush administration and apologized to viewers for supporting prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
"I was wrong. I am not pleased about it at all and I think all Americans should be concerned about this," O'Reilly said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."
Pollster John Zogby said Bush was on the defensive with some polls showing him slightly behind Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites), his probable Democratic opponent in the Nov. 2 presidential election.
"The president is on the ropes right now. The question is, how will he adjust? Right now, the issues are not in his favor. Many Americans still think the economy is poor and his rationale for the Iraq war seems a little thin," he said.
"Bush's greatest asset was his unimpeachable integrity in the eyes of most Americans. But with no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that integrity has been chipped away and right now some large lumps are falling off it," Zogby said.
Bush's White House interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday was designed to calm some of these doubts. But while some pundits gave Bush good marks for his performance, some prominent conservatives were not impressed.
'TIRED AND UNSURE'
Peggy Noonan, a speechwriter for former President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and for Bush's father and an outspoken conservative commentator, said: "The president seemed tired, unsure and often bumbling. His answers were repetitive, and when he tried to clarify them he tended to make them worse. He seemed in some way disconnected from the event."
Conservative columnists George Will and Robert Novak and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough, now a cable TV commentator, have also recently criticized Bush's fiscal programs and his attempts to explain them.
Such doubts, if they persist, could spell trouble for Bush's re-election campaign. But conservative political consultant Keith Appell said Bush would soon be able to unify and energize his base.
"The White House has had a string of misfires but I believe they will soon regain their stride. This last month has been a wake-up call, but maybe that's what they needed," he said.
In the past month, Bush's State of the Union Address and his initiative to send manned spacecraft to Mars failed to generate much enthusiasm. Conservatives and liberals both criticized his budget for failing to seriously confront the country's growing deficit problem.
On Monday, Bush delivered an economic report to Congress promising to create 2.6 million jobs this year. Last year's economic report predicted that 1.7 million jobs would be created. Instead, there was a net loss of 53,000.
"Congress has the power to censure the president -- to formally reprimand him for betraying the nation's trust. If ever there was a time for this, it's now," the group said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Democrats hope they can plant seeds of doubt now. "If you can create a drumbeat of criticism in February, it's easier to make the case when it really counts in September and October," said Democratic consultant Jennifer Laszlo.
But Brown University political scientist Darrell West said he expected Bush to recover. "It's damaging when your friends criticize you in public, but by November they will all be supporting Bush," he said.
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If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on February 10, 2004 02:13:19 PM new
Bill O'Reilly's support of the President begins to waver.....serious stuff.....
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posted on February 10, 2004 03:06:05 PM new
My best friend and I are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. How we manage to pull off a binding love for one another despite her obvious flaws, haha, might well speak to the last sentence of that article you posted, Fenix.
I have learned, however, that people who despise George Bush the man will go ahead and support George Bush the Republican. Come to think of it, such a stance is not all that different from my own when it comes to voting: I don't like Kerry the man, but if he's my sole alternative to Bush ( -the man or republican) I'll vote for him.
If only someone viable would jump in now and sweep us to a New Frontier. Or at least offer one...
posted on February 10, 2004 03:36:42 PM newI also find the employment stat to be interesting considering the numbers that Linda generally quotes. LOL You saying that now the US Department of Labor website is being untruthful?
posted on February 10, 2004 03:56:33 PM new
No linda - I'm saying that the employment rates that you quote do not seem to take into effect those whose benefits have run out. Otherwise, how do you explain rising employment in ann atmosphere of shrinking jobs.
Seriously. Not being sarcastic or meanspirited. If the was a net loss of 53,000 jobs last year, how could unemployment rates have decreased?
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on February 10, 2004 04:28:49 PM new
The same way they can say there is no inflation but every important thing I need to buy is more expensive than last year.
There are as they say lies, damn lies, and statistics.
They cook the system to yield a rosey report.
posted on February 10, 2004 05:03:44 PM new
Experts: Bush jobs forecast optimistic
The U.S. economy, to match the White House's jobs forecast, would have to churn out well over 220,000 new jobs each month for the rest of the year, economists say. Last month, just 112,000 jobs were added - the biggest monthly gain in three years.
posted on February 10, 2004 07:12:35 PM new
In response to your second link, Kiara:
"In Bush's three years in office, 2.2 million jobs have disappeared."
"Since the Great Depression, it has never taken this long for the economy to begin creating jobs after emerging from a recession. After the last recession ended in 1991, it took 14 months for employment to begin expanding. Current problems with the economy have gone on nearly twice as long, 26 months."
The only way overseas jobs are going to 'help' the U.S. economy is by continuing to supply sub-standard goods to discount merchant outlets like Wal-mart who pay minimum wage and no benefits while catering to the ever-growing segment of poor Americans who can't afford to buy anything but the imported clothing/linens/housewares offered by such rapacious establishments. It's short-term 'help', achieved fifty cents at a time, that doesn't improve one's life one whit but enables him to stay one step ahead of his dwindling paycheck, while looking over his shoulder in shame at the fellow Americans he's been forced to abandon by purchasing cheap foreign goods.
Probably, George Bush does see Wal-mart's nine-dollar-jeans as a "good deal" -- what he doesn't see is that we used to make good jeans here, employing thousands of Americans in the process, and that most of us would rather buy Levi's made in America than some off-brand inferior-quality denims from China (or Ecuador or Peru or India).
We don't have a choice anymore, though; I guess that's just another sparkling example of The New World Order Bush the First inaugurated...
posted on February 10, 2004 07:30:44 PM new
Wow, I cant believe Bill O'Reilly said he was wrong! Did he get struck by lightening or something?
The more you shop and look; hardly anything says American made anymore. It's a pretty sad fact for our culture.
Cnn's Lou Dobbs was doing a series this week on U.S. job exportation. I missed most of it, but from what I did see - it appears it will be getting worse before it gets better. Employers complain they cant pay the health insurance, ,blah, blah, blah.
Why is everything frig*** thing always about the money??
posted on February 10, 2004 07:39:52 PM new
Pat, it reminds me of that speech that President Bush made a year or so ago about strengthening the American economy and all the boxes behind him had the words Made in China on them but the words had tape stuck over them.
posted on February 10, 2004 08:14:16 PM new
It really is that way, Kiara. I was at Orchard Supply Hardware a few days ago, looking for a "die". The one I wanted wasn't readily apparent on the 'Tool Corral' (caged environment) shelves, so I asked the clerk ( -one can't enter or exit the 'Tool Corral' without meeting this special clerk) if she had what I wanted in stock. She then waved her arm behind herself exasperatedly at a tower of shipping boxes she'd not yet had the time to unpack and load onto the shelves. Every one of those boxes had 'MADE IN CHINA' stamped on it.
I told her to take it easy and went home to consider my options:
1) I could get online and buy the exact same die I was after from harborfreight.com at a fraction of the cost OSH would overwrite onto me -- the same tool, made in China
2) I could go to Sears and pay three times as much for a tool that was guaranteed, but still made in China
3) I could simply go to my beloved family-owned-for-89-years hardware store downtown and pay a little extra to have some bolt stock threaded to my specifications, with a smile and some pleasant chat with whichever employee who helped me. (I know them all.)
I chose option 3, because I know that terrific downtown hardware store is not going to last, and I only sought the die because I wasn't willing to trust anyone but myself to thread my stock. But they have the most knowledgeable staff on earth, yet they can't possibly compete with the hardware conglomerates in the area.
We are losing something great and cherished in America day by day; it's called competence and variety, it's called my local Mom & Pop grocery store (I'll post about that some other day) ; it's called my all-time favorite hardware store; it's called the gift shop; the independent greeting card store; the stationery store that sells writing curiosities one just can't find on the Internet; the cheese shoppe that imports specialzed stilton rounds from Guernsey. Most of all, we're losing (have already nearly lost) the humanity that used to accompany the bulk of our transactions.
And yep, I miss it sorely...
posted on February 10, 2004 09:22:39 PM new
Pat, the very same thing is happening here and it's been happening for several years now. All the small Mom and Pop stores are disappearing as the big chain stores come in.
posted on February 10, 2004 09:29:00 PM new
So... the New World Order is part of Canada's policy too, Kiara?
I read a lot and I have everything from conspiracy theories to World Health Organization predictions to cull from when I think about what might happen next.
In the best of circumstances, it won't be pretty...
posted on February 10, 2004 09:58:49 PM new
I don't really think it's Canada's policy. It's just big business moving in and taking over, much the same way it's happening on ebay right now.
It's also the fault of the consumer, wanting lower and lower prices. Though they complain they seem to be satisfied with inferior products and then just throw them away when they break down and they run out and buy new ones.
posted on February 10, 2004 10:12:25 PM new
And where do you sit in that scheme of things, Kiara?
Do the strip malls and high-density dwellings just overrun your once-tranquil neighborhood? And do you then move on? Or get used to it?
I really would like to know how these American 'conveniences' have managed to replicate themselves in every corner of the middle-class world in Canada. (No, I don't expect you to know the answer to that but I would like to know how such 'conformitization' -- hey, did I just invent a word?! -- has affected you personally. For example, is it weird that your clothes cleaners is on your block, or is it an unexpected benefit of where you live? )
Krafty, you chime in, too, if you're willing. What's 'real life' like where you are?
posted on February 10, 2004 11:14:21 PM new
I no longer shop in some of the Mom and Pop stores because they've gone to suppliers behind my back and brought in the same giftware and jewelry that I sold so I take it personally. Before, businesses used to try to work together to be different from one another but there doesn't seem to be the same respect out there now. Everyone is stepping on everyone else to survive.
Running a small business is much harder these days. Not only do I compete with big business, I compete with spoiled young people who have their wealthy parents set them up in business overnight. There are bored housewives who have rich husbands who set them up in fancy little gift shops so they can "play store". Most don't last long when they find out it's work, others can afford to hire someone to stand there and run it so it's another bite out of the pie.
Do the strip malls and high-density dwellings just overrun your once-tranquil neighborhood? And do you then move on? Or get used to it?
It's happening here now at great speed. I haven't quite decided what to do and probably won't move unless taxes get too high as I take advantage of many of the services (like the cleaners) and I like the location of my home. Moving to a more rural area isn't always a solution either because of the rising gas prices and all the cut-backs that the government has done.
Services that were offered at smaller hospitals are no longer available and have been moved to other bigger hospitals so if anyone in the family gets ill that is a problem. So far this hasn't affected me but it has affected family members and friends.
Over all, Canada is quite developed and has never been that far behind the US in anything that happens. Our stores have much the same products as yours. I'm not sure if you have Smarties yet?
We have always had US TV available so are quite aware of your country. Sometimes we are way ahead of you, high speed internet being just one example.
posted on February 10, 2004 11:53:28 PM new
LOL about the smarties!
As far as my business, I'm exploring some new ways of doing it now and I'm trying to get smarter.
In the 60's when the hippies were in the Haight Ashbury region, the same thing was happening at 4th Ave and the Kitsilano region of Vancouver and it didn't take long for LSD and other drugs to move to the smaller communities.
Marijuana was being smoked in some of the downtown bars at that same time. The cops must have been aware of it but those bars had very few fights unless the loggers came into town and started harassing the hippies. Some young men returning from Vietnam favored those bars and went there to escape.
The last research I did, I found that population-wise, there are about the same number of gun owners in Canada as in the US.
Edited to add that is for rifles and shotguns, not handguns.
When one considers only rifles and shotguns, Canadians and Americans have virtually identical rates of firearm ownership; especially in western Canada.
posted on February 11, 2004 12:47:36 PM new
"In the 60's when the hippies were in the Haight Ashbury region, the same thing was happening at 4th Ave and the Kitsilano region of Vancouver and it didn't take long for LSD and other drugs to move to the smaller communities."
It's always fascinated me that drugs swept into North American communities all at once, on practically the same day; that distribution of them was so well organized right from the start; that they were priced like candy, so the kiddies could get in on all the "fun" too...
posted on February 11, 2004 12:55:21 PM new
LSD was legal for some time. Black people were smoking weed for decades before the white culture used it for recreation purposes.
