The religious side of things can't be ignored in terms of getting him votes, certainly. I may be remembering wrong, but I had the impression at the time of the 2000 election that Bush was going for a "good ol' boy" presentation of himself, as an Average Guy that Joe Shmoe Public could relate to (and thus vote for). It wasn't the core reason for him to be voted in, but it was a part of it - hell, I remember there being an upswing in Al Gore's popularity after he kissed his wife at the end of some speech, on the basis that it showed the guy "had passion". Which is just about as horrifying as Tony Blair trying to leverage credibility/support on the basis of having been in a band as a student...
But you have to remember that those upswings in popularity, if they really exist, are based on really suspect polling practices. I think it's true that Americans responded to seeing more personality from Gore, and while I'm sure it's part of what influences the vote, I don't think it's as important as some are making it out to be. Sure, a lot of retardonaut Americans wanted to have a beer with Bush, but I bet that while they had that beer, they'd also want to hear him say "We gon' bomb us some A-rabs and give ya a tax cut!"
As for Bush's policies, you've got me there. The 2004 election was interesting to watch, in a rubbernecking sort of way, in that you had all these people saying they weren't going to vote for Bush for any of many reasons, and then a while later they were admitting that actually they did vote for him, because he was going to bring in tax breaks that would suit them. Which in and of itself is fine, only for the spending the preceding months talking about how awful he was and how they wouldn't vote for him...
Honestly, I still don't know what to make of the 2004 election. Something about it doesn't really add up at all. Well, a lot doesn't add up, truthfully.
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Date: 2008-03-29 08:00 pm (UTC)But you have to remember that those upswings in popularity, if they really exist, are based on really suspect polling practices. I think it's true that Americans responded to seeing more personality from Gore, and while I'm sure it's part of what influences the vote, I don't think it's as important as some are making it out to be. Sure, a lot of retardonaut Americans wanted to have a beer with Bush, but I bet that while they had that beer, they'd also want to hear him say "We gon' bomb us some A-rabs and give ya a tax cut!"
As for Bush's policies, you've got me there. The 2004 election was interesting to watch, in a rubbernecking sort of way, in that you had all these people saying they weren't going to vote for Bush for any of many reasons, and then a while later they were admitting that actually they did vote for him, because he was going to bring in tax breaks that would suit them. Which in and of itself is fine, only for the spending the preceding months talking about how awful he was and how they wouldn't vote for him...
Honestly, I still don't know what to make of the 2004 election. Something about it doesn't really add up at all. Well, a lot doesn't add up, truthfully.