I was at a Move-On vigil last evening to protest Bush and his Illegal Wire-tapping. There were approximately 500 of us signed up and we stood in front of Federal Hall on Wall St. and read the sections of the Constitution that pertain to privacy. While we were doing so people walked casually by us on their way home from work, most paying no attention to us. One man in his 40’s passed by us and screamed at us, shouting ‘W’ is great, ‘W’ over and over again. This of course made us read even louder to drown him out. The thought that 500 of us peacefully reading the incredible document that makes this country possible would threaten him so amazed me.
It got me thinking about the 39% approval rating that never seems to sink lower. Everyone keeps talking about the 53% rating Bush had for so long (even higher after Sept. 11) and how much it has fallen but that isn’t enough for me. I want to know who these 39% of Americans are and why no matter that Bush screws up everything he touches as President, no matter who Cheney shoots, no matter how many lies were told to get our soldiers into Iraq. these people will not demand better. They will neither leave their Party nor reform it, they consistently stand behind inferior performance, subterfuge, lies, cronyism, divisive jingoism and massive corruption.
The 39% show up at rallies and give him unlimited photo ops. They donate to he and the GOP with religious fervor. They defend him with bullying rhetoric devoid of facts. The only conclusion I can come to after 5 years of living with these people is that they willfully live in massive denial of facts and are in some cult of personality where he and the GOP are concerned. No matter how the deficit soars they see him as fiscally responsible. No matter that September 11th happened on his watch and he has never even come close to catching the mastermind he is ‘strong on terror’. He failed in his own service to this country and they seem him as a veteran capable of leading our armed forces. He doesn’t give them the body armor they desperately need as Commander-In-Chief yet they never blame him. He will not fire his horrible Secretary of Defense which exacerbates our debacle in the Middle East yet they do not demand a change, even to help our men and women fighting abroad.
After all we’ve been through together these past 5 years it seems incredible that 1 out of every 2 1/2 Americans is part of this group. I know many of these folks are Fundamentalists who believe he’ll change the laws on abortion. They also portend to believe in Christ’s teachings about the poor yet support a President who has supreme disregard for the poor and a downright passion for helping the wealthy. The rest of his cadre seems to be the wealthy who have access to education and supposedly take advantage of that but use that education soley for the acquisition of more wealth and not for the greater good.
The 39% baffle me and I wonder if it’s because I’m dealing in the rational world and irrationality combined with greed are their currency. The fact that the 39% aren’t going anywhere and are firmly planted frightens me. How do you turn a ship around when it’s hitting the rocks constantly and that large of a percentage of the population thinks it’s smooth sailing?
