Whenever TV news channels do their coverage on election night, invariably sometime during the evening, someone will utter the phrase, “(insert new channel) projects (insert candidate’s name) to be the winner…” Well, even though the US presidential election is still two months away, the political analysts here at erwintang.com are ready to make a confident projection.
erwintang.com projects that George W. Bush will win re-election as President of the United States.
So, you must be wondering if this projection was made with any real analysis or if I did it off the top of my head. Yes, I did do some thinking about it, though I didn’t analyze any polls. The whole reason why I have made this projection is based on one conclusion I have made: the average American voter has completely lost all common sense and the ability to use logic. Why do I think this? Allow me to explain.
We’ll deal with the invasion of Iraq first, since it’s the one point I can’t seem to understand the most. Ok, so on September 11, 2001, al-Qaida operatives, at the direction of Osama bin Laden, crashed two hijacked airliners into the World Trade Centre in New York City. All intelligence points towards bin Laden as the mastermind. Bush rallies the world behind his cause, and the hunt begins in Afghanistan for bin Laden and his supporters. Unfortunately, he is not found. The search continues for weeks, months, and now years.
In the meantime, Bush worked in the background to link Iraq with al-Qaida. He attempted to find evidence of “weapons of mass destruction” programs in Iraq. On January 28, 2003, Bush delivered his State of the Union address in which he outlined the “danger” that Iraq posed to the United States. The claims he made though, were completely overstated. The claim that Iraq pursued uranium from Africa was made from bad intelligence. And those, much vaunted WMDs? Over a year later after the invasion, there is still no hard evidence of their existence.
Nearly a year and a half since the occupation of Iraq began, the justifications for going to war seem extremely weak. Yet somehow, the Bush administration’s bending of reality has led 7 out of 10 Americans to believe that Iraq was involved with the terrorist attacks of 9/11, even though no evidence of this exists. Does this bother anyone else as much as it does me?
As an American, I would start putting the pieces together: nearly a thousand American lives lost in Iraq so far for a war that is still looking for real justification, a misleading of the American public, and a failure to concentrate on Afghanistan where bin Laden still hides. Why doesn’t anyone ask why there are more troops in Iraq than in Afghanistan?
Yet over 50% of Americans still believe it was the right thing to do to invade Iraq. Why?
Back to my original argument: the average American voter has completely lost all common sense and the ability to use logic. The average American voter has no desire to examine facts or to think for themselves. I believe that after 9/11, the average American voter was looking for the US to attack any Arab country, no matter who it was, and no matter what justifications came along. As long Bush took military action in the Middle East, most Americans would support him regardless. That he invaded Iraq was good enough. The fact that the presidential race is a dead heat proves that the Iraq debacle had amazingly, no effect on the public.
Second, let’s deal with the whole swift boat issue with John Kerry. Not surprisingly, Americans want a president who can take decisive, thoughtful, and confident military decisions. Let’s compare the candidates, starting with Bush first. Bush has never been in combat and his military service consisted merely of flying Air National Guard jets over the unfriendly skies of Texas. Questions still remain whether or not Bush indeed fully complete his ANG requirements. Now, we turn to John Kerry. He enlisted to serve in Vietnam and saw combat on several occasions. By the time the war ended, he was decorated with two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star. Unfortunately, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group dumped a whole boatload of BS on Kerry’s record. And like a newborn piglet, the American public lapped it up like so much milk from a sow’s teat.
For me, this one is a complete no-brainer. Kerry served in the military. I’m not talking about flying planes over oil fields, Kerry saw combat in Vietnam. He saw what war, bullets, and bombs did to soldiers. I would know he knew what the consequences of war would be. I would trust he knew what it meant to go to war and that it would not and could not be a lightly regarded decision. I’d also know that if he did go to war, his resolve would be strong, to the tune of two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, and a Silver Star. Despite all this, most Americans still believe Bush would do a better job protecting the US from terrorists.
Why? Because I believe the average American voter has completely lost all common sense and the ability to use logic.
I could go on with more examples of average Americans eating up other lies and half-truths, but I want to go to bed. Thus, I will make my concluding remarks. Despite all the reasons not to vote for Bush, despite what common sense tells us, an overwhelming percentage of Americans will vote for Bush in November. The sooner everyone realizes this, the sooner we can get ready for the next set of conflicts in North Korea and Iran.