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I believe you are daydreaming here. Where were Mr. and Mrs. Rational-substance-based in the lead-up to Iraq?
Have you ever heard of people changing their minds about things? Learning their lessons?
Americans were overwhelmingly in favor of the war. Now they're against it.
Americans were overwhelmingly supportive of Bush. Now they hate him.
Americans were overwhelmingly voting for Republicans. Now they identify as Democrats.
If they're such irrational simpletons impervious to the outside world (in contrast, of course, to you), then how do you explain those changes?
How do you account for more than a few thousand Republican votes in any given national election?
Millions of Americans care about things you probably don't care about -- they care about abortion and cultural issues and gun rights and the like and thus get convinced that Republicans serve their interests better. You can disagree with their views all you want, but the fact that someone has different priorities than you doesn't make them dumb and irrational and you smart and rational.
The confused pundits are right on this one. The American Voter is conflicted over who can best return their entitlement to BigMacs-in-the-SUV-towing-the-new-speedboat, U.S. Strength, and DisneyWorld summers versus a regressive pull toward a fantasized family with a war-hero daddy and fuckable mommy who are Right with the Lord. They are sincerely torn.
The polls don't show them torn. They show the young, previously-unknown, skinny black male from Chicago winning decisively over the white conservative war hero.
