Indulge me.

[kellinator]

For those of you who are planning to vote for Bush in November, would you please tell me why? Preferably a reason a little more nuanced than "Kerry's an asshole"?

Note: You're not going to change my mind on this. If the past four years haven't changed my mind, a fifty-word comment sure as hell isn't going to do it.

I'm just trying to understand. Right now nothing scares me more than the thought of four more years of Bush, but I know there are people I like and respect who disagree for whatever reason, and I want to know why, so I can at least try to understand.

No flaming. If I'm too slammed to post my DragonCon pictures (coming soon!), I'm sure as hell too busy to play referee. Play nice, folks.

Comments

[sujata.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this, Kelly. I've been sincerely trying to understand why thoughtful, honorable people would choose to vote for Bush, too. But while my family are Bush supporters, they are not thoughtful; it's no good asking them. The vast majority of my friends are either Democrats or (like me) democratic socialists, and can't really answer the question.

So I'm looking forward to this discussion. :-)

[kelliecoo.livejournal.com]

I have petty reasons for the way I vote. This one, I can't stand his wife. And I vote across the board. I voted for Clinton because I liked him, I may vote for Hillary. But I sure as hell won't vote for Kerry because his wife is a psycho!

[streamweaver.livejournal.com]

Why is usually pretty basic. It's ideology. The extreme Right Wing Bush represents, and make no mistake about it he does, is all about ideology. People may try to spout one reason or another but their arguments will always boil down to idealogical reasons instead of intellectual ones. They will pull out the 'he kicks much ass' reason without any real appreciation of how conficits develop, dictators rise and fall, and how terrorism is really supported. They'll also use reasons like "because I keep my money with taxes" with absolutly no clue what deficits mean and the potential harm of a collapsing infrastructure due to it. The third most common theme you'll hear will always revolve around pure ideology and include BS claims about moral leadership, or honestly, or even on the extreme end about returning God to the country.

I think people see this election as a pivitol point in our history because it probably it. The crossroad we're standing at as a nation is to take the road of reason or take the road of ideology, and really isn't that always the beginning of any great turn in history. I choose the road of reason myself.

[stevietee.livejournal.com]

A lot of people think that we shouldn't "change horses mid-stream" in the middle of the War on Terror. Now, even if we hypothetically grant that that's a good reason, then what the hell are we supposed to do if the "War" is continuous for decades? Change the Constitution so we can keep Bush around? Just keep voting Republican over and over again until we defeat terrorism throughout the world?

[fanagle.livejournal.com]

Interesting question. I have many friends that are voting for Bush, and I can't understand why. I'm going to copy you and post this myself.

[jphthebachelor.livejournal.com]

One of my very best friends and co-workers, "The Biggs Show" we call him, is a Bush supporter.
I've spent many a lunch hour debating the candidates with him. In this time, I've found that Biggs disagrees with Bush on almost every possible issue.
He opposes the Bush tax cut, the anti-gay marriage amendment, the war in Iraq, stricter mandatory minimums for Crack cocaine vs. powder, and the death penalty. He favors gun control, stricter environmental policy, and the land mine ban treaty.
SO why is he a Bush supporter?
One issue, abortion.
Biggs has a deeply held opposition to abortion. He sees Bush as the only chance for getting a more conservative Supreme Court, one who will over turn Roe V. Wade. While I may disagree with him, I respect Biggs for his opinion on this issue.
What I can't respect is the fact that he will chose, because of this one issue, to re-elect a man he himself has described as "the worst president of my lifetime, including Ford".
I've given up on trying to talk him into supporting Kerry. I'm trying to talk him into just not voting, or voting third party.
I think there are a lot of these types of single issue voters.

[skellington.livejournal.com]

I'm not voting for Bush, but I can give you four random sane reasons to do so:

1) A friend of a friend in NYC says "Under Bush, there's at least a 10% lower chance of NY getting nuked. Therefore, even though I completely disagree with him on almost everything else, I'm voting Bush." (Personally, I have doubts that Bush's approach decreases the odds of NYC getting nuked within the next 100 years, but that's just me.)

2) Kerry is way scarier than Bush on fiscal policy. His disclaimer that everything is "just fine" with Social Security, for example. (Me, I figure a republican congress and a democratic whitehouse will help rein in most of the excesses. But he still gives me the heeby-geebies on this, and it is almost enough to vote AGAINST him.)

3) You really agree with him on "pressing moral issues". Stem Cell Research. Abortion. No Sex Before Marriage (especially in African countries stricken with AIDS). No Sex At All. etc. And you really want him appointing more judges, inflicting his foreign policy on the world, etc. (These people see some of the actions in the world as the prelude to the events in Revelations. No Seriously.)

4) You're rich as **** and are making out like a bandit on his fiscal policies. It stinks to have to buy new politicians every 4 years.

Anyway, I'm voting Libertarian, since my vote in Georgia "Just Doesn't Matter" thanks to the Electoral College. My votes for other national offices will be decided based on the individual candidates, and the odds of Kerry winning the whitehouse.

And for what it's worth, Kerry (being hyper-liberal) was probably selected because of Nadar in 2000. If it hadn't been for Nadar, the Democratic party might have went for a more moderate candidate this time around. As it was, they wanted a more liberal candidate to eliminate some of Nadar's draw. So I'm happy to "throw my vote away" and hope that either the Republicans (or god forbid the Democrates) pay attention to us fiscal conservatives.

[meganinhiding.livejournal.com]

I have an ardently Republican brother-in-law who actually voted against Bush in 2000. I got the general impression that he was greatly underwhelmed by Bush's mental capacity. Also he's a doctor and most of the doctors I know of don't particularly like candidates who may conceivably interfere with medicine. I haven't heard him say much lately regarding the election.(I don't see much of him lately) I think much of his political allegiance comes from the fact that both his parents are loyal Republicans.

[jack-mccoy-fan1.livejournal.com]

One thing that I have noticed is that those few people that I know that are voting for Bush are single issue voters. Be it the abortion issue or the Cuba issue (older Cubans still hold a grudge since the Bay of Pigs) or they envision the US turning into a Theocratic state which of course scares the crap out of me.

I tend to look at the big picture and try to see how things are going to develop down the road. The fact that the current administration is not curious in the field of science and technology, not accepting and inclusive of all people regardless of race, religion or lifestyle that they are destroying the environment and that we are no safer today than we were on September 11, not to mention that I am not considered patriotic if I don't support the current administration, that is why I am going to vote for Kerry.

[parilous.livejournal.com]

My husband, who used to be Republican, then went Libertarian, and now, for the 1st time in his very active political life, will actually be voting for a Democrat had this to say:

"Republicans believe they are fighting a war of morality against the Left. They believe the Left is the undoing of society, will cause chaos, bring the second coming, etc, etc, etc. Even for those Republicans that aren't religious, fighting the Left is a moral war. That's why you hear them go on and on about the Left/Liberal media. That's why they can, in good conscience, slag off Kerry's war record when both of their candidates got easy assignments or deferrals from serving entirely. It's justified because this is a WAR."

Basically. That's not verbatim, but it's close.

What a great topic, though. I'm following it intently.

[orfeo517.livejournal.com]

I'm voting for Bush because I want to see the world fold into a flaming heap of sulfuric dung, and I'm sure Bush is the man who can make it happen. Kerry is too weak-kneed and compassionate. Where's the drama? With Bush, I know where I stand. I refuse to vote for a candidate who I may agree with from time to time!

this is not an answer to the question you asked

[zanzara.livejournal.com]

Well I could go deeply into the psychodynamics of the illness permeating this culture as evidenced by all things Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld...

But why waste the words?

Anyone dumb enough to vote for these people is not capable of understanding what I write and I won't waste my time.

It's all been said before by others far more eloquent...

Wow...

[cotharyus.livejournal.com]

Good to see lots of open minded people here.

The system is broken. One of the people running for president can effect some start of changes to the system. The other doesn't even realize the system has a problem.

I get sick of hearing this bullshit about Bush is going to try to rewrite the constitution so he can be president for the rest of eternity. First off, he won't live that long. Secondly, in case you fucktards didn't notice, there's this thing called checks an balances that prevents stupid shit like this from happening.

So, in closing, don't bother replying to this post, because I'm not going to look at this thread any more. I'm going to sit here, and polish my .45 auto, which one of two men running president defends my right to own. Most likely, not because he thinks I need it to defend the country, or shoot harmless furry creatures, but because he knows that the right to keep etc. is provided for in case someone does get stupid and try to take all of our freedoms away. There are more people that politians, and we can take the system back any time we want to.