{"id":1292,"date":"2004-02-23T10:47:45","date_gmt":"2004-02-23T15:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/1292.html"},"modified":"2004-02-23T10:47:45","modified_gmt":"2004-02-23T15:47:45","slug":"nyt-on-disenchanted-bush-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/nyt-on-disenchanted-bush-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"NYT on ‘disenchanted Bush voters’"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know stories like this one<\/a> are filled with subjective anecdotes that are inherently unreliable, but, if nothing else, they’re a morale booster.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reportedly conducted “dozens of random interviews around the country,” and found a bunch of independents and Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000 who “say they intend to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate this year.”<\/p>\n

The general conclusions drawn by the article weren’t bolstered by specific poll results. Rather, it was more a story consisting of a bunch of quotes from regular people who voted for Bush last time but won’t make the same mistake twice.<\/p>\n

That said, the quotes sure were encouraging.<\/p>\n

In the 2000 presidential election, Bill Flanagan a semiretired newspaper worker, happily voted for George W. Bush. But now, shaking his head, he vows, “Never again.”<\/p>\n

“The combination of lies and boys coming home in body bags is just too awful,” Mr. Flanagan said, drinking coffee and reading newspapers at the local mall. “I could vote for Kerry. I could vote for any Democrat unless he’s a real dummy.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nThe article noted that most of these voters — which presumably came from a vaguely-scientific random sample — supported the war in Iraq, but have since become skeptical about Bush’s decision-making and priorities. Others described themselves as fiscal conservatives who disapprove of Bush’s irresponsibility with the budget.<\/p>\n

While sharing a sandwich at the stylish Beachwood Mall in this Cleveland suburb, one older couple — a judge and a teacher — reluctantly divulged their secret: though they are stalwarts in the local Republican Party, they are planning to vote Democratic this year.<\/p>\n

“I feel like a complete traitor, and if you’d asked me four months ago, the answer would have been different,” said the judge, after assurances of anonymity. “But we are really disgusted. It’s the lies, the war, the economy. We have very good friends who are staunch Republicans, who don’t even want to hear the name George Bush anymore.”<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

George Meagher, a Republican who founded and now runs the American Military Museum in Charleston, S.C., said he threw his “heart and soul” into the Bush campaign four years ago. He organized veterans to attend campaign events, including the campaign’s kickoff speech at the Citadel. He even has photographs of himself and his wife with Mr. Bush.<\/p>\n

“Given the outcome and how dissatisfied I am with the administration, it’s hard to think about now,” he said. “People like me, we’re all choking a bit at not supporting the president. But when I think about 500 people killed and what we’ve done to Iraq. And what we’ve done to our country. I mean, we’re already $2 trillion in debt again.”<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

John Scarnado, a sales manager from Austin, Tex., who voted for Mr. Bush in 2000, said he would vote for Mr. Kerry if the senator won the Democratic nomination.<\/p>\n

“I’m upset about Iraq and the vice president and his affiliation with Halliburton,” said Mr. Scarnado, a registered Republican who said that he had not always voted along party lines. “I think the Bush administration is coming out to look like old boy politics, and I don’t have a good feel about that.”<\/p>\n

Many of those wavering in their loyalty to Mr. Bush were middle-class voters who said that his tax relief programs had disproportionately helped the wealthy.<\/p>\n

“I voted for him, but it seems like he’s just taking care of his rich buddies now,” said Mike Cross, a farmer from Londonderry, N.H., adding, “I’m not a great fan of John Kerry, but I’ve had enough of President Bush.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like I said, these are just anecdotes on top of anecdotes, but it’s the kind of story that feeds the general perception of Bush’s prospects. I’m still a little skeptical about the reliability of articles like these, but I can’t help but enjoy a bunch of quotes from former Bush backers who plan to vote Dem in November.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know stories like this one are filled with subjective anecdotes that are inherently unreliable, but, if nothing else, they’re a morale booster. The New York Times reportedly conducted “dozens of random interviews around the country,” and found a bunch of independents and Republicans who voted for Bush in 2000 who “say they intend to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}