Biggest Reasons Kerry Lost in 2004

[wmspringer]

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What I'm saying is that most people don't know enough of the facts to make what would be the best decision for themself.

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This is why Kerry and Gore lost. This attitude right here.

The American people are smarter than you think.

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He didn't say anything about intelligence. He said most people don't know the facts, which is true; most of the population doesn't care enough to spend the time required for a firm grasp of the implications of various policy decisions, so they go for simple things like "I'll vote for Bush because he's against taxes"

Although, not being able to tell the difference between insufficent information and intelligence might imply an intelligence problem as well..

[wmspringer]

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personally I think anyone who actually listened to the SBVFT was absolutely unshakeable by the facts.


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[wmspringer]

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I think it is negative for that reason, but also when you are a Senator for as long a Kerry has been, you have a long record of votes and statements that can be used against you.

[/ QUOTE ]Also with the way Senate rules are, amendments totally unrelated to a particular bill can be attached and often you have to vote for some pretty ridiculous amendments to get a bill through.

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Or refuse to vote for it because the amendments are unacceptable...remember how much Kerry got hammered for that?

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This is not the case in Congress.

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Huh?

[wmspringer]

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My take is that it is basically just a symptom of the current political climate. I dont think anyone really thought it would be a runaway victory for either candidate.

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I used to browse republican boards to see if they were saying anything interesting, and they all assured me Bush would win in a landslide.

They also said (particularly on Coultier's site) that they were ready to start a civil war if he somehow lost, but I'd tend to doubt it.

[warlockjd]

Because the gay marriage issue was on a lot of state ballots and brought out the biggots

[warlockjd]

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The biggest reason they lost was for policy reasons. People turned out in big numbers to vote against surrenderism, tax increases, and other liberal policies.

It is a mistake to always turn election results into personality contests. People vote politics a lot more than you may think.

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This is incorrect. CNN exit polls found that most Bush supporters thought they were voting for the opposite position that Bush takes.

I can't find the link to that one, but there's a lot more info here.

[warlockjd]

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Bush won Florida fairly.


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I know the Right Wing Noise Machine is loud, but this is simply untrue.

Any standard that counted all votes where the voter's intent was clear had Gore winning.

[warlockjd]

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when it comes to media manipulation/marketing, these GOP guys are *good*.

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Also the public is stupid and intellectually lazy, which makes it so effective.

[tylerdurden]

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Bush won Florida fairly.


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I know the Right Wing Noise Machine is loud, but this is simply untrue.

Any standard that counted all votes where the voter's intent was clear had Gore winning.

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He said "fairly" not "ideally". According to the rules, Bush won. Gore could have requested a statewide recount, which not only would have been more fair, but would have given him the win, but decided to only request targeted counties where he calculated he could pick up more votes than Bush would.

[Matty]

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Huh?

[/ QUOTE ]HoR rules are necessarily more strict since they have so many more members. It is my impression that amendments unrelated to a particular bill cannot be added to a bill, and there are procedures for attaching amendments as well.