W Gets Highest Popular Vote in US History

[cegerer]

I guess I can at least say I was part of that ..... please don't hold it against me that I'm from Mich who once again gave their Electoral Votes to a Liberal (51% to 48%). This is one of the biggest union-thug States in the country and these guys are 1-issue voters (i.e. vote for the guy who will support the union and forget about all other issues). I know many union members and they agree will nearly all conservative positions - except their precious unions.

It's pretty easy to see why W got the Pop vote. Much more approachable guy. He has his faults and even makes fun of them. Senator Kerry, even with camo and baseball caps just couldn't relate to us mouth-breathers.

[VaSteve]

Saying that W got the most popular vote in history is like saying the Yankees have won the most World Series. Think about it, there are more voters now than back in olden days when there were less people or less people able to vote (by one law or another). For the Yankees, they have that advantage not just because they have been good (to prevent flames ) but because they have been around since there was like only 8 teams.

The true measure would be number of voters divided by eligible voters. A sheer count, while impressive, doesn't tell the whole story. (I don't know what the outcome of the calculation would show, but I"m just pointing out that the press/media always comes up with some interesting, but semi-meaningless statistic.


cegerer: I hear ya on the one issue voters. For some people it pro-choice, some it's gay marriage, or taxes. It's a real shame that people vote that way, but boy aren't they ever targeted in that manner.

[Overpaid Slacker]

OK, there are more voters, but it's still a staggering idea -- if for the efficacy of GOP voter turnout than anything else.

Also, however, Bush's 51% of the popular vote is far better than Clinton did in 1992 (43% -- which was hailed at the time by our hack partisan media as an "overwhelming mandate for change") and in 1996 (49%).

I believe one of Bush's strengths vis-a-vis Kerry was that even if you disagreed with Bush, you pretty much knew where he stood on an issue. Americans are, by and large, a people of principled disagreement, and just holding a contrary opinion on a few issues is not necessarily toxic. Holding a few contrary opinions on the same issue is not going to fool many for long; even with a complicit media not making much of the matter.

ATEOTD, the Dems ran a campaign for which they could've substituted a stuffed sock for Kerry. It was not about him (how could it be, really?) it was about Not-Bush. "Plans to be named later" do not convince voters, nor do they back up hollow rhetoric.

The DNC needs to steer away from the Michael Moore fringe of the party and cultivate some ideas and ideals, or it will be a minority party for the foreseeable future.

On a personal note, as happy as I am about a Bush victory, I'm at least that happy about that *****bag Daschle getting the boot. "Disappointed" now, beeyatch?

JP