Hey, come on, progressives— buck up! There's been too much doom and gloom—especially among inside-the-beltway progressives—about John Kerry's chances on Nov. 2. Maybe they inherited an extra dour gene, or maybe they're spending too much time listening to pollsters and pundits. Of course there's the occasional discouraging campaign news, but don't wallow in it, for there's also greatly encouraging news:
• Yes, I know that some polls have shown Bush running even with Kerry or ahead—but the pollsters are vastly undercounting anti-Bush votes.
• Yes, I know that Kerry's charisma quotient ranks somewhere between that of Al Gore and Michael Dukakis—but John's been perking up lately, showing a bit of populist passion, striking some solid blows, and winning all three debates.
• Yes, I know that the Bushites are creepy-scary thugs who've shown that they'll lie, cheat, and steal to win, but they've been doing such things so often that their color-coded bag of tricks has lost credibility with the general public—the curtain has been pulled back, and the wizard has been revealed to be just a spoiled, insecure, petulant little son of a Bush.
Prediction: I believe George W. is a one-term president, just like his daddy was. I don't say this glibly, nor is it wishful thinking. My prediction is based on what I've seen at the grassroots level all across the country. As many of you Lowdowners know, I've been traveling practically nonstop since mid-July, going to 50-some cities and towns as part of my "Show Bush the Door in '04" tour. Using my new book (Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush) as a focal point, I've been crisscrossing America, speaking with folks in salons and saloons, labor halls and cow barns, bookstores and art museums, churches and theaters, on country fairgrounds, in civic centers, on campuses, in parks, and even inside neon-lit dance halls.
I find that people are onto the Bushites—and why wouldn't they be? Bush Inc. has spent nearly four years downsizing the middle-class, offshoring our best jobs, ignoring the growing cries for health care, gutting worker rights, unleashing corporate polluters and plunderers, defunding public education programs, bashing gays and lesbians, sending hundreds of thousands of our loved ones into a deadly war of lies, empowering federal agents to stomp on our liberties, making wholesale arrests of peaceful dissenters...(gosh, so much to list, so little space).
Bush's policies are all big fat ugly hogs. The White House has tried to pretty them up with a coat of bright glossy lipstick—but who wants to kiss a hog? Even many of the people who voted for the "compassionate conservative" in 2000 have since found themselves up close and personal with the raw ugliness of the Bushite agenda, and they want no part of "Four More Years"— a partisan chant that most Americans now view as a direct threat.
It's no idle threat, either, for various Bushites have talked ominously of "the next" agenda, including a push to privatize Social Security, a war with Iran (while continuing to maintain our current troop levels in occupied Iraq, thus raising the stark possibility of a draft), a national sales tax that'll shift practically all federal taxation from the wealthy to the middle- class and poor people, an all-out drive for more NAFTAs, deep cuts in funding for education and other essential public needs, Patriot Act II, and much more federal debt piled on the backs of our children. ... [ read more ]
What the hell's happening here? Why is my bank in the tank? And my house and job? And my retirement money? Even my state's teetering on the brink of broke! Who did this to us? Fair questions, but we're not getting honest answers. 
