BUSH VOTERS

This question has bugged me for the past week. Who/Where the hell are these 59 million people who voted for Bush? I ask that because I've begun to realize that hardly anyone that I interact with on a regular basis-friends, colleagues, business associates, clients-is conservative.

If I were to analyze my social circle, I can only identify a mere handful that voted for Bush and even then, most, if not all of these folks are moderate conservatives or right-leaning independents. I personally don't know anyone who is a James Dobson-loving, hell-will-break-loose-if-we-support-gay-marriage type nut job that is a core component of the Bush supporter base.

Sure, the counter argument would be that I choose to flock with birds of the same feather and I will admit that that is true. There is no way in hell I would want to be remotely associated with a gun-loving, gay-hating, Rush Limbaugh-listening, Fox News only-watching lunatic. Call me a liberal elitist but I literally get a sick feeling in my stomach everytime I just happen to flip through Fox News and listen to Hannity or O'Reilly spout their right-wing horseshit which frankly appeals to 3 groups of people; the neo-cons who brought this country Iraq and have no plan on how to get troops out of there, traditional Federalist Society type conservatives like Bork who want to eliminate social welfare, even to those who need it most like the handicapped, and the social conservatives in the South, many of whom have not had any kind of education beyond high school, have never been out of the country and believe that it is more important to prevent gays from getting married that it is to put food on the table or send their kids to college.

However, recently, I've come to realize that it's not only my personal friends that are liberal or moderately liberal, but also a vast majority of my business associates and colleagues.

At the office, I sit amongst a cadre of open-minded, well-traveled, well-read individuals who are just as, or even more liberal than I am, although Cortney thinks that I sometimes take my conservative-detesting rhetoric too far, and probably rightfully so as well. My direct superior, who works from her home office in San Antonio, and my director who works out my company's Deroit office, are both liberal as well.

A key part of my job entails meeting and working with sales reps from the various media properties out there. I spend a good part of my time at work interacting with them, either on the phone or in person. There are plenty of times during business lunches of dinners when the conversation topic strays into politics which is when I find out which side of the political fence the person is sitting on. I have yet to meet anyone from this group who doesn't think that Bush's job performance so far on all fronts, domestic & foreign, has been far from ideal, to say the least.

Hence, if the vast majority of my friends, colleagues and business associates disagree with what Bush stands for, who the hell are these 59m who voted for him last year? My buddy Will seems to think that many of these folks are actually embarrassed to admit that they voted for Bush given how things have gone for this country this year with regards to the death toll in Iraq, gas prices, the handling of the rescue efforts post-Katrina, and of course, how dear old Scooter Libby might be looking at spending some serious time behind bars. Even if that is the case, that is hardly anything to crow about. Bottom line, the free world is stuck with a moron at its helm for the next 3 years. Our only hope is that other world leaders stand up to Bush and oppose his neo-conservative agenda which threatens to evoke global hegemony. For the sake of future generations, it is pivotal that Berlusconi, Hu, Chirac, Blair and company get their act together soon.