Pat,

No, I do not think those who backed Bush are idiots. I feel they were persuaded by his message. I feel they were taken advantage of as well. And doing such a thing says more about a politician than it does the people. WE want to believe in our elected leaders and at it's basic level, there is nothing wrong with that.

While I have never supported the war in Iraq for the reasons given (because every reason given to go there by the Bush Adminstration has turned out to be wrong or a lie), it might have been different if the case for war had been developed differently. For example, if Bush had said that regime change in Iraq is key to stability in the Middle East, that we are doing this for human rights issues and that we will have a true coalition to do so, it might have made a difference to me. But I do not think he chose this path because it probably could not have been sold to the American people. And to me, this is the true reason why the Bushies created all the fear out of the other reasons - they knew the righteous path would be harder to hoe, than the path paved out of fabrication.

Now this is an example of how Bush has and will manipulate the message. In our local paper, this is the headline on today's front page...

Bush to slice police grants

Local law enforcement, environment would suffer in latest round of proposals

(Here is the link to the story.... http://pjstar.com/stories/020605/NAT_B5GOMIFH.049.shtml)

Now, let us be perfectly honest here (and this is not a reduction of the horror of 9/11 or terrorism), what items are we really threatened by in this country? How many of us are really worried every day about a terrorist bomb going off near us versus that of being mugged, hit by a DUI driver, raped, murdered or victimized? My point is, there are many other more realistic fears out there but what is the Bush Adminstration doing? Cutting grants to police departments.

For those not in this field, police grants are a major source of assets to local police departments. Just where do people think money for DUI saturation patrols comes from? Or money for new technology? Or the money to hire new public safety workers?

As for the environment, cancer has now over taken heart disease as the number one killer of Americans. But look at what may be happening to this issue.

It's all in the message and how it is sold and how the people receive it.

Lastly, while Kerry has had a life of privilige, he has sacrificed in ways Bush never did. While Bush was living the Miller High Life, Kerry was in Vietnam and after that worked as a prosecutor. In other words, he carried his water, unlike Bush. There is a huge difference.

But don't get me wrong, I don't think a person of weath can't be a great person, but I also believe we can see right through it if we look hard enough.