Naomi Klein: Iraq Is A Text-Book Failure Of Neoconservatism

Wow!!! A bit lenghty but well worth the read. Once again reality is far exceeding what fiction could have possibly envisionned. Even if Klein slightly stretched her interpretation of events, it is certainly reminiscent of Stalin, but 10* worse. Many are certainly imagining how the neocons will cheat on the upcoming US November elections. What will they actually do -vs- what we imagine they will do: scary times indeed. These people need to be locked up away where they will no longer cause harm, never mind simply throwning them out of office.

<blockquote>Many are certainly imagining how the neocons will cheat on the upcoming US November elections.</blockquote><p> I'd like to get my prediction on record in <a href='http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65031,00.html?tw=rss.TOP'>advance</a><p> <p>---<br>"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill <br />

***DISCLAIMER: OFF MAIN TOPIC (but hopefully worthwile)*** Let's stretch our imagination on how the neocons can possibly cheat on November the 1st. Here is my forecast: the Terrorists have taken over the voting system and the US elections have been suspended until further notice. The President has raised the state of emergency to a new colour code (TBD). Or is this too mild still? Any other jaded doomsday forecast?

Naw, I don't see it as that bad. I just think they've been rushing headlong into the electronic voting thing, even though it's failed in several state level elections. It must be for some sort of reason.<p> Pen and paper has always worked before.<p> <p>---<br>"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill <br />

This is my worst case scenario: pResident George W Bush is duly elected President of the United States of America with a 60% majority. No fraud, no cheating, just plain honest elections. <p>Look at what the Bush administration has been able to do without a clear mandate from Americans. Just imagine what it would be capable of with a clear one. If this comes to pass, the world is in deep doo-doo.

Michou: your scenario is certainly a worse case doomsday one. I honestly cannot believe that 60% of Americans are stupid enough to reelect Bush/Cheney. The polls mean nothing except that the neocons control the pollsters and the media. I know too many Americans that have had it with these buffoons; that is why I tend to empathise so much with Americans. If your scenario ever happens, I believe the Americans would be heading into an internal civil war and would have a very serious made in USA terrorist problem, never mind the new flood of new Al-Qaida recruits.

An other scary scenario is that the neocons get rid of these buffoons (they have plenty of gun lunatics out there to do so!) and put even worse ones in for the sake of the safety of the nation.

Bush doesnt need to cheat - he is going to win it fair and square THIS time.

I caught an internet clip about an older woman and her husband. She works at a greasy diner for pennies, while her husband is at home sick. Both have no health care and no future, yet when asked who they were voting for, they responded by saying, "Bush of course, he stands for family values". That says it all.

Roy

No more reality exceeding fiction. It is too painful to read.

I heard the same thing on CBC radio. A reporter asked an elderly woman in Missouri why she was voting for Bush. She said because he seemed like the type of person you could sit down to coffee with. Kerry, on the other hand, she said, was too hi-falutin.

Its enough to make you go mad! When Bush is through, this old lady won't have Social Security--but he'll have a cup of coffee with you. Robbing people with a smile on his face, and they fall for it.

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If you don't like these ideas, I've got others. --Marshall McLuhan

We had the same kind of interviews before our federal election, 'well I'll vote the way my parents did', and 'I don't like what they are doing but what are you going to do??' You really want to shake these mindless darlings, it makes me wonder what is really in our food supply, or water or air; because back before all the communication saturation, people were far more informed and took voting very seriously.

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If I stand for my country today...will my country be here to stand for me tomorrow?

To gaulois: it's not 60% of Americans, it's 60% of voters...voter participation has hovered around or below 50% of the electorate for some time - and that's not likely to improve. The vast majority of voters, IMO, are "hereditary" voters: they vote for the party (in America's silly two-party toss-up) that they or their family has always voted for, irregardless of the candidate.

But this is not to say that Bush doesn't garner an incredible amount of support because of the Fear Factor - he does; this is his most brilliant political strategy and it is very effective. The polls could still be quite wrong, however. Notice the wide variation in different polls; Gallop recently put Bush ahead by around 10 points, while Zogby called it a dead heat, and so on. What's that about? Scientifically administered polls should not vary that much; a random sample is a random sample, isn't it?

Michael Moore pointed out something about polling these days that might have something to it. Many of the polls stipulate "likely voters" i.e., those who have typically voted in the past, thereby discounting new or first-time voters which may or may not be significant. Secondly, the pollsters are still relying on home phone numbers for their polling base, totally discounting those (mostly young voters) that rely exclusively on cell phones.

So I for one have not lost hope yet. Do I think Bush is above 'cheating' with the election? Certainly not. Do I think Kerry won't blow the presidential debates - his best chance at locking this think up (how difficult could it possibly be for an intelligent, experienced and articulate politician like Kerry to debate with a dyslexic chimpanzee, anyway)?

Who knows? You guys sure are lucky to be up there instead of down here. One thing I do say for certain, though. I used to wonder how on earth the German people ever got suckered into actually VOTING Hitler into office. I don't wonder anymore.

-Randy from RI

Is there a documentary out there on just that? How Hitler got himself elected? Outlining his strategies, his speeches.. what issues he talked about, etc.? Interviews with people of the country after it all played out explaining how it happened? How they let it happen? How they were duped?

I can't think of any. That in itself strikes me a strange. Why haven't I come across something like that?

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Revolution.

I don't think we got here by taking voting seriously. I think we got here by not asking questions, by believing whatever the authorities, be they media, scientific, business or government, said. I have often heard people say that they weren't smart enough to understand what was going on. They said it like it was an excuse for them not to consider the topic in question any further. It seems that they still feel that they are smart enough to vote even though they don't know what is going on.