Dean will make GOP the majority party

For the 2004 elections I'm gonna grab a 30-pack, take a personal day the day after the election, and entertain myself by watching ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC - all night long.

Heh. Good thing that I make the work schedules for me and my backup. I usually work Wednesdays, but I'm going to make and exception the day after Election Day.

Entering 2004, it appears that America is poised to have a defining election that will create a permanent Republican majority

Ludicrous. The parties were in about parity before the 2004 election, and they will be after. I don't see any defining issue that will move a block of voters permanently. True, most of the 10%-15% or so of swing voters will swing to Bush, with his incumbancy and emerging issue advantage, but that is good for just one election.

There will only be a systemic change in the equation when the litmus test issues change, and the relative weight the voters give to them. They aren't changing for this election.

The press will immeidately seize on this as their hope to beat Bush and we will see Orwellian press coverage on the "centrist candidate Howard Dean". They will "forget" all the crap he is saying now and we will see huge emphasis on how he "governed from the center" in Vermont.

I expect you will be right.

In the last election the press built up McCain and would have you believe the most important issue was campaign finance reform. I felt they did this to siphon off some of Bush's general election money as he had to spend money to beat off a growing challenge from Mc Cain. Then the press laid in wait for Bush to go to Bob Jones Univ. When Bush went there the press exploded in rage and gave everyone who wanted to bash Bush a press platform to call him anti- Catholic and a racial bigot.

So like you, I expect the liberal press to be back in action this coming election.

They got a problem though; there are other information outlets that will call them on it. 2003 wasn't a good year for the New York Times, the BBC, CNN and some other left biased news sources. I hope it continues in 2004. Happy New Year!!- tom

While this article basically hits the nail on the head vis a vis the Democrats death wish I have to disagree with the idea that the country is turning more conservative over time.

What is happening is that the Republicans are moving to the left slower than the Democrats. While that tends to move the Independents into the Pubbies column come voting time and leads to Republican majorities it doesn't change the overall dynamics: we are slowly become a socialist country. We vote Republican in the hopes that it will slow the progress toward collectivization. I have seen nothing from Bush or the Republican leadership that would lead me to believe that we will ever return this country to one that Barry Goldwater would even recognize let alone one that he envisioned.

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