Posted on 10/14/2004 3:31:10 AM PDT by foolscap
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- For weeks now, industrial designer Brian Sturkie has been reading The Wall Street Journal each morning and catching the political talk shows on PBS at night, trying to make up his mind between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry.
His goal as he watched the candidates go head-to-head Wednesday night: "I wanted to come away from this debate with a sense of who I was going to vote for."
No such luck. For Sturkie and many other swayable voters who spoke to Associated Press reporters around the country, the final presidential debate was less than definitive.
Sturkie, 36, went into the evening just slightly favoring Bush. He came out more impressed by Kerry - but will it stick? It's hard for him to say.
Kerry "definitely swayed in the other direction," said Sturkie, who's closer to the Democratic senator on most domestic policies than the Republican president. "I get the sense now that it's time to make a change."
Yet as the father of two small children, he can't let go of nagging fears about the security of the country, and a feeling that it might be dangerous to change presidents at what he calls a "turning point in the nation's history."
"I have struggled with this election more than any other," he said.
In Fort Collins, Colo., 29-year-old Jeff Alexander felt frustrated and disappointed that the evening failed to clear up his indecision.
"This is the last time they have a chance to say what they stand for, and they seem to be pointing out what the other guy stands for" and saying it's wrong, said Alexander, a software engineer and unaffiliated voter. He supported Al Gore in 2000.
"Maybe I just need to hear somebody to say, `Look, we don't know what we're going to do,'" Alexander said.
Nearly 1,500 miles away, in Syracuse, N.Y., 84-year-old Connie Narduzzo had many of the same feelings of frustration. Too many numbers and too much negativity left her still undecided.
"I think they even confuse themselves with all the numbers they throw out. I know I couldn't keep them straight," Narduzzo said as she tuned in with four friends in the library room at the Bernardine Senior Apartments.
A registered Republican, Narduzzo said she "wanted to hear more specifics, especially about health care and prescription drugs."
Dennis Nelson, a 52-year-old Vietnam veteran and commander of an American Legion post in Tampa, Fla., watched the debate with two other veterans at the Legion hall, while a handful of others were glued to a baseball playoff game on another TV.
A former chemist now on disability, Nelson is a registered Republican but said he has started to lean toward Kerry because of the Democratic candidate's domestic agenda, especially his ideas for more affordable health care and prescription drugs.
"This debate was more even," said Nelson, adding he's still undecided. "I didn't see either candidate getting a secure advantage."
It didn't seem that way to Charmaine Zimmerer, who served 20 years in the Air Force and also picked the debate over baseball. She supports Bush and didn't hear anything in the debate to change her mind.
"Kerry didn't answer the questions, he attacks," said Zimmerer. "Bush tries to answer the questions."
A common complaint among voters who watched this debate: We've already heard this message.
"It's a lot of talk about statistics and a lot of things that were gone over before," said Ralph Nader supporter Kelly Stewart, one of about 100 Drexel University students who watched the debate together at the Philadelphia school.
"I think Kerry spoke better," said Bryan Franch, a biomedical science major at Marquette University in Milwaukee, who stole an occasional glance at his math text book as he watched the candidates in action. "But I still support Bush. ... I didn't really hear anything new."
Well, that'll come in handy when sKerry uses stern language on the terrorists.
I agree with what I heard a caller to a local call-in program say this morning, "If you haven't made up your mind by now, you are too freakin stupid to vote. Just stay at home."
mewzilla wrote:
They're undecideds. They can't see jack anyway.
If "industrial designer Brian Sturkie" is so stupid that he can't decide for whom he should vote by now, he ought to simply stay home on Nov. 2. We don't need more idiots who have no clue casting ballots.
Typical moderates, they are just waiting to see a majority form and then they can join it.
Problem is, the mainstream media has done everything in its power to hide the fact that a majority has formed for Bush.
IMO, these "undecideds" are those who want it all. They want security, but don't want the "profiling" or other restrictions needed to achieve it. They want free Rx drugs, free healthcare, free everything, but don't want it to come out of their paycheck.
Well, too bad. You can't have it all. I agree that these people are mostly Dems. They want to take from the govt., "no strings attached". Sorry it doesn't work that way. At least these undecideds know there IS a price to pay for their demands. That's why they haven't pounced right on the Kerry bandwagon - yet. Hopefully they'll THINK about the price they'll pay by going with Kerry and ultimately choose Bush.
I have been reminded in the last week as Cheney, and then Bush in debates 2 & 3, have whalloped their opponent on inconsistancies and big government spending, that there is a giant force of people out there that want a slick-talking person over a person of conviction, and are looking for 'free' handouts from the government.
Ignoring the fact that the cost of 'free goodies' far outweigh the current system, they want to be pandered to and feel like they are somehow gaining something from the government that they 'don't have to pay for'. I just hope that these people number below 49%.
I think you are right. Most elections, undecided voters make up their minds as they enter the polling booth. This time, if they are still undecided, I think they just won't vote.
This article is a big pile of B.S. Can anyone be THAT stupid?
If you are still undecided you have your head up your a$$.
What it takes to make the right choice is gut instinct. Of course some education and knowledge help, but is not essential.
I have a confession to make. Bush41 defeated himself. I voted for Clinton in '92 with the certain knowledge that he would screw things up so badly that my strategic aims would be satisfied. After all, I reasoned, I am better equipped to deal with the resulting chaos than the significant percentage that was determined to take a sharp left turn and embrace socialism, the nanny state.
I was wrong. I was humbled and that was a mistake I shall not repeat again.
The main point of this confession, howerver, is the power of bullshit. I listened to most of Clinton's major speeches; one specifically, delivered at Georgetown, a school my daughter was attending, I recall induced awe in the delivery, the timing, the smooth cadence, the illusion of sincerity and honesty, that afterwards left a warm glow of admiration. Akin, I suppose, to the effect a cobra has on its victims. I recovered rather quickly every time, since among the speeches was the equally sincere, "I did not have sex with that woman--- Ms. Lewinski".
But I assume the effect among those weak of mind and spirit, ignorant and eager to embrace the demagogue, was permanent and, to them, a sign of greatness. An Elmer Gantry of politics. Convincing lies by charlatans and people who are evil in results if not in intention, can not only exist, but is quite common.
That a lie can be pathological and not under the control of the speaker, or deliberate in intent, is irrelevant to me. The result is equally destructive. I can pity Kerrey his delusions and uncontrollable need to make things up in his quest for power, but I certainly can't picture him in the position to guide the lives of 320 million people.
Some men are born to greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them, and redeem themselves with grace and competence. Harry Truman comes to mind, although I did not agree with every decision he made. George W. Bush is also such a man, and I admire his unsmooth innate goodness as much as I despise Kerrey's profound incompetence and phonyness.
What a crude, horrid thing to say.
Worse still... you're right.
Dan
/c8
Excellent thoughts!
Memo to undecideds: Please Stay home on Nov 2
Thank you.
I think they're UIPOs. Undecided In Print (or Polls) Only.
BUMP!
Wrong headline.
It should be "Local man Sturkie a Moron"
Hmmm... Would I rather have bread and circuses, or have the Legions fight the Barbarians? Decisions, decisions.
They'll still be undecided after election day.
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