Bush's Appeal

Whenever there are polls about likeabilaty, Bush always tends to score high. And, among those who view him favorably, they say that he seems like just a normal guy, someone they can relate to. Meanwhile, over in the reality-based community, we wonder why so many people let Bush pull the wool over their eyes so easily. We point out the fairly obvious fact that he's a rich boy from Connecticut who fancies himself as a Texas rancher who takes the US from one disaster to another. We wonder how people can be taken in by such an obvious and obnoxious faker. I've even heard it suggested that Bush plays up his malapropsims and his accent.... (more on the flip)

... and his mangling of the English language in order to appear to be more of a "regular guy."

I certainly do think that some of Bush's supporters have been taken in by his act, but I don't think that describes all 60 million people who voted for Bush. I think that his appeal lies not in successfully faking it as a "regular guy," but in living the ideal lifestyle that at least some of his supporters wish they could live (ironic, isn't it- they'd have a far better chance at it with Democratic economic policies in place).

I mean, if you're struggling to get by, wouldn't you want to be some gentleman rancher without a care in the world. You can act, and know that if something bad happens, you never have to take responsibility. You can speak your mind and no one will hold your feet to the fire for it. And if you're pissed off, well, damn the critics, and send in the Marines. Bush appeals to people who know they aren't number one, but wish they were. He'll stick it to foreigners who don't agree with us or to gays or to Hollywood or whatever. If you figure that you're not number one and that no politician is going to make things better for you, you might as well just support the guy who's going to stick it to your favorite scapegoats. To a large extent, GWB is wish fulfillment to a lot of people.

Thoughts?

•  makes as much sense as

  anything else.  I too am baffled by his "popularity," to the extent that I haven't totally given up on the idea that there was immense voter fraud on a scale heretofore unheard of in this country.

  but most republicans would vote for hitler if he were a republican, that accounts for most of his votes, i think.

  the rich and the wannabe/thinktheybe rich and those who benefit economically (corporations and their minions) account for another large portion of votes.

  the wacked out religious right. gun lovers.  gay haters. macho men and the women who love them.

  by Sargent Pepper on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 11:43:16 AM PDT

•  My views on this subject

  are similar, but decidedly more cynical.  

  In American society today, it is no secret that "smart" people are the targets of insults and exclusion.  It starts very early in the schools:  The "nerds" are always portrayed in the same stereotypes, they never get the girl (or boy) and are always represented as being clumsy, socially inept or downright elitist.  This notion of "smart" people is totally ingrained into the American psyche.  

  I beleive that Bush's appeal derives directly from this almost uniquely American phenomenon.  The people who adore Bush do so because he is not smart.  Because he was the party guy, the "cool" guy who always got laid and was the life of the party.  His positions on issues are not nuanced, like his supporters.  He has trouble with proper English, like his supporters.  He is absolutely clueless about what is really going on in the world, like his supporters.  He wants to "kill the bad guys" without caring one iota why the bad guys want to hurt us, like his supporters.  In other words, to the people whose biggest concerns are what is going on on "The Apprentice" or "Desperate Housewives" or "American fucking Idol", Bush is their man.  He is like them because he is an idiot too.  

  Remeber those polls during the election run-up that pitted people's education level against who they supported?  Sorry I dont have link, but it was clear that people with more education and a more realistic world-view favored Kerry.  

  America's public education produces, for the most part, morons.  This is supported by any ranking vs other industrialized nations.  And this, in my view, is the background that allows someone like George W. Bush to become president.  ...well, that, and maybe a little election rigging.  

  by Billy Shears on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 11:53:40 AM PDT

  •  Good points

    Certainly, Bush gets a lot of support from remarkably stupid and ignorant people. And he also got a great deal of support from intelligent, but immoral people (ie, your average neocon intellectual or spinless media elite). But, I don't think that accounts for all of Bush's appeal. I think there are some folks out there with average or even above-average intelligence who supported him, despite all his foolishness, because he's just able to get more or less what he wants and these folks aren't. Which is why agreeing with Bush or compromising with him is foolish- it just increases his appeal. It makes him look strong. And the more we allow the media elites to trivialize elections and take away focus on real issues, the more rich brats like Bush will allow people to live out their fantasies by voting for him.

    by metal prophet on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:00:54 PM PDT

    •  Agree.

      A combination of ignorance and/or immorality is probably the best explanation for the appeal Bush enjoys.  

      Bush is a very polarizing figure: people either love him (because they don't know everything about him; or they do know everything about him and love him because of what he stands for) or hate him (because they know enough about him to realize that he is poison for America and the world).  

      by Billy Shears on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:19:03 PM PDT

•  His appeal

  Average Americans can relate to Bush's typical middle-age profile:

  1. Mind uncluttered by trivial matters. (Nothing but the 10 Commandments, Jesus told him!)

  2. Homely wife, can't hide her cross-eyed blank stare. Makes him look charitable.

  3. Daughters appearing in next "Girls Gone Wild: Twisted Sisters"

  4 .Boss is grumpy, paranoid, over-bearing fat guy. Often disappears without giving George a to-do-list.

  by Kudos on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:03:58 PM PDT

•  Fake

  Bush has been nothing but a fake all his life.  He was a fake business man, who needed his old man to bail him out 3 times.  He bought a ranch to have as a prop when running for Pres.  He's a fake rancher.  Now he's a fake Pres.  

  Had reporters come to Texas and dug into his past, they could have saved this country this misery.  There are enough people in this state who know what he's really like.  They could have found someone to talk, maybe.  They are not so much afraid of GWB but of his old man.  Hell, Ann Richards was in politics and had to face Bush in a dirty battle for gov.  If anyone knows where all the skeletons are buried it's her.  No reporter, to my knowledge, every spoke to her.

  Hell, they could have dug up footage when he was gov to show his true face.  I remember a major disaster, and it took Bush 3 days to show his face.  I couldn't tell you if Laura ever did anything while he was gov.  I never saw her face on the news.

  The fact that Bush locked up all his files and papers from his time as gov, in his old man's library at A & M, tells you all you need to know about what kind of person he is.  He has to hide everything about his life and have someone invent a new person that people will be sucked by.

  by CD in TX on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:19:25 PM PDT

  •  The Press and the Fake President

    The only other time I can remember the press being this defferential to a president is back in the days of Reagan, and for, I think, the same reason.

    Reagan was, in many ways, a fake president himself and the press goes gentle on fake presidents because, as part of the establishment, they have a vested interest in the its preservation, thus they bend over backwards to confer legitimacy on something they know full well is illegitimate.  They are terrified to let the cat out of the bag.  Note that with more plausible presidnts (Nixon, Clinton), the press is much more adversarial.

    by WWGray on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:42:24 PM PDT

•  A Uniquely American Phenomenon

  I find Bush's personal popularity incomprehensible (for me he comes across as a spoiled brat).  But his "regular guy" appeal can be understood in the following context.

  America loves to think of itself as a country of unlimited opportunity, where, as the saying goes, anyone can be president.  The truth is a little different, of course.  Not to say that there is no opportunity here (this isn't, after all, England), but it is most certainly not the land of unlimited social mobility.  Most people stay in the same socio/economic stratum to which they were born.

  Bush, by virtue of the fact that he IS president, makes a certain segment of society feel good about themselves.  The kind of people Frank talks about at length in "What's the Matter with Kansas" whose economic situation grows more dire by the day and resent what they feel is the loss of their privileged position in American society.  With a president like Bush, they figure that if a lunkhead like Bush can rise to the top, their situation can't be all that hopeless.

  by WWGray on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:37:31 PM PDT

  •  And to risk Godwin's Law

    That was also part of Hitler's appeal, I've heard it argued. Not that I'm saying that Bush is like Hitler, but Hitler had a way of appealing to people that went beyond simply hatemongering and scapegoating. Hitler wasn't the tall, blue-eyed Aryan superman that he idealized, he was a short, dumpy, brown haired, brown eyed guy who was a screw-up and had iffy parentage. But, he was a symbol to regular, everyday Germans that any German could rise into great prominence, if they behaved and thought like the Furher.

    by metal prophet on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:43:51 PM PDT

    •  Exactly

      And that's the broader part of Bush's personal appeal.  America is the greatest country on earth precisely because a guy like GWB can be its president.

      by WWGray on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:46:10 PM PDT

      •  Only in decadent America

        Bush could not have been elected in the America of Eisenhower or Kennedy. He would have been laughed off the stage as the bufoon he is. The mind-rotting poison of television, in tandem with the moral decadence of affluence, brought American society to the point where it saw its reflection in this shoddy man.

        by ANKOSS on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 12:59:19 PM PDT

        •  Sure he could.

          See: Harding, Warren G.

          by WWGray on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 01:09:02 PM PDT

  •  Intellect not income

    "Dumb like me" must be more important than "poor like me" given that Bush appeals to them more than Bill Clinton does and Clinton real IS the good ol' boy who grew up poor.
    The same gene must regulate one's opinion of Hillary.
    

    by oldhousepoor on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 01:08:45 PM PDT

    •  Well, Clinton had his own skills

      Clinton is quite obviously intelligent, but he's also got a way about him that makes him very accessible and down-to-earth, which is why he generally enjoyed high popularity ratings.

      by metal prophet on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 03:01:22 PM PDT