Bush Hatred
 
Johnathan Alter almost makes a good point in this piece at Newsweek:
 
But making Whoopi Goldberg mad doesn't win close elections. In the 1998 midterms, the Clinton haters went so far over the top that the Democrats won in November. Bush haters may generate a similar backlash this time. Right now about 45 percent are unshakably in each camp. The battle is over the remaining 10 percent, which is disproportionately Hispanic and not greatly interested in politics. "Fahrenheit 9/11" is being seen widely enough that it could tip some independents toward Kerry. But a larger number feel a certain comfort with Bush—if they didn't, they would already be against him. They figure he got them through nearly three years since 9/11 without a terrorist attack on American soil. If they fire him they will do so reluctantly, more in sorrow that he hasn't met a high enough standard than in anger over his abuses.
 
Of course the article has that Alter partisan spin, but the central point is about right. People in general like Bush. The visual of him standing on the rubble with that firefighter at ground zero is indelibly burned into their brains. He comes across as a straight-shooter and speaks like the rest of us. For the Dems, Kerry is not everyman, he can't even talk baseball without sounding elitist.

The last sentence is the one that Alter can't resist throwing in. Not electing Bush again because he "hasn't met a high enough standard than in anger over his abuses" is a great example of subtle spin used by the liberal press. He hasn't met the "standard"? Well what standard is that Johnathan? The standards you believe that a president should meet? Has any president met your standard? I suspect it was a democrat if there was one. He also drops in the line "abuses". What abuses? Again, Alter just assumes that all Americans feel that Bush has been involved in "abuses" yet doesn't spell them out. Kind of like the old "have you stopped beating your wife" line.