Limbo Hell

6:23 a.m. -- don't even know how to begin. The political commentators whose opinions I most respect all say Bush has already won. I can't even fathom. I have a sick, tightening knot in my stomach. I refuse to give up hope, but it looks like hope is all I have. Regardless of the electoral outcome, Bush has won the popular vote.

I am so ashamed...ashamed, and furiously angry. It's disaster. As I was lying in bed last night trying to come to terms with the possibility of re-election, I thought, "Well, sometimes the important lessons are the hardest ones to learn." If the first four years didn't do it, wait until people see what kind of president Bush is now.

My life has been on hold for about the past two years. I have been waiting for this day, barely able to acknowledge that I don't know how to live in a world -- or at least, a country -- so cruel, so selfish, so shallow, so smug; these are the only qualities I can think of that would lead a person to support Bush. Maybe it's retarded, but I had hoped a Kerry win would release whatever has been holding on to me physiologically, and that my voice would come back. Right now, I'm not exaggerating when I tell you I feel like strong hands are clasped around my throat, squeezing tightly.

The Republicans will not be gracious winners. We will be taunted, ridiculed, and insulted for the next four years. Dissent will not be tolerated. Criticism will continue to be acquainted with treason. Civil rights are screwed. The assault weapons ban is history; Ken Lay will get off; we'll never know the truth of what happened on September 11; the Patriot Act will be strengthened; public schools will be bankrupted and dismantled; we will be isolated in the world because we have chosen belligerence over cooperation, arrogance over humility, impatience over reason, politics over reality.

So what's next for me?

Out.

I want out.

Out of this city, that's for damn sure. New Yorkers, I love you, you voted with me, but the terrorists are coming, I know this. With Kerry I thought there was at least a chance we could begin to address the real issues that face us globally, and that we'd recapture international support. But now we are isolated...as in the Bush campaign ad, the wolves are circling, and we've got Elmer Fucking Fudd to protect us. If Americans in the heartland are concerned about terrorist attacks, they ought to try spending two hours of their day every day of their lives packed with hundreds of people in a tin can on wheels in dark and dirty tunnels under the streets of Manhattan. It's not a comforting feeling.

Out of this country, if I can get there. Sure, go ahead, call me whatever names you want, right-wing simpletons. But I love this country, and I believe in the promise of America. It is so painful to see that the majority of Americans do not share my values, do not share my visions. I can't bear to watch what's about to happen.

My friends will tell me I'm being dramatic. I was wrong about this election, wrong about the national sentiment, wrong -- apparently -- about the dynamics in voter turnout. Maybe I'm wrong about the prospect of the next four years. You have no idea how much I'd love to be wrong.

May God have mercy on us all.

Going out on a limb

Having consulted my crystal ball, I predict an electoral win for John Kerry, 299 to 238.

Fascinating

Earlier I posted what I believed was a complete English-language transcript of bin Laden's recent remarks as made available by The New York Times. However, I see now that OBL's speech was much longer and more detailed than what the Times provided (I believe that the Times only provided a transcript of approximately one minute of footage that al-Jazeera actually aired, rather than the entire contents).

Here then, direct from al-Jazeera, is the complete text.

Again, I urge everyone to read it. The greatest tragedy of September the 11th is the failure of our nation to have an intelligent discussion about its origins. That discussion ought to begin with an assessment of the perpetrator's own justification.

A little scripture

Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 4:1-2

I guess we have now abandoned even the figleaf of pretense of a separation of church and state in this country. What's up with the emphasis of "under"? I guess that's to clarify for anyone who might think we are one nation "next to" or "down the road from" God. I can't wait until this nonsense is over. 

Counting down the hours

Wow.

I can't believe Election Day is tomorrow.

Readers of my blog -- all four of you -- might make the assumption that politics has been a lifelong pet passion of mine, but really that couldn't be further from the truth. I had no real interest in politics, and never voted except in Presidential elections. I remember commenting to a friend once that I considered politics a game, just like I considered an operatic career a game. I'd play my game and let the politicians play theirs. I had great faith that the American people were, basically, immutable as a rock, and took as much comfort from that as I found frustration. But really, I didn't give it much thought.

So what happened?

September 11 changed me. It woke me up. I started to pay attention. This blog took on many different forms today as I worked on it, but I came to the realization that my litany of complaints about the President is just too long. It just kept going.

So I'll say this. Since I started paying attention, I have not liked what I've seen. I gave Bush the benefit of the doubt when he was selected by the Supreme Court. I even recall saying I was glad the Republicans were in charge after 9/11 because I was under the impression they could tackle this enemy more decisively than a Democrat. But Bush has lied, and lied constantly, about everything. He has betrayed the American people. I don't fault his supporters, or most of them, anyway. They support him for all the right reasons. They've just been hideously deceived.

In the aftermath of September the 11th, I felt powerless and vulnerable. Tomorrow is the one day in four years where I find myself, quite literally, with power over the President of the United States. I cannot wait to walk into that voting booth and flip that switch and pull the big red lever. Buh-bye, George.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN: Here's me in my costume...as a Republican tourist. The lovely lady in my lap is the divine Daisy...poor dear got pregnant with 4 pug pups, swelled up like a watermelon, and never quite got her figure back, bless her heart. 

More from OBL

If you'd like to read a complete transcript of Osama bin Laden's statement, and I recommend highly that you do, go here. It's not especially long, and the language is very clear. No matter where your political allegiance falls, this is a valuable tool because you're getting bin Laden unspun.

How might this affect the election? It is very difficult to guess. As I pointed out in my blog last night, bin Laden seems to be doing just fine. It's some manhunt we've got going for him if he's able to take time out to produce policy videos. It doesn't support Bush's comment that al Qaeda is "on the run." Will people stop and think, "I thought he was supposed to be hiding?"

On the other hand, he has some very specific and pointed criticisms for Bush. Thankfully he does not "endorse" John Kerry, and as I pointed out last night made an issue of saying that American security does not depend upon the outcome of the election. But you can bet your last dollar that the GOP is spinning this as al Qaeda support for Kerry. Will people buy that?

That's why it's important for people to actually get bin Laden's text for themselves. Pass this around to everyone you know...let people decide for themselves what's accurate and not get their information from partisan spin filtered through corporate news organizations and talking heads.

Among the highlights:

• "Security is an important foundation of human life and free people do not squander their security, contrary to Bush's claims that we hate freedom. Let him tell us why we did not attack Sweden for example. "
• "We fought you because we are free and because we want freedom for our nation. When you squander our security we squander yours."
• "I am surprised by you. Despite entering the fourth year after Sept. 11, Bush is still deceiving you and hiding the truth from you and therefore the reasons are still there to repeat what happened."
• "We had no difficulty in dealing with Bush and his administration because they resemble the regimes in our countries, half of which are ruled by the military and the other half by the sons of kings ... They have a lot of pride, arrogance, greed and thievery. "
• "[Bush] adopted despotism and the crushing of freedoms from Arab rulers and called it the Patriot Act under the guise of combating terrorism."
• "It never occurred to us that the commander in chief of the American forces (Bush) would leave 50,000 citizens in the two towers to face those horrors alone at a time when they most needed him because he thought listening to a child discussing her goat and its ramming was more important than the planes and their ramming of the skyscrapers. This had given us three times the time needed to carry out the operations, thanks be to God."

The October Surprise

This is a developing story and I reserve the right to alter this post as more information becomes available.

So...four days now until the election, who should enter the debate? Why, it's our old friend Osama bin Laden. Okay, now, don't go all ballistic on me, I know he's not our "friend." It's an expression. I was in Manhattan on September 11, 2001. You don't have to tell me, okay? I will never forget.

But it seems even al Qaeda has gotten sick of the campaign rhetoric. They're tired of being misrepresented. Today they released a video directly rebutting Dick Cheney's repeated assertion that a vote for Kerry is a vote for the terrorists.

"Your security is not in the hands of (Democratic candidate John) Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands,'' bin Laden said, according to the New York Times.

Bin Laden rejected Bush's repeated characterization that al Qaeda fights us because they hate freedom. "If Bush says we hate freedom, let him tell us why we didn't attack Sweden, for example," the terrorist explained.

I confess I was worried when I say the breaking news headlines saying there was a new tape from bin Laden. First of all, I live in Manhattan. Welcome to life in the bull's eye, living in the crosshairs of terrorism every day of your existence. I don't particularly enjoy it when threats, or even rumors of them, are made. I confess that the threat of an attack worried me that iffy voters, if any still exist, could decide that the more "decisive" Bush would be the better choice against this enemy.



Look at this picture. It's bizarre, isn't it? It sure doesn't look like he's in a cave hooked up to a dialysis machine. This man is somewhere, and he seems to be doing fine. He doesn't look like he's on the run at all. In fact, he's giving a speech on U.S. foreign policy.

"To the U.S. people, my talk is to you about the best way to avoid another disaster,'' he said. "I tell you: security is an important element of human life and free people do not give up their security.''

Now, here we have one of the greatest mass-murderers in history, speaking more plainly to an American audience about the nature of security than either of our two candidates for President. It's probably too late, but had this tape surfaced earlier, perhaps it would have forced our candidates to have a legitimate discussion of al Qaeda's motives. Bush would have us think they are cartoon villains who are "evil." Yes, they're bad people. They've murdered thousands of innocents. But they're not doing it for shits and giggles. They have clearly defined geo-strategic goals. It's no mystery what al Qaeda really wants to accomplish, and it's not getting American women to wear burqhas. "Our patience ran out and we saw the injustice and inflexibility of the American-Israeli alliance toward our people in Palestine and Lebanon," explained the al Qaeda leader, plain as day. Yet our political discourse is at such a level of banality that the real issues facing the U.S. and its national security aren't even being discussed. As grotesque as it is to have to say it, we owe bin Laden a thank you for injecting a reality check, belated as it may be.

If my blog were widely read, of course I'd be receiving death threats in 5...4...3...2...but it's not, so hopefully I'm okay.

The point is, Bush didn't take his eye off the ball. He never knew what the ball was. If we want to defeat terrorism, we can't do it with a bomb. It only plays into their beliefs about America and creates more terrorists. I'm not saying "appease" them, either. Has nothing to do with that. It has to do with winning the hearts and minds of the people in the Arab world. Unfortunately, Bush doesn't realize that they're not dummies. They can't be hoodwinked into thinking America is on their side, as hundreds of innocent Iraqis perish every week. It has to do with addressing the real needs in this part of the world, and approaching them in a culturally sensitive way. We do not need to remake the world in the image of America. But we need to do something that is utterly altruistic in the region, find some act of kindness and generosity that legitimately benefits these people more than it benefits ourselves, especially financially. Integrity, honesty, friendship...these are values that transcend every culture.

May God help us all, including our leaders, whoever they may be, to achieve real and lasting peace in this world.

Andy's Election Predictions

I'll get the obvious out of the way. Who will win the election? Impossible to say. The only thing that is clear is that Republicans are running scared. It's the only way to explain the tactics that GOP-affiliated election officials have been undertaking across the country in places like Colorado, Ohio and of course, Florida. Kerry definitely has a shot.

• Florida. I think the electoral votes will go to Bush. It will be declared early as a red state. But after the chips fall, perhaps even after the election is decided, either way, discrepancies will be discovered that will be impossible to explain. I think Bush will "win" Florida by a margin that far exceeds any poll estimates. Basically, I think they'll cheat, and because of the no-paper trail electronic technology, there won't ever be a way to prove it. Conspiracy theories will abound.
• Turnout. I think voter turnout will reach a record high this year, and I think particular increases will be seen in first-time voters, especially the under 25 set and African-Americans.
• Surprises. I think at least one state that has long been considered an "out of play" lock for Bush will go blue. Additionally, I think there will be at least one major event or outcome that absolutely no one predicts.
• Polls. I think everything we think we know about how people vote will be tossed out the window this year. This election will be unlike any we've ever seen.
• Electoral vs. Popular. I think there is, sadly, a good possibility that once again Bush could take the electoral vote and lose the popular vote. If he does, I predict the margin by which he loses the popular vote will be substantial.
• Instant winner vs. long legal battle. If there is a decisive victory with a clear winner on November 3rd, I think that it will be Kerry. If there is a long legal battle and the Supreme Court gets involved again, Bush will emerge victorious. Which of the two outcomes is more likely? I have no idea.
• My accuracy. I also predict that at least two of my predictions, including this one, will be dead wrong.

Attention New York Voters

Here's something I had not thought of!

Are you voting for John Kerry but wishing there was a viable, more progressive alternative out there?

In New York State, Kerry will be on the ballots as the candidate for two parties, Democrat and also the Working Families Party. An editorial in The Nation assures that "a vote on the WFP line for Kerry counts just as much as a vote on the Democratic line, but it sends a message about what you believe in. It's a vote for equality and democracy, and for living wage jobs, affordable housing, universal healthcare and an end to preemptive wars."

I urge you to consider voting WFP this time. We can elect Kerry but also let the Democratic leadership know how important progressive values are.

A nice fall shot of the Hudson River, taken from Fort Tryon Park today. 

Remembering Robert Merrill

I only got to hear him live once, which was at the Yankees' season opener in 1998, when he sang the national anthem. (It was definitely the highlight of the afternoon.) Even with all the other stadium noise and the far-from-concert-quality of the speaker system, the then-81 year old baritone's mahogany-colored voice was vibrant and powerful. I can only imagine what a thrill it must have been to hear him in his prime in the opera house.

I discovered Merrill in 1992, when I was still very much a novice when it came to opera. I had purchased a highlights album of Puccini's La Boheme, which I picked not for the cast, since I wasn't familiar with that many singers, but rather because it was the only option at the Tower Records in Beaverton, Oregon. At the beginning of the opera, the baritone Marcello ascends to a high F on the phrase, "Per vendicarmi affogo un Faraon!" The richness of Merrill's sound in the upper register caught my attention immediately, and I've been a fan ever since.

Somewhere along the way I came across a used copy of his autobiography, Once More from the Beginning, which I believe is out of print. (He also wrote another book, Between Acts, which is a collection of opera-related anecdotes, but is far inferior to the biography.) He was born Moishe Miller to Polish immigrants in a cold-water flat in Brooklyn. I remember being very moved by the recollections of his very humble childhood, and inspired by how hard he worked to get his career off the ground, and comforted by the lucky breaks that allowed him to get his foot in the door. He partnered the greatest singers of his age, and made legendary recordings that still stand as masterpieces of such works as Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Traviata, and my personal favorite, a 1963 Rigoletto with Anna Moffo.

He also possessed a great sense of humor; a story goes that, dying onstage as Valentin in Faust at the Met, he rolled over to the mezzo singing Siebel and muttered, "Oy, it hoits!"

My favorite Merrill story came straight from the mouth of one of his colleagues, the tenor Gabor Carelli. The two were appearing in La Traviata at the Met with soprano Joan Sutherland in the title role, who was as famous for her mushy diction as she was for her stratospheric high notes and fearsome coloratura. As the cast gathered in the wings to watch La Stupenda sing the difficult aria that ends the first act, Merrill turned and whispered, "And now ladies and gentlemen, Miss Sutherland will sing 'Thuppralubberuh.'"

Thanks, Mr. Merrill.

From the Department of Awwww: I snapped a pic of this extremely photogenic little guy in Ft. Tryon Park this afternoon while I was taking a little stroll. He tried to climb up my pants, but uh...that made me a little nervous. 

The Last Week

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."— George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004

Well, we're in the home stretch. One week from today Americans will go to the polls. What will happen? No one knows. The only certainty is that the campaign commercials will stop. To get a sense of the national mood, one need only look at the text on the cover of the November 1, 2004 issue of Time Magazine:

"On November 3, assuming we have a decision, America will wake up to either a President returning to office or a newly elected one. To the victor goes a nation divided. A nation split over its place in the world, over its basic values, over its future direction. No matter who wins, the Uncivil War is likely to continue. After such a venomous campaign, will it be possible to pick up the pieces, bridge the gaps and reunite the United States? To restore trust — not only in our leaders but also in one another? The stakes are higher than we could ever imagine."

Is that depressing or what?

How chilling is the clause, "assuming we have a decision"? There have been periods of uncertainty following elections before, notably in 1800 and 1876, as an op-ed in today's New York Times (written by Theodore B. Olson, who represented George W. Bush before the Supreme Court in 2000) points out, but until 2000 there wasn't an election in living memory so hotly contested, an election with results that remain controversial four years later. It's cause for tremendous anxiety. Those of us who shrugged in 2000 and asked, "How bad could it be?" are sorry to have found out. There is every reasonable suspicion that, should the election once again be too close to call on November 3, rife with controversies over disenfranchised voters, illegible ballots, inconsistent procedures, and partisan involvement, we will see a legal battle that dwarfs 2000 with its scale and aggression.

So many factors remain in play. Some counties in Florida have eliminated the pregnant/hanging/dimpled chads and replaced the troublesome butterfly ballots with electronic voting machines, which have a proven history of malfunction and no means of verification of accuracy. There has been no widespread national effort to learn from the problems of 2000 and standardize procedures for counting questionable ballots. It's as if the debacle never occurred.

There isn't a poll out there showing Bush with a score of 50% or better. Only in the past couple of days have guesses about which way the electoral chips will fall flipped to indicate a likely Bush win, having shown Kerry with a comfortable electoral lead for months. Yet many of the polls on which these guesses are based show Bush leading by percentages within the margin of error. Polls can also just be wrong; last year at this time Gallup showed Bush ahead by about 13%, but when it came down to it he lost the popular vote. Complicating the matters further, should the election wind up back at the Supreme Court, we now learn that Chief Justice Rehnquist has only just undergone a tracheotomy for thyroid cancer.

The G.O.P. is dispatching a volunteer army to polling stations in Ohio to “verify voter eligibility.” Of course preventing election fraud is a non-partisan issue, one in which everyone has a stake. But the Republicans are sending their volunteers to urban centers in Cleveland and Dayton with high minority populations. The lead editorial in today’s New York Times argues that such tactics could be used to intimidate legitimate voters. In populous urban areas, voters sometimes have to wait in long lines to cast their ballots. If challengers succeed in slowing down the process even by a few minutes per voter, some may be discouraged or might simply not have the time to wait. Additionally, “aggressive challengers have been known to bully poll workers, many of whom are elderly and have only limited knowledge of election law.” One can be sure that such tactics will be deployed outside of Ohio, as well.

The news isn’t helping Bush, either. The story about the missing 380 tons of high-grade explosives has been widely covered in the press. White House spokesman Scott McClellan tried to spin it away by pointing out that the U.S. has destroyed 163,000 tons of munitions in Iraq, but that doesn’t explain why a site the U.N. referred to as “the greatest explosives bonanza in history” was left unguarded. It brings to mind Kerry’s rebuttal from the last debate, when he was talking about financing education in this country. You don’t measure success by a percentage increase, you measure it by whether you’re getting the job done. With regard to making Iraq secure, Bush is clearly not getting the job done. And yet…are there any voters out there remaining to be swayed?

There are other factors, “known unknowns,” if you will, that Michael Moore pointed out in an email to supporters on September 20:

“The polls are wrong. They are all over the map. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections. So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people. Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.”

And so we sit here in utter uncertainty about what the future will bring.

Time refers to the “Uncivil War.” We on the left are fighting deeply ingrained misperceptions about who this president is, what he’s doing, and what his policies are really about. I think in my earlier post “Is George Bush Who You Think He Is?” I was maybe unclear about the results of the polls of Bush supporters. When I wrote that 13% knew that Bush was opposed to labor and environmental standards in international trade agreements, what that means is that 87% are under the impression that he supports them. That’s what I’m talking about. They don’t know who their candidate is. A majority – 55% -- believe that the 9/11 Commission concluded that Iraq was providing “substantial support to al Qaeda.” We are confronted with an almost Galilean conundrum; we’ve got millions of people who take it on faith that the sun revolves around the earth, and refuse to acknowledge overwhelming evidence to the contrary. How do we resolve this?

The good news is that Kerry still has a shot…a pretty reasonable shot, even. We’ve all just got to keep our fingers crossed.

Faith-based politics

Bush is my shepherd, I shall be in want.

He maketh me lie down on park benches,
He leadeth me beside the still factories.

He restoreth my doubts about the Republican Party.

He leadeth me into the paths of unemployment for his cronies' sake.

Yea, though no weapons of mass destruction have been found,
he maketh me continue to fear that illusion, for his namesake.

His tax cuts for the rich and his deficit spending discomfort me.

He anointeth me with never-ending debt:
Verily my days of savings and assets are kaput.
Surely poverty and hard living shall follow me all the days of his administration,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.

The Teflon President

They used to call Clinton "the Teflon President" because nothing "stuck" to him. He was such an ingenious politico, he found a way to wrangle and charm his way out of everything.

The Lewinsky affair was tacky and embarrassing. But it was a private matter for the Clintons to resolve. It didn't have an effect on foreign policy. She was not exchanging favors with the President on behalf of a corporation or industry. People weren't dying. It didn't cost us anything (aside from the $70 million budget for Ken Starr's fruitless investigations).

So a few years ago when my feelings toward Bush changed from bemused pity at his bumbling to blood-boiling, stomach churning outrage, I prayed for a scandal.

There have now been too many to recall. Enron. The anthrax attacks of 2001. Remember those? Didn't even get a mention in the debates. The great Northeast blackout of 2003. The National Guard fiasco. And more. It makes my head spin.

As if that wasn't enough, there's Iraq. We attacked and invaded a defenseless country, killing tens of thousands of innocents, in order to put one politically isolated and impotent dictator in jail. We argued for the war before the United Nations using false pretenses. We betrayed the deaths of 3,000 Americans by not pursuing their killers and bringing them to justice. The catastrophe that is Iraq is likewise made up of scandals too numerous to recall. Abu Ghraib. WMD. To name but two.

And now today, there's the lead article on the New York Times front page: "Huge Cache of Explosives Vanished From Site in Iraq." Um, when they say "huge," they aren't kidding. We're not talking estimates of what this site contained, we know exactly what was there because this was one of the sites the UN inspectors had monitored. They told us what it contained and sealed it, but the U.S. failed to secure the location, and now it's gone.

Huge. 377 tons of some of the most potent explosive material that exists. To give you an idea, Pan Am 103 was brought down over Scotland using less than a pound of the kind of explosives that are now missing. So we're talking about 754,000 pounds.

Any of these events dwarf the Lewinsky mess. Well, that's just it right there, I think. Lewinsky was a mess. Iraq, Enron, etc., etc., etc., were disasters and catastrophes.

And yet, none of this has stuck. Is that where America is these days? Kill thousands of innocent people, launch a war under false pretences, overlook the theft of enough explosives to bring down 754,000 jumbo jets, and you've still got a shot at being re-elected. As long as you keep your dick in your pants, apparently you can get away with anything.

LOTR update

The Council of Elrond.

LOTR update

Frodo awakes in Rivendell. Boromir arrives.

Is George Bush Who You Think He is?

Feel free to email this post to any and all Republicans you know for a little reality check. Most of these facts are from the Program on International Policy Attitudes.

Here are some sad statistics about what people who support George Bush believe. As I've always said, if Bush weren't a liar, you'd be crazy not to support him, but as it is, everything he's told us and everything the GOP faithful believe is an elaborate deception. Let's rip the wool off these people's eyes and do them a favor.

• 72% of Bush supporters believe that before the war Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
• 57% believe that the recently released report by Charles Duelfer, the administration's hand-picked weapons inspector, concluded Iraq either had WMD or a major program for developing them.
• 75 % believe Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda.
• 55% believe that was the conclusion of the 9/11 commission.

*Above statistics assembled by The Daily Misleader.

• Bush opposes labor and environmental standards in international trade agreements. Only 13% of his supporters know that.
• Only 20% of Bush supporters know he opposes the International Land Mines Treaty.
• 24% know he's opposed to a ban on nuclear testing.
• 38% understand that Bush does not want to participate in the International Criminal Court.
• Somewhat surprisingly, after all the press, only 39% know that he is opposed to the goals of the Kyoto Protocol.
• 47% understand that Bush is building a missile defense system.

*Above statistics assembled by The Washington Monthly.

And finally, "Asked whether the US should have gone to war with Iraq if US intelligence had concluded that Iraq was not making WMD or providing support to al Qaeda, 58% of Bush supporters said the US should not have, and 61% assume that in this case the President would not have. Kull continues, "To support the president and to accept that he took the US to war based on mistaken assumptions likely creates substantial cognitive dissonance, and leads Bush supporters to suppress awareness of unsettling information about prewar Iraq."

* "Bush Supporters Still Believe Iraq Had WMD or Major Program,Supported al Qaeda," PIPA