Right Side of The Rainbow

During the Presidential debate last Friday evening in St. Louis, Senator Kerry, after being referred to as a “Liberal” several times by President Bush, strongly asserted that he doesn’t like labels. Now, of course, this is somewhat disingenuous inasmuch as Mr. Kerry and his minions have been labeling our President as a liar, a warmonger, a draft dodger, a deserter, and a semi-functional illiterate for about fifteen months. As such, it’s not that the Junior Senator from Massachusetts doesn’t like labels. He just doesn’t like them being applied to him.

Of course, we shouldn’t blame Mr. Kerry for feeling this way, as most of US would MUCH rather be referred to as liar, a warmonger, a draft dodger, a deserter, or a semi-functional illiterate than a Liberal, too.

Let’s face it – to most Americans, Liberal is a four-letter word. Nowhere is this concept better illustrated than in a Pew Research Center survey which suggests that currently only 18% of the electorate identifies themselves as Liberal - or at least has the nerve to admit it. By contrast, this same study finds that 36% of the voting age population feels they are Conservative, and 38% see themselves as Moderate. Strangely in this same report, 35% of voters claim a political affiliation with the Democratic Party, with 29% saying they are Republicans, and 26% stating that they are Independents. Basically, this means that potentially only half of registered Democrats believe themselves to be Liberal. Furthermore, if you carry this math forward, these numbers strongly suggest that not only do almost 50% of Democrats consider themselves not to be Liberal, but likely that more Independents view themselves as Conservative than Liberal as well.

Moving forward, a more recent and even comical example of Liberal disgust with being referred to as Liberal is in an AP report in today’s Salon.com wherein columnist Jennifer Loven suggests that the President’s new stump talking points depicting Senator Kerry this way are a sure sign of an escalation in campaign rhetoric:

“Bush then warns -- his audience often chanting along with him -- that Kerry ‘can run but he cannot hide’ from a record that the president criticizes as both unimpressive and unabashedly liberal.

“In chats with reporters, two of Bush's closest advisers -- Rove and Karen Hughes -- together used the word "liberal" nearly a dozen times to describe Kerry.”

Oh the HUMANITY! Imagine having the unmitigated audacity to call a Liberal a Liberal! In public, even. There oughta be a law!

Of course, the real reason that Mr. Kerry and the media who so revere and support him are thoroughly disgusted by this recent campaign ploy by the President is because it appears to be working. For instance, Rasmussen Reports this morning released some new polling data taken this weekend that quite suggest Mr. Bush is winning this label game. 55% of those surveyed believe that Senator Kerry is politically liberal. This is up from 49% after the first debate, and significantly higher than the low to mid-40’s number that have felt this way for most of 2004. By contrast, 65% of those polled view President Bush as being Conservative. That’s up from 60% following the first debate.

Certainly, regardless of how recent head-to-head polls are suggesting that the race has significantly tightened in the past two weeks, these internal opinion surveys cannot be heartening to the Kerry campaign. For example, there is one thing that all of the polling organizations agree on – the American people at this point in time seems fairly unified in their opinion that the wars in Iraq and on Terror are among the most critical issues facing our nation today. In fact, 28% and 25% of likely voters in the just released CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll feel that Terrorism and the War in Iraq are most important to determining their vote this November respectively.

Furthermore, with the attention so focused on these two key issues, 52% of those polled by Rasmussen this weekend believe that we are winning the War on Terrorism versus only 26% who believe we aren’t. Accordingto Rasmussen, this is the most optimistic assessment of this issue since March. Moreover, in a poll performed by Rasmussen last week after the first debate, Bush still leads Kerry by the tally of 52% to 44% as to who voters trusted more with National Defense issues and the War on Terror. Maybe most important, another Rasmussen study done this weekend after the second debate reveals that President Bush is considered to be a better leader than Mr. Kerry by a margin of 51% to 39%. In fact, this is Bush’s best showing in this regard since late April.

So, what can we glean from all of this polling information? Well, since the most important issues to the electorate continue to be related to National Security, it can’t possibly be good news to the Kerry campaign that:

• Americans 2 to 1 believe that we are winning the War on Terror, and are more optimistic about this issue than they have been since March.
• President Bush is STILL trusted more than Mr. Kerry to manage the War on Terror.
• President Bush is STILL perceived as a better leader than Mr. Kerry by his largest margin since April

When you add to this the fact that the electorate tends to get more Hawkish in times of war, and that they are continuing to perceive Mr. Kerry as being more and more Liberal with every passing debate, you begin to see a picture of a candidate who is moving further away from Main Street. Furthermore, regardless of what some of the trial heat polling is suggesting, it is beginning to look like all the pressure of a convincing debate victory has been shifted to Mr. Kerry as this battle moves to Tempe. In fact, barring a knockout blow on Wednesday evening, Mr. Kerry’s zip code is not likely to become 20500 anytime soon.

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• #2 Comment from lbroy 
  10/18/04 5:53 PM | Permalink

  You are so right on about Kerry , and I really don't want a first lady in the white house who isn't a lady and Kerry's wife is far from being a lady she may be the rich bitch of the world but that still won't help her in the manners department any, in which she should take some classes on anyway it may just help her a little.
• #1 Comment from courageoussag1 
  10/17/04 1:26 AM | Permalink

  Please remember that all the statistics you are putting out come from an uninformed public who are allowing themselves to be led around by the nose!  Maybe if the majority of Americans would take the time out of their busy schedules to really explore the two candidates and their backgrounds, they might change their opinions of who is "better fit to lead this so-called War on Terror."  Having explored this myself, I have made a well informed decision to vote for the person who demonstrates qualities that are more fitting for a president.  A president who jumps out of a plane in a ridiculous suit and claims that our Mission is Accomplished, looking quite immature with a stupid smile on his face, is not, in my opinion fit to run a country.  It surprises me that he hasn't been impeached yet, let alone is running for president again!  Take a look at some of the facts, America and try to stop this horrific situation before we are plagued with yet  another four years of this dynasty.  Thank you for reading my comment.