The Great Unwashed

Check out these figures on the "favorability rating" of Bush: A Newsweek poll showing a "bounce" of from 48/48 favorable/unfavorable just before the Republican convention to 55/40 afterward. Seven percent of us were swayed from unfavorable to favorable, presumably based on the convention coverage, and subsequent media reports of it, because no other significant event occurred between pollings to explain the switchover. Indeed, during the interval, there was terrible news about the economy (increase in poverty and in loss of health insurance), a rising death toll in Iraq, and continued violence in Afghanistan.

So--The lesson is that the 2004 election is going to turn on the opinions of these seven percent; and they're idiots!