Liberal Democrats today are faced with an unhappy paradox. The most significant factor in John Kerry's defeat was that, according to exit polls, 79 percent of voters who said terrorism or national security determined their vote chose the chickenhawk over the war hero. Though they agreed with the Democrats on most issues -- and agreed, by a 49 to 45 percent margin ... that the Iraq War had made us less, not more, secure -- a majority of voters still felt safer with the idea of George W. Bush minding the store. Based on the evidence, it is almost a perfectly irrational reaction to reality. Everything the Bush Administration has done in the security realm has proved not merely wasteful and ineffective but counterproductive...[editor's note: An amazing grasp of the obvious, but at least he's saying it! - SAT] (05/19/05)

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050606&s=alterman

from The Nation, by Eric Alterman


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp