Yeah, Ed Koch was the very first name that sprang to mind.

But he's just one man. I doubt there are any others, right ABC?

James Woods, Gary Oldman, Dennis Miller, Dennis Hopper ( who when he annouced that he's now a bush man, was asked by bob costas why that was answered: " because I'm sober now" )

My first thought was much more egocentric - me!
In the last year, I have spent more hours than I can count defending the war in Iraq to my aunt (lives on the Upper West Side - need I say more?). When that wasn't the topic, then I was having to explain why I thought the Dem candidates were such crappy choices (other than Joe, who never had a chance). She was actually speechless when she finally figured out I had no plans to vote for Kerry.

If I had been in the country, or else if I had my act together while out of the country, I would have voted for Gore in 2000. Before that I voted in only two presidential elections and both times for Bill Clinton.

Before 9/11, I was such a Democrat, that the mere thought of voting Republican could almost have induced a case of hives, shock or someother unpleasant physical reaction. But you can count me as someone who is going to vote for George Bush this time.

I'm one of the elusive as well...writing my letter to them as we speak.

Frank, are you saying that Gary Oldman is voting for Bush? That would make my day.

(Nader/2000 voter)

I imagine the Note would have at least as much difficulty, if not more, in finding a 2000 Bush voter who's planning to vote for Kerry. I mean, there's Andrew Sullivan, but that's about it.

I've got a good one for you. I voted for Nader and I'll be voting for Bush! And I'm not crazy. Really. Last time around I could not stand (or trust)Gore despite being a lifelong democrat, but the same lifelong bias wouldn't allow me to make the leap to Bush. Voting for Nader was something akin to voting "no" for president since I was at the time unimpressed with both candidates. I was in Wisconsin at the time which went to Gore despite the power of my vote, so unfortunately I didn't influence the election. I wish I had, I'd feel better about it now!

Give 'em hell, Stacy.

Wow, there's a lot of lunacy in that "Note"...

Drudge is a tool of the Bush campaign?
Can't find anyone who will change their vote to Bush?
California, New York, Illinois, and New Jersey "aren't in play and never were"?
Kerry's contest to lose?

That's a hell of a lot of hubris for a candidate that is consistently behind in head-to-head polls and got no convention bounce...running against a President who hasn't begun to campaign in earnest yet.

The mail bomb they're going to recieve from their little challenge is going to be a shock...but a far smaller one than when they wonder why their invincible Kerry lost as that last state turns red this November...

Dennis Miller did an interview with Gary Oldman, the couse of the conversation was the heat that hes taken by announcing that he thought president Bush was doing a good job, a quick google returned most of what I remember about the talk they had:

Gary completely supports president Bush and his administration. He feels that terrorism should be wiped out around the world. He also feels that this is a time for all nations to sign on with us and believes strongly that you are either with or you are against us in this fight, that there is no grey area. He also feels that we have GOT to win this, no matter how long it takes, and that the only way to win is to win at any cost. He loved the President's statement about God taking sides in a battle between good and
evil. Gary has also commented many times that these events show that everything he said as Runyon in "The Contender" was right after all.

oh yeah, you can add Gary Sinise to the list. Heck, you can probably add Mccain to the list too.

nah..

w's gay lover wrote his own name in last year....

btw, was that some attempt to get sullivan back on the bandwagon? i don't think its going to work.. and geeze, neither of those two is pretty enough to get away with the public man-love thing

btw i'm a bush voter who's writing in MacArthur!!! (or maybe Patton)

Don't know if anybody saw this post by Jim Geraghty in NRO's Kerry-Spot today about the Note and crossover Gore 2000 voters.

I voted for Nader in 2000, so dissatisfied was I with the choices on offer. Now I'm a broken-glass Bush voter.

Of course, it won't make any difference since I live in Montgomery County, MD.

Thanks for the heads-up, Will. I just sent this email to the address you gave:

Dear ABC News:
I saw your request here so here's my $0.02.

I voted for Clinton both times, don't regret it, voted for Gore in 2000, was very upset at the Florida voting dispute. I am feminist, pro-environment, pro-gay-rights, pro-choice, very civil libertarian and supportive of improving human rights around the globe. Fiscally I am moderately libertarian.

I will be voting for Bush this year, because the war on terror trumps all other issues right now, and Kerry is clueless (not to mention has no character or track record). Also I don't like Kerry's demagoguery on outsourcing. The candidate most in line with my political profile is Leiberman, but the Dems didn't want him, so I am going with Bush.

I know many people like me. Face to face, I estimate 8-10. People in discussions on blog comment threads over the past 6 months, I estimate 20-30.

Judith Weiss

Sure seems to be a lot of Nader voters here voting for Bush this time around. I plan to do the same.

A month or so ago, the WSJ quoted Josh Micah Marshall saying this same thing--that virtually no one who voted for Gore would vote for Bush. For 3 days, they printed letters from people who were planning to to exactly that (including me).

It's remarks like these which really show the insular nature of the press.

There are so many of us I have been running a series of blog entries about us: the recovering progressives support group.

Roger Simon's blog is a primo watering hole for this group.

Add me, as well. I sort of flipped a coin in 2000, and voted for Gore. I really didn't see all that much to choose between them, and while GWB had managed to be the governor of Texas without being a total flaming embarrassment (which, ummm, too many Texas politicans are!)I just thought Gore had more immediate experience at a national level.
It'll be GWB this year. Stuff changes, doesn't it?

Just curious - out of this "invisible to ABC" group, how many of you live in battleground states? I'm in Ohio.

Kelly, I live in NYC and still own a house in Austin TX. As a friend pointed out, no matter where I vote, my vote won't count. :-(

I would like to urge you neo-Bush voters to reconsider.
Bush has single handedly ruined the Clinton prosperity. And Bush's record with African Americans is dismal.
Why change?

Nader in 2000, anybody but Kerry in 2004. I figure that a vote for Bush in Texas is like spitting into a lake, so I might as well have a little fun in the voting booth.

"Bush has single handedly ruined the Clinton prosperity."

The stock market bubble burst in August 2000, 3 months before the election. 9-11 came a year later. Clinton could have dampened the prosperity with bad policies and didn't - good for him. Bush didn't cause anything, and his tax cuts have made the recession much shorter. Productivity and job growth is up.

"Bush's record with African Americans is dismal."

More A-A's might vote for him than you think. Don't go by some minority journalism convention. Bush at the Urban League.

Guess I wasn't the only one to send them a link to Simon's blog this morning.

I don't think Glenn voted for Gore in 2000, but he does admit to working for Gore's campaign in 1988. Which answers the question of who really invented the Internet.

Akefa,

I will never understand this claim that you and others so frequently make.

Bush destroyed the Clinton prosperity? Ever heard of 9/11? Perhaps the stock market free fall and the massive hit to the economy that followed those events might have had something to do with it???? If on the other hand you are accounting for 9/11 perhaps you believe that somehow George Bush in his first nine months in office before the attacks somehow singlehandedly destroyed the work of the previous eight years? The Clinton prosperity couldn't have been all that if it could be completely reversed in a mere nine months.

Funny that it didn't show until after the attacks, isn't it? I guess that is just a coincidence, huh?

I have another question, do you have some information that we don't have? For instance, do you have examples of other times when the American economy rebounded immediately after a huge attack on a massive finacial center? Perhaps the WTC was destroyed before and it's only because of George Bush's ineptitude that the economy has taken so long to bounce back this time? How do you know that its all Bush's fault?

Or is that just what the Kerry campaign is claiming and you are just trusting that they know what they are talking about?

One last thing. Name the last President to name a BLACK WOMAN to the post of National (freakin) Security Advisor, for chrissake. Is there a more important job that he could have entrusted to such a person? Who was the last black Secretary of State? Maybe Condi and Colin don't count as black people? Or is it that Bush's opposition to affirmative action is automatically racist rather than just a different opinion on what will best further African American acheivement?

I'm so to come off as so harsh. But I have to wonder how many people who make this claim are really thinking. Is it possible that you might need to re-think your statement just a little?

Akefa,

I will never understand this claim that you and others so frequently make.

Bush destroyed the Clinton prosperity? Ever heard of 9/11? Perhaps the stock market free fall and the massive hit to the economy that followed those events might have had something to do with it???? If on the other hand you are accounting for 9/11 perhaps you believe that somehow George Bush in his first nine months in office before the attacks somehow singlehandedly destroyed the work of the previous eight years? The Clinton prosperity couldn't have been all that if it could be completely reversed in a mere nine months.

Funny that it didn't show until after the attacks, isn't it? I guess that is just a coincidence, huh?

I have another question, do you have some information that we don't have? For instance, do you have examples of other times when the American economy rebounded immediately after a huge attack on a massive finacial center? Perhaps the WTC was destroyed before and it's only because of George Bush's ineptitude that the economy has taken so long to bounce back this time? How do you know that its all Bush's fault?

Or is that just what the Kerry campaign is claiming and you are just trusting that they know what they are talking about?

One last thing. Name the last President to name a BLACK WOMAN to the post of National (freakin) Security Advisor, for chrissake. Is there a more important job that he could have entrusted to such a person? Who was the last black Secretary of State? Maybe Condi and Colin don't count as black people? Or is it that Bush's opposition to affirmative action is automatically racist rather than just a different opinion on what will best further African American acheivement?

I'm so to come off as so harsh. But I have to wonder how many people who make this claim are really thinking. Is it possible that you might need to re-think your statement just a little?

Akefa,

I will never understand this claim that you and others so frequently make.

Bush destroyed the Clinton prosperity? Ever heard of 9/11? Perhaps the stock market free fall and the massive hit to the economy that followed those events might have had something to do with it???? If on the other hand you are accounting for 9/11 perhaps you believe that somehow George Bush in his first nine months in office before the attacks somehow singlehandedly destroyed the work of the previous eight years? The Clinton prosperity couldn't have been all that if it could be completely reversed in a mere nine months.

Funny that it didn't show until after the attacks, isn't it? I guess that is just a coincidence, huh?

I have another question, do you have some information that we don't have? For instance, do you have examples of other times when the American economy rebounded immediately after a huge attack on a massive finacial center? Perhaps the WTC was destroyed before and it's only because of George Bush's ineptitude that the economy has taken so long to bounce back this time? How do you know that its all Bush's fault?

Or is that just what the Kerry campaign is claiming and you are just trusting that they know what they are talking about?

One last thing. Name the last President to name a BLACK WOMAN to the post of National (freakin) Security Advisor, for chrissake. Is there a more important job that he could have entrusted to such a person? Who was the last black Secretary of State? Maybe Condi and Colin don't count as black people? Or is it that Bush's opposition to affirmative action is automatically racist rather than just a different opinion on what will best further African American acheivement?

I'm sorry to come off as so harsh. But I have to wonder how many people who make this claim are really thinking. Is it possible that you might need to re-think your statement just a little?

Peggy, I'm sure you mean well, but you are so misinformed. You need to spend more time reading the New York Times and less time watching Fox News. But thanks for being civil.

I was going to send them a short and sweet reply and paste it here for all to see, but it got a little out of hand. I'm off to post it on my site. (Shameless traffic grab!) Here's the nut graf:

After 9/11, the whole country seemed to wake up. It was as if we all were blinking away our long national slumber. The murmur went out across the land: "It's time to make the doughnuts." We knew what we had to do, and we did it. As one nation, with one will.

Then, gradually, little by little, my fellow Democrats began to go insane.

The whole thing will be up in a couple minutes.

Wow, Afeka, you sure shut her down.

Yeesh.

Aqueefa, I think you are in the wrong place. I will be praying for you tonight as I watch Fox News, clutching my assault rifle.

Akefa,

1) I don't watch Fox News at all.

2) TV news comes from the Big Three Networks and my local PBS station. I don't have cable or Sat TV.

3) You honestly think that the NY Times is objective?????? I used to read it all the time, then I discovered blogs and now I find that its hard to tolerate anymore.

4) My preferred method of getting my news online. Headlines from CNN and MSNBC. Other news from a wealth of blogs from the moderate to the center right. I am also fond of libertarian blogs. I think they have the funniest blogs as well as an excellent perspective quite different from my own usual take on things. I like that they really get me thinking.

5) Did you read my other post? I voted for Clinton twice. I would have voted for Gore if I had not been living out the country at the time (not military base which would have been easy) After 9-11 I became a Christian, but I would describe myself as a moderate in that department as well.

So much for you having my number.

Was your last comment meant to be sarcastic? I did try to apologize for my harshness but I am simply flabbergasted when people make such a simple conclusion like "The economy is all Bush's fault" when the American economy is quite possibly one of the most complex organisms on the planet. Even the experts have trouble predicting what it will do or in figuring out why it behaves the way it does. But you are claiming that just one person is capable of ruining it??? Particularly when a singularly disastrous event occured on his watch through no fault of his own?

Even NPR (Where I get my news in the car) admits that the economy is recovering. The only people who are claiming that the economy is a disaster is Kerry/Edwards and its just possible that they do so because they think it will get them elected if they try to capitalize on who ever is dissastisfied with the economy. They are just fishing for votes in what is going to be a very close race. The anybody but Bush crowd at the NYT are only too happy to play along.

Maybe you should read more centrist blogs and see for yourself what you might learn when you start reading something besides the NYT.

Voted straight democratic since Mondale. This year, I'll vote for Bush.

Okay, this is just funny.

Do you guys know about "Ask the White House?" It's a regular feature whereby a member of the White House staff answers questions from ordinary folks, and they post the transcript on the White House web site.

Today's "Ask the White House" feature is up. What's right smack in the middle of it? This:

Chris, from Rochester NY writes:

I admire the president very much and his entire staff - despite the fact im a Democrat. He has my vote in November.

Those ABC News guys just aren't tryin', are they?

Re: Oldman, I remember when he was on Dennis Miller, about the time 'The Contender' was out, just railing on Democrats. Dennis Miller was completely taken back (although Dennis was also taken back upon learning Oldman was British...nice research, DM). I'm surprised to hear he was a Gore voter, I thought he was a Republican for longer than that. He's definitely one now.

I was going to say, there'd be a hell of a scandal if Oldman voted for Bush... you know, not being an American Citizen and all.

I voted Clinton once, then for Harry Browne twice (talk about 'throwing away your vote'). I have no time for the Libertarian Party anymore - I can't take them seriously on foriegn policy. I am now a 'hold my nose and vote for GWB' voter. I think that there are more of us around then anyone suspects.

Akefa,

If you believe that The New York Times is without bias, you might want to check with their ombudsman.

Afeka,

Excellent analysis of Peggy's arguments. You've won me over.

I've votin' for Gore! Er- Kerry!

Money

Girlfriend voted for Nader in 2000 and will be voting for Bush in November.

Many friends of ours, however, like Afeka, are blissfully ignorant of their raving lunacy, and will angrily cast their vote for the anti-Bush (Kerry, I think his name is--some guy from Vietnam, anyway).

I thought I was the only Nader to Bush transformation. I count 4 in this thread alone. Maybe we should start a club!

Afeka,

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was present [at the Urban League] and talked with 7 Action News. " I think that the absolute best statement made today was for African-Americans to ponder the thought whether or not African-Americans should be all lined up in one party, and what we get for that. I think there has to be a real cognitive discussion about that with the leaders and the communities in this country. When you talk about the President, he got 8% of the African-American vote, and he has 4 African-American people in his cabinet. Regardless of what people feel are their strengths and weaknesses, and how important they are, you have to ask the question of what he is doing for the African-American community and weigh that against when you vote for a democrat. I mean, it's a great discussion and I think that we have to have it, especially when the entire initiative in this conference is empowerment and the next wave of the civil rights movement. I mean, the African-American people really have to have an agenda that speaks to those issues. And some of those issues may line up on both sides of the parties."

Are the folks at ABC really that ignorant?

Ahem, folks:
http://democrats4bush.com/

If they're that politically ignorant, exactly WHY should I ever read them again (okay, once)?

"Are the folks at ABC really that ignorant?"

I dunno. Is it willful ignorance or simply bald-faced lies that they think no one will call them on? I ask, you decide.

sucka,

I voted in 2000 the same way you did. In fact, I've never voted major party for President since I began voting. But I also can't take the Libertarian foreign policy.

This year, I'm voting for Bush (and I am in a battleground state -- Florida).

Note that I will also be holding my nose while voting.

I think Akefa has African-Americans and African-American Race-Hustlers confused. Akefa's also got a short memory. Because I, another 2000 Nader voter (and 92 Clinton) clearly remember the oxymoronic statements that Bush was an Idiot and he was smart and sly enough to talk down the economy during the 2000 election. The economy was already faltering. There were already plenty of signs the bubble was going to burst and anybody who read any business pub knows that. Hello? Where was Warren Buffet's money? Not in tech. Go check. The economy burst because it didn't have a solid foundation. And it burst along with Asia's and Europes. Are dishonest rubes supposed to make us believe that Bush destroyed those as well.
As far as Blacks: Most blacks favor school choice and believe in God. Most blacks aren't fond of crime. Most blacks want to do business (as Frederick Douglas and Booker T. Washington said) and want as little involvement from the government as possible. That sounds Republican to me, pal.

Sucka, Kathy K.,

Same here. I'll be packing a barf bag and voting for Bush.

I'm pretty sure Den Beste voted for Gore in 2000.

You can add me to that list. I voted Gore in '00 because...well looking back I don't really know why did that. Maybe it's because then I got most of my opinions from others and didn't pay much attention to politics. I feel no shame in saying that, lots of people do it. Oh, and I would have gone for a McCain ticket over Gore.

Unless they find out Bush is actually a blood drinking lizard from dimension X, I'm 100% sure he's my man in '04. Even if he's a blood drinking lizard, he'll probably get my vote if it's confirmed he's only drinkiing the blood of our enemies. Good God, at least the man knows that there's a war on, and I don't mean just Iraq.

Hey, I voted for Nader in 2000, and now I'm voting for Bush.
However, in my case, I only voted for Nader because my state was a lock for the Republicans, and I wanted Nader to get over 5% so he could pull a Perot for the following election.
BUT, my wife voted for Gore in 2000, and she tells me that Kerry scares her.

He might very well be a blood drinking lizard, buts he's our blood drinking lizard!

Never voted Republican before 9/11 - never voted Democratic since. And never will. Ever. Again.

Kathy K. et. al.

Also an ex-Lib here. Since Ron Paul.

And drug legalizer and religious fanatic Keyes is running in my State.

Wot a year. Wot a decade. Wot a century.

================================

For Kerry fans:

What is the War Hero Afraid of?

Form 180. Release the records.

Paging Bernie Goldberg (who is probably part of that group too)...

BTW Oldman probably voted Bush in '00.

Afeka needs to read economic blogs like Econopundit and maybe start visiting Carnival of the Capitalists.

Afeka should also walk us thru the economy circa 1997.

Does Afeka remember something called Y2K?

Perhaps Afeka should explain to us why the corps should have continued spending on tech when they were loaded to the gills because they were afraid everything go boom when their systems rolled over to 01/01/00.

There was nothing left to buy.

Bob Brinker told his subscribers on 1/1/00 to get out. I didn't listen.

Smart money was out by 12/99. Greenspan raised rates how many times in a year?

Too much liquidity during the late 90s because of said y2K spending.

Then there was the no brick-and-morter boom. And Bust.

Then 9/11.

That we're still standing, much less chugging along is a miracle.

Afeka - stop reading Herr Doktorprofessor.

Plus, how many people have we added to this country in the past 4 years, Afeka? And we're still at Bubba numbers.

Go figure.

Please.

I'm no economist, I just finally sat and thought about it from 1998 to now. But I also paid attention.

BTW, mfg. jobs peaked in 1998.

Afeka also hasn't been paying attention to black home ownership.

Can Afeka tell us how many blacks (estimated) own their own businesses???

I can.

I bet they an't find a single person who voted for W. Pathetic is waht they are.

I wonder how many are leaning to the Bush camp because they are 4 years older now, and we are at war.
Churchill said: "If you are young and not a liberal, you have not heart. If you are older and still a liberal, you have no head."

/Quote
If you believe that The New York Times is without bias, you might want to check with their ombudsman.

/end quote

Try this instead Luskin's http://www.poorandstupid.com

The stock market started tanking in MARCH, 2000 (not August) on the day the Clinton DOJ (what was that turds name...Joel something) announced their court battle agasint Microsoft.

Voting Gore/Bush-

My daughter, in 2000 a college sophmore, now a USAF butterbar.

"Why, sweetie?". "I grew up, Dad".

Infidel, why "instead"--what's wrong with folks visiting my blog and Luskin's? [G]