New Zogby Poll Shows...
Al's the Man in 2004
What Was All This About Gore Being Toast?
by Tamara Baker

Dec. 27, 2000 -- SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA -- There's nothing like seeing
self-appointed pundits being so blatantly, lavishly, utterly wrong.

Case in point for today: GOP operative and McCain 2000 communications
director Dan Schnur, whose recent LA Times column
(http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20001220/t000121123.html) set forth, in
crisp Cal-Thomas-like manner, such a brazen assortment of lies that they
could have only come from a Republican or Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's
own 'communications director'.

Mr. Schnur stated or implied the following:

a) Jesse Jackson was a dangerous rabble-rouser who the Good People of
Florida rose up and summarily escorted from their fragrant land (no mention
made of the DeLay and Stormfront thugs who were busily beating people up
over in the Miami-Dade area);

b) Most people think Bush is the legitimate president-elect (he quoted the
famous Gallup Poll here, neglecting to mention that, were all the non-voters
and Republicans filtered out, the poll would show at least 3/4 of all
Democrats rightly convinced that Shrub is a usurping fraud);

and last but not least,

c) Gore is toast politically, and should just give it up and call off that
horrible scary old Neee-gro, Jesse Jackson, who frightens Mr. Schnur so, in
order that we may all unite under our new Dictator, President Butt-Head.

Mr. Schnur is plainly trying to have it both ways. On the one hand, he
claims that Al Gore, the winner of the popular vote and of the electoral
college vote (because as the ever-growing mountain of evidence clearly shows
(
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/lake/orl-recount-12192000-story.story?coll=orl%2Dhome%2Dheadlines
)
, is all washed up and has no political power whatsoever. On the other,
he claims that Al Gore is so potent a political force that he can order
Jesse Jackson and other activists around the way Karen Hughes controls The
Smirking One.

I'd ask Mr. Schnur to pick one of his two contradictory caricatures and
stick with it, but something has come up that blows his spiel to smithereens
-- and shows just why he felt the need, as did so many other GOP spin
doctors, to try and hit the 'unity' angle so hard and so deceptively.

A December 18 Zogby/Reuters/NBC poll
(http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=316) shows what may be scaring
Mr. Schnur and his fellow GOP pundits. According to Zogby, the GOP's
favorite pollster, a majority of Americans say Al Gore should run again for
president in the year 2004:

- - - 

<< The survey, conducted nationwide December 13 of 521 likely voters who
voted in the 2000 presidential elections, showed that an overall 54% said
Gore should run again in four years while one-third (33%) said the
Democratic Party instead should find a new nominee. Another 13% were
undecided. >>

- - -

So much for the myth of Gore's political powerlessness. But that's not all
-- nor even what is frightening the GOP the most -- about that Zogby poll.

Here's what's really scaring the Republicans:

- - -

<< At the same time, 35% said Bush should run for re-election in 2004 while
31% said he should not and another 34% were undecided. >>

- - -

Remember, folks: This is happening during Shrub's 'honeymoon'. This is the
time when his ratings will be at their highest, barring his trying to
artificially boost them by starting a war against Iraq just like his daddy
did a decade earlier. And already, Shrub's position is weaker than wet
toilet paper, even among Republicans.

The question isn't going to be "Will Bush face a stiff primary challenge in
2004?" The numbers above show that such a challenge is quite likely. The
only real question is whether he'll make it through a single stolen term
before the GOP quietly works to have him removed for the good of the party,
or even the country.

Copyright © 2000, Dave Gibbons.  Reprinted by permission.
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