The Mother Jones Poll reveals the Great Distractor I think that given the death of civil political discourse in this country since the chimperor was appointed by the criminal conspiracy known as the Supremes (I imagine that Scalia sings all the leads just like Diana Ross did back before she started to look like a scarier version of scary spice), it is time to take a good long hard look at people's true political beliefs. Surely, the repugnicrats do not care about anything real and true beyond, aw hell I do not know what they believe in anymore. Maybe since so many Neo Cons are entering the twilight of their years, they want to drag the country down to a lower pit of Hell. Would not that explain a lot? I think so. Or maybe they want to disguise what they are doing. I am reminded of an effort to create a great distraction. Or as an episode of South Park put it "Look at the Monkey" -- known as "the Chewbacca defense." Loved that episode and thought, hey that is a great idea if we apply it to politics. Anyone think that Bush is such an amazing idiot because he is a distraction from what Cheney and the other Neo Cons are doing to this country? That while Bush doesn't understand beyond what Rove teaches him in some coloring books, perhaps he was meant to not understand political reality from the beginning: Bush the great distractor. If we can call Reagan a great communicator when he hated facts or the truth or actually listening to what people really cared about beyond a group of old rich white men, then Bush easily qualifies as the great distractor. Of course, the problem is as the Mother Jones poll makes clear, some people are not buying the distraction. Thank heavens for that. Earlier this year, when we set out to conduct the first ever Mother Jones poll, our goal was to delve beyond the normal tracking questions found in most national polls. We wanted to find out how Americans really feel about the state of our union. Thinking back to Ronald Reagan's iconic 1980 line, we set out to measure whether voters felt they were better off today than three years ago. We determined that we needed to ask Americans about who has won, and who has lost under Bush's leadership. And we hoped to find out whether the nation really is split down the middle, as so many political pundits like to assert. Given the findings of other recent national polls, we expected to learn that the nation was discontent and worried. But even we were surprised by the extent of the unhappiness, and the depth of the concern. As Mother Jones Washington Correspondent Michael Scherer reports, behind the veneer of a partisan divide, America is deeply dissatisfied and hungry for a change in direction. What's more, as pollster Stanley Greenberg writes, that dissatisfaction can be seen across the political spectrum. But will the voter discontent lead to a change in November? Joshua Wolf Shenk argues that's all up to Senator John Kerry. Will Tacy Editor, MotherJones.com The Unhappy Majority By Michael Scherer Beneath the partisan divide, America is discontented and desperate for change. On the Road to Nowhere By Stanley Greenberg Liberals aren't the only ones who think George W. Bush has led the nation astray. Beyond Anger By Joshua Wolf Shenk Americans know how bad things are. John Kerry needs to show us how good they can be. Review the complete poll results