Reply #50: Well, the subject of your posting was "Bush ran to his base"

[boxster]

which is incorrect. He ran FROM his base to the center and even a little left of center.

He most certainly didn't pander to his base. He gave very little lip service to the base because he KNEW they were going to vote for him anyway. Even so, there were still myriad articles written about conservatives being very wary of him because of all of the new spending crap he was proposing.

The fact is, he scared the base. They were afraid that he was too moderate. They voted for him anyway, because they assumed that he would shift right after the election.

It's EXACTLY the same thing with Kerry. If you review his political career, you'll see that he's one of the most liberal members of Congress.

Do you really think he's going to make some huge ideological change when he gets into office?

Of course he won't. He's playing to the center, just like every other presidential candidate always does. When he wins, he'll shift back to his normal ideology. Just like every other recent president has.