At a time where national elections are being decided by close votes in a handful of swing states, it’s interesting to see big a move by any voting constituency. The recent Terry Schiavo saga has highlited a political shift by disabled Americans into the GOP camp. According to the National Organization on Disability, in 2000 Al Gore out-polled George Bush among disabled Americans 56% to 38%. Four years later, Mr. Bush beat Jon Kerry 52.5% to 46%. This is a 24.5 point shift; absolutely huge by political standards.

This move is best exemplified by Eleanor Smith, a wheelchair bound self-described liberal agnostic lesbian. According to Ms. Smith, “I would rather have a right-wing Christian decide my fate than an ACLU member.”

So would I, Ms. Smith, but not for the reasons you think.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 17th, 2005 at 11:08 pm by Insider and is filed under Election 2008 Live Team Coverage!, Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.