I'm not sure when I'll post again. I need time to gather my thoughts. Again, anything I say right now I will certainly come to regret. I will say this - I'm not so much angry as I am sad. I'm sad for the world. I'm sad for our environment that is about to be raped for four more years. I'm sad about the implications that rewarding such political behavior will have on the future of American politics. I'm sad about everything. I'm also just stunned. It's hard to be a political commentator when you can't even comprehend 52% of your countrymen. I honestly don't understand them. I don't understand why people support this man, this administration, and this record.
Well, Publius (Legal Fiction), you did a good job explaining why we had to vote against Kerry, but your optimism that he would win fairly easily was not quite justified, hmm? I took the polls seriously: too close to call with some going Bush's way. And, please: you are from the South, rich in Bush voters. You surely understand why the people stuck with the guy. And, that is what happened: helped by redistricting that resulted in a net gain of a few key electoral votes in Red States, he basically kept the states he won in 2000. And, picked up a bit more as well. The battle would be Florida and Ohio, and his brother recently won re-election in Florida by a good margin.
So, we were left with hoping that the people realizes that lying about war, being hateful to gays, secretive, politically nasty, sneering at civil liberties, and not considering reasonable debate and fact based execution truly part of your job description is not something we should honor. It's not something we should give a mandate to. And, mandate it would be, which would be truly hard to take. What straw would be left to grasp on to?
In fact, it's morally reprehensible to do so, even if a majority of voting public couldn't understand or did not think it important enough to care. Democracy failed us before, and it will fail us again. We will survive either way, just some degree worse (if we use words liked "raped" ... we won't survive, so won't go there) if what some people see as the obvious is ignored. And, I bloody cannot stand considering that I have to suffer for four more years of this jerk.
I didn't suddenly respect him after 9/11. I won't now. No matter what happens in Ohio. I stick with my own counsel, even if the leader of the country benefits from things I find shockingly wrong.