Like others in the Bay Area, I was huddled with friends around the television set Tuesday night, my son pressing a blue-donkey or red-elephant sticker on each state as the returns rolled in. As we held out hope for Ohio, one friend related a story that, in retrospect, helped me understand Bush's convincing victory as well as any I have heard.
A young man, my friend said, was walking door to door on her street a few weeks ago to raise money for the Kerry-Edwards ticket. When he knocked on the door of one house, the owner responded to the young man in a huff.
"I'm a Republican!'' she said. "Didn't you see my flag?''
That, in the end, is what it boiled down to.
Somehow, as Bush and his party cut taxes to the rich, sent young Americans to their deaths in a war based on untruths (and managed with stunning incompetence), reneged on its financial commitment to education, and plunged the nation into crushing debt, they became symbols of morality and patriotism. They sold themselves as the party of God and country, offering comfort to people who wouldn't need comforting if the Bush administration had not created the very problems for which it then offered spiritual refuge.
Give them credit. They are like PG&E nabbing the candle concession for a blackout the company caused itself.
It is a confounding time to live in a place like the Bay Area. Watching the returns Tuesday night, and listening to voters across the country, I saw that John Edwards was right about the two Americas. But the two Americas are not divided by money but by belief systems that have drifted so far apart we barely recognize each other anymore.
In exit polls Tuesday, morals topped the list of voter concerns, and an overwhelming majority believed Bush is more moral than Kerry. Thus the resounding victory for the incumbent.
Here in the Bay Area, we, too, place a high priority on values and morality. But clearly, many of us define morality differently from much of America. It is not about church membership. The evidence of morality is in one's actions, not one's Sunday-morning rituals. Morality means more than prayer and more than proclaiming a personal relationship with God.
It is social as well as religious. Is it moral to wage war on a country that did not attack us, and to wage it on false pretenses? Is it moral to stuff more money into the pockets of the wealthy while teachers buy their own crayons and patch their own classroom walls, and while people with mental illness live on the streets and in prison cells for lack of services?
Is it moral to deny two people the joy of committing their lives to one another in marriage? Is it moral to prevent scientists from pursuing cures to devastating diseases because of our leaders' personal religious convictions?
Our country has always included a mix of religious and political beliefs. But we shared a foundation of certain "truths to be self-evident'' that allowed us to meet on common ground. Today, I don't know. Our belief systems - - what is right and wrong, what is patriotic and what is not, what is truth and what is not -- are so different and so dramatically shape how we interpret news and information that we seem no longer to be living within the same culture.
I can't for the life of me, for instance, figure out how anyone could watch those three presidential debates and even entertain the thought that Bush is qualified to lead the free world.
I am puzzled, too, by the reaction to the bin Laden tape. When bin Laden showed up on a video just days before the election, I figured it would remind Americans that Bush had yet to capture the man responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, that he got us sidetracked in Iraq, which had nothing to do with Sept. 11. Instead, the tape seemed to deepen many Americans' belief that ... what? Bush is doing such a good job on terrorism that we should renew his contract?
Some have suggested that the Democratic Party needs to reconnect with middle America and its values, that we should take a page from the Republican playbook and talk more about God and faith. Yes, the Democrats need to revamp their strategy. But I would hate to think we would try to win next time around by emulating politicians who get away with destructive and amoral acts by passing them off as directives from God.
Faith and flags won this election. But I haven't lost my belief in another f-word -- facts. They're bound to come back into fashion sooner or later.
I agree with this column almost completely. Bush did not have a "resounding" victory. He has no "mandate". Mandate my @ss. I just love the way they're playing up this "huge victory" nonsense. I don't even think he actually won. Like we've been saying for months--"If it's close, they'll steal it". I think they did. After all, Ohio's vote was guaranteed to Bush in advance. People are starting to come forward and contest this debacle.
Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
You guys are pathetic. I can't believe you actually believe that Bush didn't win. Obviously nothing short of a Kerry win would satisfy you. Although I didn't like or trust kerry had he won I would have taken it in stride and hoped for the best. It's obvious as well that you guys just live to hate. So much from so called "tolerant" side.
Get your heads out of the clouds, Republicans. Despite having incumbents' advantage,cash advantage, wartime presidents' advantage, campaigning for four years, and hundreds of billions in taxpayer funded special interest deficit spending, Bush just barely squeaked by. Hardly a mandate, with 23% (is it that much?) support from all of the American people (including nonvoters). Many of his supporters would have preferred someone else but the alternative was Kerry. Kind of like a choice between getting shot or getting stabbed.
Funny that the Republicans, who launch moral crusades against everyone not exactly like their boring, greedy, Bible-thumping selves, accuse everyone else of being hateful. Is "hate the sin, kill/imprison the sinner" really the Christian way?
In reality nothing much would have changed under Kerry and the current trend will continue under Bush2b. The state will increase its power to run your life and pick your pocket. But that's not the worst part of a Bush victory. It's that we have four more years of seeing him hold his arms by his sides like he's Yosemite Sam.
Last edited by gaoxiaen on 11-06-2004 at 12:31 AM |
People don't have any motivation to lie in an exit poll. That's why they are such a good indicator of outcome. There have been only 2 instances in the history of American elections in which the result was opposite of the exit polls; 2000 and 2004. HMMM. Oddly enough, in areas with a paper ballot or verifiable receipt, the exit polls were accurate; the count matched what the exit pollsters predicted. In districts that provided no paper trail, the numbers didn't match. Are we to believe that the voters lied to the exit pollsters? Come on. Bush's buddy Wally O'Dell (CEO of Diebold) guaranteed that he would deliver Ohio to GW well in advance of the election. It stinks. Not for Dems. For everyone and especially Democracy. It may shock you, but a lot of Reps. had the common sense to remove Bush too.
Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
I hope you wouldn't have taken it in your stride if you thought Kerry had cheated. Who thought it would be okay for the computer voting machines to be made by companies allied to Bush? Now people are going to start asking how Bush managed to get such a big win in Florida compared to last time,
Get it through your skulls. Both sides cheat every chance they get. That promise sounds suspicious and deserves a closer look. A second stolen election?
Yes, they are politicians after all. I just find the irregularities disturbing. This magnitude of deviant behavior is not seen among the more progressive political entities. The "Conservatives" seem to have cornered the market on the most egregious political misbehavior. They all lie and cheat to some degree, but election stealing is as bad as it gets.
Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Okay..people say bush has big corporations in his corner...and that he "bought" the election...
Well, Kerry is one of the richest men around...he has houses EVERYWHERE!
I would have to imagine that he has just as big of corporations on is own side...
If he thought an election could have been bought...why didnt he buy it? (and dont give me the honest guy routine...he lied so many times during his campaign..I wont accept that).
I just dont buy (no pun intended) the theory that the election was bought and paid for.
People do vote republican...to think that Kerry was just gonna walk away with this election no problem, was just not thinking outside the box.
I live in the midwest...and we have always typically been republican mindset....
Unless there is someone worth looking at, thats not really gonna change....Kerry was not one of those people.
C'mon...you all have to admit, that Kerry was not the person to win this election....personally, I dont just blame him...I think Edwards was a big factor in his loss....that guy just has no experience...one year as Senator and no other government experience? The thought alone gives me the willies.
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Reading some of the reactions to the president's victory really, truely vindicates what I was thinking while arguing with you people over the last couple of years.
I've never been more confident in Bush as a president than I am right now. He really got to you guys, didn't he?
Please pardon my pseudo-intellectuaphilisophicalismysiticality.
h@ts said this in post #6 : I hope you wouldn't have taken it in your stride if you thought Kerry had cheated. Who thought it would be okay for the computer voting machines to be made by companies allied to Bush? Now people are going to start asking how Bush managed to get such a big win in Florida compared to last time,
Did it ever occur to you that a lot of conservatives got tired of hearing the whining that has gone on over the last 4 years about Bush "stealing" the election and that this time the vote for Bush was a "shut the hell up" statement? Personally I really got tired of Kerry constantly telling us how bad things were and how horrible the president was. I don't deny that he has made mistakes but after awhile it's like shut up already and tell us what you would do differently. The democratic party new that they didn't have much of a platform to run on so they tried to run on the "failures" (whether real or imaginary) of the Bush administration. Now Bush wins by a large margin, there is no denying that but you guys somehow are blind to that fact. Instead you want to fabricate reasons to try and suggest that reality didn't actually take place. Your all in a serious bout of denial. Kerry is no saint and the dem's wanted this election so bad that they were not above doing their own mischievous things. Kerry was married to a BILLIONAIRE and yet somehow the democratic party still convinces people that they are for the "little" guy. What a bunch of crock. You think that every large corporation in America is owned by a republican? My own local newspaper endorsed Kerry. How is that for trustworthy journalism. For some reason people that support the democratic party have an elitist attitude and refuse to believe that Bush won a higher percentage of the vote than any president in history. If that's not a mandate then I don't know what is.
Sayzak said this in post #10 : Reading some of the reactions to the president's victory really, truely vindicates what I was thinking while arguing with you people over the last couple of years.
I've never been more confident in Bush as a president than I am right now. He really got to you guys, didn't he?
nah, we're just hoping and also praying that we never have to say 'i told you so.' i've said this more than once in this forum. i have been able to accept other former presidents that i didn't vote for. i just don't have any confidence at all in geo. w. bush. he strikes me as a real dummy, controlled by other people, people who let him make possibly the worst decision in the history of the united states. if we just elected someone like john mccain, i'd at least feel like we were in safe hands for the next four years. i think that thousands of the people that voted against kerry just didn't really understand him, just as sure as the lady who thinks that only republicans have flags.
flapbreaker: Did it ever occur to you that a lot of conservatives got tired of hearing the whining that has gone on over the last 4 years about Bush "stealing" the election and that this time the vote for Bush was a "shut the hell up" statement?
Are you saying Bush shouldn't have an opposition. That's what opposition do.
Personally I really got tired of Kerry constantly telling us how bad things were and how horrible the president was.
Well that's politics. Maybe Bush should ditch elections and outlaw other parties so you don't need to get so tired in future. Who's whining?!
I don't deny that he has made mistakes but after awhile it's like shut up already and tell us what you would do differently.
Kerry said exactly what he would do differently - something about using diplomacy instead of pissing the rest of the world off.
The democratic party new that they didn't have much of a platform to run on so they tried to run on the "failures" (whether real or imaginary) of the Bush administration.
The Republican's platform was fear. Cheney even said you'll die if you vote for Kerry
Now Bush wins by a large margin, there is no denying that but you guys somehow are blind to that fact. Instead you want to fabricate reasons to try and suggest that reality didn't actually take place. Your all in a serious bout of denial.
No one can deny Bush is the American president for the next four years.
Kerry is no saint and the dem's wanted this election so bad that they were not above doing their own mischievous things.
The Democrats realise that to fight the Republicans they are going to have to climb down into the sewer with them.
Kerry was married to a BILLIONAIRE and yet somehow the democratic party still convinces people that they are for the "little" guy.
Well if you could see past all the rhetoric and flag waving you'd understand that Bush hates the little guy and is intent on robbing him blind and giving all that money to his rich backers or as he likes to call them his "base". He knows who he has to look after to stay in power and you can make do with the church.
What a bunch of crock. You think that every large corporation in America is owned by a republican? My own local newspaper endorsed Kerry. How is that for trustworthy journalism.
Of couse not and like I said every year the parties are resembling each other more and more. 10 years from now there won't be much point in elections.
For some reason people that support the democratic party have an elitist attitude and refuse to believe that Bush won a higher percentage of the vote than any president in history. If that's not a mandate then I don't know what is.
This is one guys take on middle America and what it's become. It probably won't make a great deal of sense out of context but you can read the whole article here if you're interested, and interesting it is - did you know that Middle America was once upon a time staunchly Democrat?
The United States of America now stands as the largest opponent to working-class interests in the world, with a large base of support from its own working-class population. America now stands poised ready to change history and to usher in a completely new era of human society, a society of mass manipulation and social engineering the likes of which has never been known before in human history. Social engineering that will dwarf Mao’s Cultural Revolution with a mix of technology and religion designed to mold the working-class into a mindless mass production and mass consumption machine, pumping wealth to a fraction of the upper one percent. Perhaps it was McDonalds founder Ray Kroc who said it best when discussing the role of franchises :
"We have found out... that we cannot trust some people who are nonconformists... We will make conformists out of them in a hurry. The organization cannot trust the individual; the individual must trust the organization."
For some reason people that support the democratic party have an elitist attitude and refuse to believe that Bush won a higher percentage of the vote than any president in history. If that's not a mandate then I don't know what is.
fb, there you go again! where do you come off saying bush won with a 'higher percentage of the vote than any president in history'? there have been many bigger landslides than this one (which i'd hardly even categorize as a landslide - you just want it to be). should i post all the election stats for you again? just look at the 1996 election, for only one example.
are you aware that if kerry were able to win ohio's electoral votes, he would be president now?
there's no landslide. there's no mandate. there's just a million or two republicans and undecideds who otherwise might have voted for kerry, but who believed everything karl rove told them, or at least scared them with the religious talk. they believed (a) saddam hussein had wmd's, (b) iraq attacked us on 9/11, (c) democrats favor gay marriages, (d) democrats don't have a a god, (e) democrats don't display the american flag, (f) democrats want a socialistic government.
brilliant stategy, but ALL LIES! no, not all republicans were that stupid, just enough of them, mainly from the south and heartland, who were told things like that and preferred to believe them to be true, just as you prefer to keep convincing yourself that bush won in a landslide.
and no, we're not sore losers. we just wish we had lost with a level playing field, if we had to lose at all. i fault kerry for not fighting back hard enough to refute all those lies and subtle insinuations by karl rove, dick cheney & other assorted & sundry puppeteers.
Did it ever occur to you that a lot of conservatives got tired of hearing the whining that has gone on over the last 4 years about Bush "stealing" the election and that this time the vote for Bush was a "shut the hell up" statement? Personally I really got tired of Kerry constantly telling us how bad things were and how horrible the president was. I don't deny that he has made mistakes but after awhile it's like shut up already and tell us what you would do differently. The democratic party new that they didn't have much of a platform to run on so they tried to run on the "failures" (whether real or imaginary) of the Bush administration. Now Bush wins by a large margin, there is no denying that but you guys somehow are blind to that fact. Instead you want to fabricate reasons to try and suggest that reality didn't actually take place. Your all in a serious bout of denial. Kerry is no saint and the dem's wanted this election so bad that they were not above doing their own mischievous things. Kerry was married to a BILLIONAIRE and yet somehow the democratic party still convinces people that they are for the "little" guy. What a bunch of crock. You think that every large corporation in America is owned by a republican? My own local newspaper endorsed Kerry. How is that for trustworthy journalism. For some reason people that support the democratic party have an elitist attitude and refuse to believe that Bush won a higher percentage of the vote than any president in history. If that's not a mandate then I don't know what is.
Excellent post Flap!
Tells it how it is!
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
11-05-2004 06:04 PM
