Election reflections

[triadruid]

Well, it's not officially finished, but for me it is; the masses spoke, and 4 million more votes came in for George W. Bush than for John Kerry, nationwide. The squabble over a hundred thousand votes in Ohio 'turning the tide' seems petty, especially since I'm willing to bet many of the people pinning their hopes on that EC victory are the same ones who screamed about Gore winning the popular vote in 2000. I know I did; so I can't complain this time about that.

I *can* complain about the youth vote not materializing like they thought it would. Winston Churchill, I think, once said that anyone under 35 who isn't a liberal, lacks a heart. But when so many people under 35 don't. even. vote... it's hard to tell if they lack a heart or a brain.

I *can* complain about a mob mentality that sees fit to deprive my friends of their right to sign the same paperwork I did on 9/9, simply because they have either too few or too many penises. Go to Priscilla's and get one, for fuck's sake! Don't want homosexuals to marry? Don't marry one.

I *can* complain about Kerry running a fairly inept campaign (not as inept as Gore, that's true) that failed largely to capitalize on the Anybody But Bush sentiment until Dean and other challengers showed them how, failed to explain what it stands for in ways the American people could understand, failed to call out Bush's campaign for negative ads, spurious distractions, and outright fabrications. Swift Votes Veterans for Truth should never have had a leg to stand on; Kerry was In Country, Bush was In Alabama. Good gods!

We got exactly the president we deserved, as a country. We voted for it, now we get to live with it. One thing I *won't* do is quit, or run to Europe or Canada. That would only prove the mob right, that it can intimidate and rule us with an iron will. Nice try, assholes.

Comments

[chronarchy.livejournal.com]

"Winston Churchill, I think, once said that anyone under 35 who isn't a liberal, lacks a heart."

My favourite variation there is this:

"If you're 16 and not a socialist, you have no heart. If you're 35 and still are, you have no brain."

Obama '08

[druidevo.livejournal.com]

Maybe in the long run this might help us. We might just have to hav four year of uninterrupted failure, of not just 10,000 dead and wounded volenteers in Iraq, but 100,000 Drafties. If we can point the next two/four years to show it as proof of the lack of economic sense. Maybe this is the second Pearl Harbor, and 9/11 was just someone messing with the Seudatenland.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

One item I would disagree with (if we even disagree on it) is the "anybody but Bush" strategy. For a politician not liking gay marraige, I dare say that Bush ass-reamed me with his state of the union address last year. Yet I wanted something more than simply "not Bush" and that was one of the things that put me off from Dean. I was looking for a different agenda to believe in. When a speech was mostly just knocking an opponent for what he's done wrong, it does not endear me to that person.

Later, Kerry came up with a 'plan', which was what I was looking for out of him... but it was so... fluffy that it was hard to take serious. I think we would have had a better chance with Dean's driva and ambition, but with some sort of Eisenhower/Kennedy 'drive' to fix something.

I also agree with the discontentment over the 11 states banning gay marraige, although I do not agree with the mob mentality statement. I have heard this a lot recently, and I do not feel that the repubilicans are a mob of unintellectual zealots any more than I feel that democrats are a mob of welfare-check collecting heathens. I find both side to have their intellectuals and their idiots. 8-) As far as my take on gay Marraige, I think we need to seperate church and state, and make Marraige a civil union or domestic partnership in the eyes of the law. That way they can have their beloved sanctity without treading on the beliefs of other religions. If we are going to enforce Christian values through the tax system, we may as well broadcast the call to prayer five times a day. Ok, that's stretching it, but I'm a bit annoyed with that issue.

gay marriage is for commies! Yeaaaagh!

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I hope I didn't imply that I'm blaming the Republicans for the passage of the gay marriage amendments. Like in Missouri, most of those 11 states passed it with 3:1 ratios or better.. that takes more than your uneducated religios zealot contingent of voters, even in Missi "no lookin' at dudes" ssippi.

I'm irritated that people can't see beyond their own beliefs/insecurities about marriage to believe that maybe, just maybe, other types of people want to share in the same benefits of legal contracts between two adults. Just maybe.

Nobody's asking/forcing the Baptists and the Catholics to sanctify gay unions; why are the Christians forcing the state not to allow the option?

I don't think we're so far apart there. As for the "ABB" theory, I don't think Dean was "Anybody But Bush". If anything, the notion of "electability" that led, partially, to Kerry being selected by the Dems, plays much harder into the ABB syndrome. The party wanted the person that some polltakers/pundits/party hacks said could 'be electable', so they got Kerry. I think it was a mistake, then and now. I never supported Kerry like I did Dean; Dean got the first campaign finance money I've ever given to a political candidate; Kerry didn't. Kerry didn't fire me up or inspire me, and I think if he had been a *little* more politically savvy, he wouldn't have fallen prey to the media soundbite patrol, which distorted his articulate message in a way they never did for Kerry or Edwards. I can pull up data for you if you're really interested, though I kinda doubt you are. ;)

Re: gay marriage is for commies! Yeaaaagh!

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

I'm irritated that people can't see beyond their own beliefs/insecurities about marriage to believe that maybe, just maybe, other types of people want to share in the same benefits of legal contracts between two adults. Just maybe.

That's why I'm so grateful today for Kobach's concession speech, wherein he reminded my that my own heterosexual marriage is being threatened. I had forgotten that and become complacent. *headdesk*

Re: gay marriage is for commies! Yeaaaagh!

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

I don't think you implied about republicans trampling gay rights, although good gravy there has certainly been a lot of that sentiment floating about.

My problem with Dean is that he was -VERY- likable to the anti-Bush crowd, but he was too not-Bush to carry undecideds. In the debates I heard him, I didn't like him. Maybe he was just more rabid attack dog in the debates, but I didn't find him to be electable. Kerry I liked because he was a lot like me with issues, weighing both sides. It showed a lot of intelligence, however he never showed conviction, which is a bad thing when you are leading the biggest corporate entity on Earth.

I would say that if I could do the last election over again (not this one) I may have gone with someone else... but at the time I picked up a republican ballot and simply voted 'not Bush'.

That leads to an interesting dilemna... I wonder what would happen if someone from the Rep party ran against Bush, and won in the last election (the name of the one escapes me). I think that would be rather amusing, but not really feasible.

because it bounced when i sent the email

[starwyse.livejournal.com]

Carey and David (because I do not have David's email)

Thank you...I have keyboard magic again!!

Hugs and kisses and speedy recovery to the whole household.

Star