This is a sampling of the reaction on the Left in blogland to America's vote. Later, I will try to compile a sampling from around the world, and give my own analysis of the situation we are in. I won't bother with anything from the Righteous Right. For that, simply imagine the days of the gladiators at the Coliseum in Rome.
Four more years of American soldiers being used as cannon fodder.
Four more years of scientific decisions being made by people who believe in a ghost in the clouds.
Four more years of debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay off.
Four more years of racists and lunatics for judicial appointments
Four more years of looting the treasury and squandering it on corporate cronies.
Four more years of making enemies faster than we can kill them.
Four more years of fear and darkness and racism and hatred and stupidity and guns and bad country music.
I look at the big map and all of the red in flyover country and I feel like I've been locked in a room with the slow learners. We have become the country that pulls a dry cleaning bag over its head to play astronaut.
TBoggFour more years of scientific decisions being made by people who believe in a ghost in the clouds.
Four more years of debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay off.
Four more years of racists and lunatics for judicial appointments
Four more years of looting the treasury and squandering it on corporate cronies.
Four more years of making enemies faster than we can kill them.
Four more years of fear and darkness and racism and hatred and stupidity and guns and bad country music.
I look at the big map and all of the red in flyover country and I feel like I've been locked in a room with the slow learners. We have become the country that pulls a dry cleaning bag over its head to play astronaut.
My mother died last year after a decade of progressive memory loss caused by a series of microstrokes. One of the first really noticeable manifestations of her illness was when she started being swindled by dozens of mail and phone scams. She wrote check after check to con artists, eventually adding up to probably ten thousand dollars....Over ten years the disease got worse and worse, to where eventually she could only recognize my younger brother and I who saw her frequently, and then after a while she couldn't even recognize us.
I say all that because I don't want you to think that I'm joking when I suggest that the United States of America appears to be a nation with Alzheimers. That Bush could get a clear victory in the popular vote, and most likely in the electoral vote as well, suggests that the majority of voters wake up every day with a clean slate for a memory. "Oh, what a nice man he seems to be" could only be the conclusion of a nation without a functioning memory. A nation that allows a group of thugs to start multiple wars while cutting taxes and stealing constitutional rights at will, and then votes to keep the thugs in office, is very much like my mother writing a check for the same crap she wrote a check for a month earlier, even though the crap was never delivered.
...Four years from now Republican policies will have destroyed so many lives that they'll likely be thrown out for good. I think what we probably need to do right now is to abandon the Democratic party en masse, as they have shown themselves to be completely incompetent as an opposition party.
Bob's Links and RantsI say all that because I don't want you to think that I'm joking when I suggest that the United States of America appears to be a nation with Alzheimers. That Bush could get a clear victory in the popular vote, and most likely in the electoral vote as well, suggests that the majority of voters wake up every day with a clean slate for a memory. "Oh, what a nice man he seems to be" could only be the conclusion of a nation without a functioning memory. A nation that allows a group of thugs to start multiple wars while cutting taxes and stealing constitutional rights at will, and then votes to keep the thugs in office, is very much like my mother writing a check for the same crap she wrote a check for a month earlier, even though the crap was never delivered.
...Four years from now Republican policies will have destroyed so many lives that they'll likely be thrown out for good. I think what we probably need to do right now is to abandon the Democratic party en masse, as they have shown themselves to be completely incompetent as an opposition party.
It appears the GOP simply has the better GOTV operation, and it's based around churches. The popular vote spread is pretty wide this time. I don't agree with the argument here that some sort of coup happened - we were beaten fair and square - but the rest of the post is correct: the theocrats just assumed control of the judicial branch for at least twenty years. The courts are the true disaster of this election. Make no mistake, that is what the American political divide has come to: the secularists versus the theocrats.
The depressingly threadbare silver lining is that now Bush gets to deal with the gigantic messes he created. Iraq is unwinnable and he hasn't any idea how to get out. He inherits his own busted budget. The presidency for the next four years isn't going to be an enjoyable experience.
Bleah. Can't say that I've much cared for the 21st century so far.
ApostropherThe depressingly threadbare silver lining is that now Bush gets to deal with the gigantic messes he created. Iraq is unwinnable and he hasn't any idea how to get out. He inherits his own busted budget. The presidency for the next four years isn't going to be an enjoyable experience.
Bleah. Can't say that I've much cared for the 21st century so far.
Four More Fears
Billmon, quoting Hunter S. Thompson from 1972This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it -- that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
I hope some of those faith-based tax cuts trickle down on you and yours. I will definitely make out like a bandit as I have the last couple of years, so don't worry about me.
I'd say hi to you and your kids in the emergency room, but I'll be enjoying my excellent private practice care paid for by my excellent health insurance that I can afford because of your generous tax cuts and your system of employer provided health insurance that benefits me because I employ myself.
And I will pray for your teenage daughter as she gives birth to her uncle's baby because abortion was not an option, just as soon as you tell me which God to pray to -- the one who smiles on incest and the death penalty or the one who frowns on loving, same-sex couples and sex education.
I also appreciate the big tax-cut bucks that will be flowing into my SEP-IRA, and I especially appreciate you sending all your kids over there to Iraq to get me some cheap oil for my big-ass SUV.
...The only good to come out of last night's natural disaster is that Republicans will have four more years with no restraints to prove once and for all how badly they can screw things up. I know us Americans are slow learners and easily distracted by lip-syncing pop stars and beer commercials, but surely that will be enough.
South Knox BubbaI'd say hi to you and your kids in the emergency room, but I'll be enjoying my excellent private practice care paid for by my excellent health insurance that I can afford because of your generous tax cuts and your system of employer provided health insurance that benefits me because I employ myself.
And I will pray for your teenage daughter as she gives birth to her uncle's baby because abortion was not an option, just as soon as you tell me which God to pray to -- the one who smiles on incest and the death penalty or the one who frowns on loving, same-sex couples and sex education.
I also appreciate the big tax-cut bucks that will be flowing into my SEP-IRA, and I especially appreciate you sending all your kids over there to Iraq to get me some cheap oil for my big-ass SUV.
...The only good to come out of last night's natural disaster is that Republicans will have four more years with no restraints to prove once and for all how badly they can screw things up. I know us Americans are slow learners and easily distracted by lip-syncing pop stars and beer commercials, but surely that will be enough.
I don't think the Democrats should in any way abandon their core values.
Furthermore, they should not slink off and allow a radicalized Bush to run over this country and the world like they did in '00. 54 million votes yesterday told you guys that. They hate us, and we should hate them. We should do everything possible to stop them from continuing to hurt America.
Oliver WillisFurthermore, they should not slink off and allow a radicalized Bush to run over this country and the world like they did in '00. 54 million votes yesterday told you guys that. They hate us, and we should hate them. We should do everything possible to stop them from continuing to hurt America.
There is no way that Bush won Florida legitimately, and black box voting machines that do not allow a recount demand an investigation. John Kerry won Florida, and if it takes an investigation and constitutional crisis to keep the thieves from stealing the election a second time, so be it. And don't let me hear any algae about needing a quick decision for "the good of the country". The good of the country is best served by an honest election, not by letting thieves steal the White House.
G.D. FrogsdongI read thousands of comments and dozens of Diaries last night and this morning. And you know something? I’m going to forget I read most of them....
Because what I found in my reading was a plethora of bashing Christians, bashing Kerry, bashing gays, bashing Edwards, bashing Kos, bashing America and bashing each other. As well as a lot of people saying they’re abandoning the Democrats, abandoning politics, abandoning the country. This descent into despair and irrationality and surrender puts icing on the Republican victory cake.
Why were we in this fight in the first place? Because terrible leaders are doing terrible things to our country and calling this wonderful. Because radical reactionaries are trying to impose their imperialist schemes on whoever they wish and calling this just. Because amoral oligarchs are determined to enhance their slice of the economic pie and calling this the natural order. Because flag-wrapped ideologues want to chop up civil liberties and call this security. Because myopians are in charge of America’s future.
We lost on 11/2. Came in second place in a crucial battle whose damage may still be felt decades from now. The despicable record of our foes makes our defeat good reason for disappointment and fear. Even without a mandate over the past four years, they have behaved ruthlessly at home and abroad, failing to listen to objections even from members of their own party. With the mandate of a 3.6-million vote margin, one can only imagine how far their arrogance will take them in their efforts to dismantle 70 years of social legislation and 50+ years of diplomacy.
...It’s tough on the psyche to be beaten.Throughout our country’s history, abolitionists, suffragists, union organizers, anti-racists, antiwarriors, civil libertarians, feminists and gay rights activists have challenged the majority of Americans to take off their blinders. Each succeeded one way or another, but not overnight, and certainly not without serious setbacks.
After a decent interval of licking our wounds and pondering what might have been and where we went wrong, we need to spit out our despair and return – united - to battling those who have for the moment outmaneuvered us. Otherwise, we might just as well lie down in the street and let them flatten us with their schemes.
KosBecause what I found in my reading was a plethora of bashing Christians, bashing Kerry, bashing gays, bashing Edwards, bashing Kos, bashing America and bashing each other. As well as a lot of people saying they’re abandoning the Democrats, abandoning politics, abandoning the country. This descent into despair and irrationality and surrender puts icing on the Republican victory cake.
Why were we in this fight in the first place? Because terrible leaders are doing terrible things to our country and calling this wonderful. Because radical reactionaries are trying to impose their imperialist schemes on whoever they wish and calling this just. Because amoral oligarchs are determined to enhance their slice of the economic pie and calling this the natural order. Because flag-wrapped ideologues want to chop up civil liberties and call this security. Because myopians are in charge of America’s future.
We lost on 11/2. Came in second place in a crucial battle whose damage may still be felt decades from now. The despicable record of our foes makes our defeat good reason for disappointment and fear. Even without a mandate over the past four years, they have behaved ruthlessly at home and abroad, failing to listen to objections even from members of their own party. With the mandate of a 3.6-million vote margin, one can only imagine how far their arrogance will take them in their efforts to dismantle 70 years of social legislation and 50+ years of diplomacy.
...It’s tough on the psyche to be beaten.Throughout our country’s history, abolitionists, suffragists, union organizers, anti-racists, antiwarriors, civil libertarians, feminists and gay rights activists have challenged the majority of Americans to take off their blinders. Each succeeded one way or another, but not overnight, and certainly not without serious setbacks.
After a decent interval of licking our wounds and pondering what might have been and where we went wrong, we need to spit out our despair and return – united - to battling those who have for the moment outmaneuvered us. Otherwise, we might just as well lie down in the street and let them flatten us with their schemes.
I have only two words to say: Civil Disobedience.
Bag News NotesOhio, the state that the head of Diebold promised to carry for Bush and where so many jobs were lost, loses its collective mind.
Ethically-challenged venomous sleazebag Tom DeLay (TX-Insane) wins reelection.
Demented wackjob Jim 'where am I?' Bunning elected in Kentucky, brain optional.
South Dakota votes out Senate Minority Leader and marvelous dancer Tom 'Isadora' Daschle.
America, you can eat me.
MaruEthically-challenged venomous sleazebag Tom DeLay (TX-Insane) wins reelection.
Demented wackjob Jim 'where am I?' Bunning elected in Kentucky, brain optional.
South Dakota votes out Senate Minority Leader and marvelous dancer Tom 'Isadora' Daschle.
America, you can eat me.
We are a nation of savages. That is what we decided last night. We belong to the "most advanced" society in the history of the world, and we decided that we would rather be barbarians, hunched over fire pits, ripping meat off the bones of our enemies, raping our women, howling out at the gods for peace in the afterlife.
...When the majority of the country voted for Bush yesterday, what they were saying, in Alabama, in Wyoming, in Indiana, is that they want blood for blood, and it doesn't matter where that blood comes from. The economy didn't fucking matter, health care didn't fucking matter, certainly peace didn't fucking matter, the Supreme Court didn't fucking matter. None of it. And the rest of the world can go fuck itself.
...Bush and the Bushettes are laughing...toasting with single malt scotch that they tricked the savages once again by appealing to their savage nature with the Iraq war.
...[W]ithout a whistleblower, anyone who accuses Bush of winning because of fraud is going to be marked as an insane conspiracy theorist. And, besides, back in 2000, we were pushing so hard for Florida to go to Gore because, well, Gore won the popular vote and there was demonstrable voter fraud. But, you know, we're talking 3.5 million votes in Bush's favor. We're talking gains for Republicans in the Congress. We're talking 11 ballot measures that ban gay marriage. Which means even if there's a miracle of miracles and Kerry had "won," we've still lost.
The Rude Pundit...When the majority of the country voted for Bush yesterday, what they were saying, in Alabama, in Wyoming, in Indiana, is that they want blood for blood, and it doesn't matter where that blood comes from. The economy didn't fucking matter, health care didn't fucking matter, certainly peace didn't fucking matter, the Supreme Court didn't fucking matter. None of it. And the rest of the world can go fuck itself.
...Bush and the Bushettes are laughing...toasting with single malt scotch that they tricked the savages once again by appealing to their savage nature with the Iraq war.
...[W]ithout a whistleblower, anyone who accuses Bush of winning because of fraud is going to be marked as an insane conspiracy theorist. And, besides, back in 2000, we were pushing so hard for Florida to go to Gore because, well, Gore won the popular vote and there was demonstrable voter fraud. But, you know, we're talking 3.5 million votes in Bush's favor. We're talking gains for Republicans in the Congress. We're talking 11 ballot measures that ban gay marriage. Which means even if there's a miracle of miracles and Kerry had "won," we've still lost.
There is something seriously wrong with a party that gets spotted $200 million, a solid candidate, wins every debate, has an opponent with sub-50% approval rating, an unpopular war, the worst economic record since The Great Depression, and a boatload of scandals, and loses by 3 million votes. And loses at least 2 Senate seats and 11 Representatives. And the thing that I think is wrong is the attempt to rely on issues that don't inspire people to vote.
So, if you were planning on having an abortion, I wouldn't put it off too much longer.
The Poor ManSo, if you were planning on having an abortion, I wouldn't put it off too much longer.
First and foremost: The election is over, the war is not! The war against the Iraqi people, the war against the Afghan people, the war against the Palestinian people, the war against the American people known as the "PATRIOT" act, the war against the Cuban people known as the "embargo," and more. All of those wars were due to continue under either President Bush or President Kerry, and the efforts to stop all of those wars must continue unabated.
Secondly, I am depressed about the election result. Some may think that strange, considering I've made no secret of my antipathy for both Bush and Kerry, and the fact that I think their similarities (as expressed in the previous paragraph) are far greater and more important than their differences. Nevertheless, I recognize that the overwhelming majority of Americans, certainly the overwhelming majority (99+%) of American voters, felt differently, and felt there were significant differences between them and, feeling that, voted in a small but significant majority for Bush and all he represents.
Left ISecondly, I am depressed about the election result. Some may think that strange, considering I've made no secret of my antipathy for both Bush and Kerry, and the fact that I think their similarities (as expressed in the previous paragraph) are far greater and more important than their differences. Nevertheless, I recognize that the overwhelming majority of Americans, certainly the overwhelming majority (99+%) of American voters, felt differently, and felt there were significant differences between them and, feeling that, voted in a small but significant majority for Bush and all he represents.
I’ve been, for most of my life, an earnest optimist—an encourager, a cheerleader, never at a loss to demonstrate the ways in which the glass is half full. On occasion I’ve even been hard on those friends to whom pessimism comes more naturally. (Hi, Mary Kay.)
This morning I’ve got none of that. I don’t just feel beaten; I feel like I’ve lived a fundamentally foolish turn of mind, like I’ve been defrauding my friends with an amped-up similitude of rational optimism, and that I can’t imagine why anyone should henceforth care what I think about anything.
I’m sure there are ways to come back from last night’s catastrophe. As I’ve said to politically-despairing fellow Americans before, tell it to Vaclav Havel. But right now I can’t see forward.
ElectroliteThis morning I’ve got none of that. I don’t just feel beaten; I feel like I’ve lived a fundamentally foolish turn of mind, like I’ve been defrauding my friends with an amped-up similitude of rational optimism, and that I can’t imagine why anyone should henceforth care what I think about anything.
I’m sure there are ways to come back from last night’s catastrophe. As I’ve said to politically-despairing fellow Americans before, tell it to Vaclav Havel. But right now I can’t see forward.
[Could it] really be possible that we could be heading down the same path we did in 2000? Could George W. Bush really be stealing another election? Could President Lowest Common Denominator REALLY have duped a majority of Americans into believing that he is a better, more effective leader than John Kerry? Apparently so.
...That is not the result I wanted, nor what I had believed in my heart would happen, but there it is. One can only bemoan reality for so long.
...I will not pretend to be happy; I am greatly disturbed that a majority of Americans seem to be perfectly happy with four more years of incompetence, ineptitude, lies, and a hopelessly misguided and deadly war in Iraq. Nonetheless, the people appear to have spoken. A wise man once said that Americans get exactly the quality of representation that they deserve. Apparently, our standards are far lower than anyone could have suspected. That so many Americans seem unable to honestly assess the dearth of principled leadership that has been the hallmark of George W. Bush’s reign is something I find difficult to comprehend. At the risk of sounding arrogant and dismissive, it seems that the Bush-Cheney strategy of manipulating the fears of Americans and creating their own truth was successful. Somewhere, Niccolo Machiavelli and Josef Goebbels must be smiling.
...I am angry, and I am profoundly disturbed that fear and ignorance seems to have won the day. Nonetheless, it is what it is. I was hoping to be able to spend the next four years being less political. I’ve grown tired of “Fighting The Good Fightâ€. Now, I have to spend four years listening to people like Rudy Giuliani talking about George W. Bush’s “principled leadershipâ€. How can I not continue speaking out?
It’s true, you will never go broke underestimating the taste and standards of Americans….
People's Republic of Seabrook...That is not the result I wanted, nor what I had believed in my heart would happen, but there it is. One can only bemoan reality for so long.
...I will not pretend to be happy; I am greatly disturbed that a majority of Americans seem to be perfectly happy with four more years of incompetence, ineptitude, lies, and a hopelessly misguided and deadly war in Iraq. Nonetheless, the people appear to have spoken. A wise man once said that Americans get exactly the quality of representation that they deserve. Apparently, our standards are far lower than anyone could have suspected. That so many Americans seem unable to honestly assess the dearth of principled leadership that has been the hallmark of George W. Bush’s reign is something I find difficult to comprehend. At the risk of sounding arrogant and dismissive, it seems that the Bush-Cheney strategy of manipulating the fears of Americans and creating their own truth was successful. Somewhere, Niccolo Machiavelli and Josef Goebbels must be smiling.
...I am angry, and I am profoundly disturbed that fear and ignorance seems to have won the day. Nonetheless, it is what it is. I was hoping to be able to spend the next four years being less political. I’ve grown tired of “Fighting The Good Fightâ€. Now, I have to spend four years listening to people like Rudy Giuliani talking about George W. Bush’s “principled leadershipâ€. How can I not continue speaking out?
It’s true, you will never go broke underestimating the taste and standards of Americans….
It's funny how sometimes you can be so certain about things that you just end up fooling yourself. Then again, maybe the next four years will reveal us all to be fools in one way or another.
...The GOP has strengthened their hold on the Senate and the House. Regardless of what happens elsewhere, the legislative agenda of the far right, represented by DeLay, Hastert, and Frist has been given a mandate to get away with anything they want.
...Despite the hundreds of reasons to vote against the President, he's already claimed the popular vote...the majority of Americans think Bush deserved to be re-elected. John Edwards is right. There are two Americas and they don't even speak the same language at this point.
The Talent Show...The GOP has strengthened their hold on the Senate and the House. Regardless of what happens elsewhere, the legislative agenda of the far right, represented by DeLay, Hastert, and Frist has been given a mandate to get away with anything they want.
...Despite the hundreds of reasons to vote against the President, he's already claimed the popular vote...the majority of Americans think Bush deserved to be re-elected. John Edwards is right. There are two Americas and they don't even speak the same language at this point.
It takes a big man to admit he's wrong, and although I'm not a big man, I can imitate one for purposes of this blog. I was wrong. Wrong in my hopes, my expectations, and my sense of where the country is. Writers I've mocked about the election and Bush's popular hold--Mark Steyn, Jonah Goldberg, Victor Davis In Excelsis Deo Hanson, et al--have earned their bragging rights, and they're welcome to them. No consolation was to be found last night and this morning.
...The election was a victory for George Bush and Rovianism, a victory for Grover Norquist. It was also a victory for Osama Bin Laden....This morning America could not look more like a grinning aggressor to the Arab world, an aggressor with fresh marching orders.
But there's bitter clarity to knowing the worst....and I'm not depressed, being filled with far too much healthy loathing for millions of my fellow Americans to let myself droop. I do have a column that is (over)due, so blogging will be light until the weekend, when the statue of Jesus will be installed on the White House lawn.
James Wolcott...The election was a victory for George Bush and Rovianism, a victory for Grover Norquist. It was also a victory for Osama Bin Laden....This morning America could not look more like a grinning aggressor to the Arab world, an aggressor with fresh marching orders.
But there's bitter clarity to knowing the worst....and I'm not depressed, being filled with far too much healthy loathing for millions of my fellow Americans to let myself droop. I do have a column that is (over)due, so blogging will be light until the weekend, when the statue of Jesus will be installed on the White House lawn.
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
Jesus Christ
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