I think the election results boil down to this--apathy and stupidity. Apathy is one of the deadliest of sins in a democracy. Shame on all of you who could, but did not vote. Stupidity--induced and fueled by mindless news as entertainment/propaganda, fundamentalist religion/superstition and rampant consumerism--festers and eats away at the core of our democracy. A little over 50% of the US electorate voted for a moronic megalomaniac. Any rational, thinking person can see that there are ample reasons why Bush should not have been reelected. In fact, some of the best cases against Bush have been articulated, pleadingly, by thoughtful conservatives. It seems that everyone in the world, and unfortunately, a little under 50% of Americans know that Bush is an idiot and that his first four years in office have been a disaster--one of the worst presidencies in the history of this country.
But now there are no more excuses. If you voted for Bush you only have yourselves to blame. He's all yours and the blood is on your hands. Welcome to The Republican States of America. Bush doesn't have to worry about being reelected and now, with his one party state, he can do whatever he pleases. The damage that will be done to this country and the world over the next four years will likely take generations to repair, if, indeed, it ever can be repaired.
Congratulations.
Wallow In Chaos, And Laugh: A pro-Bush outcome and one enormous bitter pill and you without your vodka by Mark Morford
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It simply boggles the mind: we've already had four years of some of the most appalling and abusive foreign and domestic policy in American history, some of the most well-documented atrocities ever wrought on the American populace and it's all combined with the biggest and most violently botched and grossly mismanaged war since Vietnam, and much of the nation still insists in living in a giant vat of utter blind faith, still insists on believing the man in the White House couldn't possibly be treating them like a dog treats a fire hydrant.
Inexplicable? Not really. People want to believe. They want to trust their leaders, even against all screaming, neon-lit evidence and stack upon stack of flagrant, impeachment-grade lie. They simply cannot allow that Dubya might really be an utter boob and that they are being treated like an abused, beaten housewife who keeps coming back for more, insisting her drunk husband didn't mean it, that she probably had it coming, that the cuts and bruises and blood and broken bones are all for her own good.
And this election, it might be all be very amusing, in a Mel Gibson-y, blood-drenched hamburger-of-Christ sorta way, were it not so sad and dangerous. It might all be tolerable and cute, in a violence-engorged, sexist, video-game-y sorta way, were it not so lopsided and wrong.
This election's outcome, this heartbreaking proof of a nation split more deeply and decisively than ever, it simply reinforces the feeling among much of the educated populace: It is a weirdly embarrassing time to be an American. It is jarring and oddly shattering and makes you rethink what it really means to be a part of this country. The answer: It doesn't mean much at all. Not really. Not anymore.
This is the common wisdom on the progressive Left. Those first four toxic Bush years? A fluke. A phantasm. A stolen election. A gaff, a mugging, a crime. But this? An election this close makes you reconsider. Maybe, after all, we aren't nearly as far along as we think. Maybe we're not all that sophisticated or nuanced or respectable a nation as we sometimes dare to dream. [more]
Small Bonuses of Staying Up All Night via Eric Umansky
Fareed Zakaria on ABC News, at about 3am:
"This is what really divides the U.S. from the other industrial democracies: Gods, Gays and Guns, if you will. If you were to take a sampling of public opinion in countries all the world--and this has been done by the Pew foundation--you would find that the United States on most of these core cultural issues is much closer Nigeria and Saudi Arabia than it is to Europe to Japan."
George Bush's America by Atrios
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... Democrats and liberals have spent too many years running away from the Right's caricature of what it means to be a liberal that they've managed to obliterate from the public consciousness any coherent concrete narrative. It isn't as many seem to think about precisely where on the Left/Right spectrum a candidate or the Party chooses to position itself. I'm not arguing that Democrats need to be "more liberal" or "less liberal" or anything like that it all. But, they have to be something other than "not Republicans." [more]
Past Anger To Blame by Cliff Schecter
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Moral values?!? Yes, now apparently the Republic is most desperately threatened by the Saddamites and the Soddomites.
We have poverty growing at a rate that will have us building Hoovervilles, a budget deficit that is growing faster than the dementia in Jim Bunning's "brain," a war raging based on lies and a corrupt government that every week finds a new way to stick it in the average person's ass like they're O'Reilly with a loofah and you're lathering up in the shower. But damnit, two men you don't know may choose to get married, and some other guy might want not want to say "Under God" during the pledge of allegiance. Better vote for the moral Brady Bunch of the former drunk driving/draft dodging Pres/VP team.
As for me, I happen to be fortunate. I am lucky enough to be financially sound (so thanks for the tax cuts Wyoming!!), and healthcare will never be an issue for me. But for the millions of Americans who voted for Bush in the interior and South of this nation who have no healthcare, jobs disappearing faster than Ann Coulter's waistline post-purge and are watching their sons and daughters go fight a war in Iraq that will only get them killed and make us less safe, I can only think of a few words for you. You reap what you sow. I even took them from the Bible. That should make you warm and fuzzy.
Yes, you have probably made my life less secure because I live and work near Washington, and no suicide bomber is wasting their time planning an attack on Butte anytime soon. But in every other way, from financial security to family health to your kids not ending up in President Jacket Bulge's action figure wars, you have just fucked yourselves. Well done.
I will end this tirade with a not so bold prediction of our future. Enjoy watching as England sets up the largest stem cell laboratory in the world, scientists flee this fundamentalist backwoods and Europe, because of "reality based policies" most Democracies adhere to, takes its place at the head of the table again. But at least we'll have strong moral values exhibited daily by a having a pathalogical liar in the White House. Good voting America. [more]
Well, what to say... by Joshua Micah Marshall
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I remember talking to Simon Rosenberg, the head of the New Dem Network, at the Democratic convention last summer. You'll remember, he and his group were profiled in the Times magazine around that time. The article, in brief, was about plans to create a Democratic-leaning counter-establishment along the lines of what Republicans did two generations ago -- with an alternative media, activist groups, organized political giving, in short a political infrastructure.
He told me he thought it would take ten years to accomplish. And I told him my one worry was that it could all be strangled in its crib if Kerry didn't win.
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Take time to feel the desolation and disappointment. But I remain confident that time is not on the side of the kind of values and politics that President Bush represents. It took conservatives two decades to build up the institutional muscle they have today. Though I was always nervous about the result, I thought we could win this election. But it was always naive to believe that that sort of institutional heft could be put together in 24 or 36 months.
President Bush and the Republicans now control the entire national government, even more surely now than they have over the last four years. They do so on the basis of garnering the votes of 51% or 52% of the population. But they will use that power as though there were no opposition at all. That needs to be countered.
Leave today for disappointment. Tomorrow, think over which of these various groups and organizations you think has made the best start toward what I've described above, go to their website, and give money or volunteer. After that, okay sure, take a few more days for disappointment, maybe a few more weeks. But this takes time. And you shouldn't lose heart. The same division in the country remains, the same stalemate. The other side just got the the ball a yard or two into our side of the field rather than the reverse. And we have to deal with the serious consequences of that. Tomorrow's the day to start. [more]
Anyone Know How to Make a Noose? by James Wolcott
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The election was a victory for George Bush and Rovianism, a victory for Grover Norquist. It was also a victory for Osama Bin Laden. I don't believe for a moment Bin Laden was trying to sway voters to Kerry with his taped address. This was the outcome he wanted, a gift from us to him: an unapologetic Christian Crusader in the White House whose reelection giving lie to the notion that Abu Ghraib was an aberration and that the deaths of thousands of Iraqi civilians weigh upon America's conscience. 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. My wife has forbade me from going into the same depressive funk after this election that I did 9/11--"I couldn't take another 9 months of that again"--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. [more]
Silver Lining Bull Moose
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The Moose has no doubt that the Elephant will over-reach in the second Bush term. Second terms have been historically ugly for Presidents, and there is no reason to believe otherwise this time around. Scandals will emerge and power will corrupt. For instance, all Mooseketeers should keep an eagle eye on the Indian Gambling hearings that will resume in the Senate next week. This ugly matter involves key players in the Republican establishment including cronies of Tom Delay, Ralph Reed and other political scoundrels. And, it is only a matter of time, that the corruption of power catches up with the concierge of K Street and chief House bug man. [more]
Pottery Barn Rule by Mark Schmitt
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One important thing to remember: Now Bush is fully responsible for the consequences of his mistakes. He's responsible for Iraq, he's responsible for the budget, for Medicare, etc. What Colin Powell called the Pottery Barn Rule applies: He broke them, he owns them. That's not good news for the world, because Bush wasn't competent to deal with the situation of peace and prosperity handed to him in 2001; he certainly isn't be competent to handle a mess. The dangers are profound.
But politically, it at least avoids a situation where Kerry would have borne the responsibility and blame for Iraq or for raising taxes. All accountability now rests with Bush and his party. Everything that's been swept under the carpet until after the election will come creeping out. And the best use of all the resources of people, brains, money, and coordination that's been built this year, in addition to developing a stronger base of ideas, is to find ways to hold Bush, DeLay et. al. absolutely accountable for their choices. I really believe that this will be like Nixon's second term, and thus the seeds of a bigger long-term change than could have occurred just by Kerry winning the election. [more]
2000 Redux by TBogg
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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. [more]
