I just don't get it

[AngryOldDem]

The biggest net job loss since Herbert Hoover...

A John Wayne foreign policy that almost guarantees NO peace in the Middle East, much less the rest of the world...

A referendum on the "morals and values" of ONE segment of society, which looks like, to the rest of us, a validation of hate and intolerance...

A country now for all intents and purposes run by one party. All we need are the promised three or four Supreme Court vacancies, and the two-party system will be dormant for decades...

...all because one man's mantra was "terror" and "my values are the same as yours, and ours are better than everyone else's."

Events, however, will continue on the same sorry, downward slide as they did during his first term. Only this time much more is at stake.

I don't think I've EVER felt as pessimistic about this nation's future as I do this morning.

[aquart]

1. This nation did NOT vote for Bush. The machines did.

[Eye and Monkey]

3. Kerry won. The people elected him.

[cali]

4. Sorry,

I wish with all my heart that was true. The truth is the country really did take a sharp turn to the right. Over 3 million votes is too large a differential to be credited to cheating.

[Stuckinthebush]

12. Agreed

I think we need to see the handwriting on the wall and get the hell out of here.

[DARE to HOPE]

16. No. This country did NOT take a sharp turn to the right.

30% of the votes cast yesterday were on the touchscreen machines! There were women from Florida complaining on the 7 am news yesterday that they touched the spot for Kerry and it recorded Bush. Look at results across the country, and compare them with facts that you yourself know. The numbers do NOT add up to Bush winning the popular vote--check the exit poll numbers in the WaPost:

Voters: 46% men 54%women

Men: K47, B52

Women: K54, B45

per 1000 voters: 460 men 540 women

216.2 men for Kerry 239.2 men for Bush
291.6 women for Kerry 243 women for Bush

508 votes for Kerry/1000 482.2 for Bush/1000

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/elections/2004/graphics/exitPolls.html

This country poured out by the hundreds of thousands: more than 60 million voted AGAINST Bush yesterday, and it is a calumny on us all to say that we didn't!

[jtb33]

26. Sorry, but cali is right...

I think we need to get out of denial and realize that the majority in this country still lean to the right on the issues. A 3 million difference in the PV is most definitely not attributable to fraud or voting machines or stealing the election. We lost big last night - not only in the presidential election, but in the senate races, house races, propositions and gay-marriage amendments. Losing on all fronts really says a lot about where this country leans, and it's not towards the left (not now, at least).

That being said, honestly, is anyone moving to Canada? Is there any part in Canada that approximates the climate of Arizona?

[Grillymom]

28. I'm seriously thinking of moving to Canada.

I don't see how I can let my children grow up in a country that sanctions hatred and is run by people that believe they have a right to legislate what happens in our bedrooms.

[jerryster]

29. I agree

All one had to do was look at the electoral map before voting ever started. There was a sea of red and nothing Kerry did or said would have made those states go blue. Conversely, nothing Bush said or did would have made our states go red. Kerry's campaign did not do anything wrong. They hit the states they needed to. I always felt that Kerry didn't need just 2 of the 3 "bigs". He needed the quadrifecta of PA,MI,OH, and FL. Finally, the age group of 18-29 went 59-40 for Kerry. However, once again this group made up only 17% of voters, the same as in 2000. Scarborough got it exactly right. He said that every election politicians hope that this age group will vote in larger numbers but they leave you at the altar every time.

I'm not moving anywhere. I will stay here and vote in support of those candidates who reflect MY beliefs, win or lose.

[AngryOldDem]

11. We can't blame this on the machines

Not when a majority of voters place "moral values" above other, more pressing issues such as the economy and the war, and when they cannot analyze the first-term record of a president who -- by anyone's objective standard -- is an abject failure.

In Bush the religious right has finally found the conduit into political life that it has been waiting for. This is their "payback" for years of perceived "abuse" and "persecution" by society -- namely, the "left" and "liberals." What we consider democratic pluralism, they consider threats. Hence fights over prayer in schools (a minor issue), religious displays, choice, gay rights, etc. This has been building for years. In Bush they believe they have finally found a leader who is on "their side" -- they now have their God-given mandate to reshape this country as they see fit. Our first clue is all the gay marriage issues that passed by wide margins in many states yesterday. This is just a preview of things to come once Bush gets his hands on the Supreme Court.

Bush, in turn, has found in the religious right the base that he can use as "justification" and "support" as he continues to advance his agenda during the next four years. As he proved with this election, all he needs to do is wrap himself in the flag, God, and the Bible. No critical thinking needed. No concern for the ramifications of whatever he decides to do, because God is on his side, and He will provide. And when you don't have an effective opposition party in place to ask the tough, critical questions -- which we will not have in Congress, by the looks of it -- that makes things all the more easier.

It is a deliberately cynical misuse of faith and religion by people on BOTH sides. And people like us are caught in the middle (as are our children). Bush has now found the power inherent in dividing a nation against itself. But that power is fleeting, dangerous, and ultimately destructive, as Lincoln so well pointed out. So the questions now become: How bad must things get before people realize that faith is not an acceptable substitute for responsible leadership and common sense? Is it when their kids begin to come home in body bags, or is it when their jobs go offshore? Is it when the hate that they have made acceptable begins to turn on them? Will it be when they realize that Bush -- in his assurance of God's blessing -- has unleashed a chain of events that is beyond anyone's control?

And when these realizations dawn, will they have come too late?

[IdaBriggs]

18. WRONG -- Look at the Math!!!

KERRY = 508 VOTERS
228 Protestant
135 Catholic
023 Jewish
053 Other
069 None

BUSH = 479
297 Protestant
132 Catholic
000 Jewish
002 Other
002 None

(Raw Data Squishes Together)
Protestant 530 227.9 43% 296.8 56% 5.3 1% 100%
Catholic 270 135 50% 132.3 49% 2.7 1% 100%
Jewish 30 23.4 78% 6.6 22% 0 0% 100%
Other 70 52.5 75% 14.7 21% 2.1 3% 99%
None 100 69 69% 29 29% 2 2% 100%
1000 507.8 479.4 12.1

[AngryOldDem]

20. Sorry....

I still think there has been a huge ideological shift toward the right, the religious right in particular.

You cannot explain with election night numbers why the majority feel that the No. 1 issue in the U.S. today is "moral values." If anything else truly mattered, we would not be having this conversation today.

[Libby2]

2. Nor do I

[atommom]

5. I don't understand it either. The country is taking an ugly turn.

And it scares me.

[TwentyFive]

6. Remove Texas EV and Kerry wins - we should sell Texas to Neo Nazis

[secretpoet]

7. Too bad we can't

give it to Mexico. They probably wouldn't want it either.

[demgurl]

8. The simple truth is that Wally O'Dell delivered Ohio........

just as he said he would. He runs the machines and told the president that he would deliver the state and he did.

[sleepyhead]

10. Watch for him to receive

Either a huge government contract or a cushy ambassadorship sometime soon.

[buckettgirl]

9. 100% agree!

I watched CNN last night until I fell asleep, I turned it on this morning and they are saying Bush: 254, Kerry: 252; and Bush with the popular vote.
I don't understand how he could have got the popular vote. What is wrong with people????????
I couldn't help but cry at hearing that Bush is sure to win Ohio after all this is done with. I kept thinking of how will I finish school, how can we pay for gas in the car, how will we pay our bills, what about my grandparents who can't afford their prescriptions as is, what about my rights as a woman, what about a draft?
I couldn't help but cry as I envisioned my life, my simple life with my loving husband crumble in the future as a result of ignorant and greedy people.
At least Kerry wouldn't purposely cause us to be worse off than we are now, at least he wanted to promote hope and peace.
I pray to the God and Goddess for change to happen, and if it doesn't to save us from Bush. I pray not to be punished any more.
I don't know what I can do, I am only one - and it seems that it is probably too late to try anyway.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

17. Fuck off.

[demjomr313]

14. Those darn dirty dollar bills!

---THAT is why you don't "get IT"

[klook]

30. Huh? (n/t)

[tngledwebb]

15. Do not despair of the majority of voters,

The fix was in four years ago and no one stopped it. And they have had four years to perfect their systems, plus special guest star Emmanuel Goldstein II aka OBL.

But the MAJORITY voted FOR Gore last time and FOR Kerry this time.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Blue_Tires]

21. you took the time to post all that shit when it's about to get

deleted??lol

[kburriss]

23. No response

predictable

[Blue_Tires]

24. only as predictable as your imminent departure

[progressivebydesign]

22. Let me respond by the numbers:

1. go fuck yourself.
2. go fuck yourself, again.
3. go fuck yourself with a splintery board.
4. go fuck yourself, and call O'Rielly while you're doing it.
5. go fuck yourself, on your way out.

[kburriss]

25. This response from a compassionate liberal

[Blue_Tires]

27. and what the hell are you?