Rant in Concession (or how I learned to give up and just accept the fact)

So. Bush won. No sour grapes here, just extreme disbelief, sadness and an overwhelming feeling of futility.

Did democracy fail us? Did the media fail us? Did Kerry fail us?

George W. Bush won the popular vote and the Electoral College by a comfortable margin. Some people on the left are screaming to the high heavens about voter fraud, about uncounted votes and about the integrity of touch screen polls. Do I think that the good people of Diebold in Ohio and Florida programmed the software to lose votes? *sigh* not really, but I certainly wouldn't put it past them. In fact, I'd be positive that there were votes lost, not necessarily intentional. I am confident that the software wasn't perfect, but I don't think the votes lost would amount to over 300 thousand. However, those machines should without question never have been used in this election at all. When the owner of the machines promises to deliver all Ohio's electoral votes to the President, some red flags should go up. When the technology is nowhere near perfection, it should not be used for the first time in one of the biggest, if not the biggest, election in world history.

Regardless, in record numbers the citizens of the United States showed up at the polls to vote for their candidate. I went knocking door to door in Pennsylvania to get out the vote with a non-partisan group of Union Workers, deadbeats and Susan Sarandon. Did I make a difference? Probably not personally. I saw one of the ladies who I spoke to at the polls. But whether it was my knocking on the door that got her to the polls I doubt. After all, she said she was on her way. The difference I think I made was showing the people whose doors I knocked on that their vote was vital and that elections are important and that candidates are different. In this case, the Presidential candidates were almost polar opposites. The similarities only exist in their proclivity to accept money from large corporations, which even Independent candidates must do.

So. Bush won.

The people that showed up to the polls voted very interestingly -- according to those accurate exit polls. They were asked what was the major factor in their vote. Despite what EVERY major poll said prior to election day, the people did not vote for their sons, daughters and neighbors in Iraq; they did not vote for their workplaces, malls and schools being attacked by terrorists; they did not vote for the healthcare costs taken from their paychecks or the Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and most importantly they did not vote the money in their pocket. According to the polls the plurality of the voters voted the cross around their necks. They voted their moral values as if John Kerry was a Satan-loving heathen who has nothing better to do than to burn churches and bibles instead of gays and black people. But if the media is saying how wrong the exit polls were about the vote for President, why are they putting so much credence in this?

I do believe that moral values played a big role in people's votes. I could believe the results of this finding, but it makes me sick. It does reassure my notion that the majority of people in this country are retards of the highest (read: lowest) order. For people to put the environment at the bottom of their priorities is not only depressing and confusing, it is very telling about their thought process.

I don't feel the need right now to go over why Bush did not deserve to win this election. I do feel the need write why he did deserve to win this election, to be fair.

Colin Powell told George Bush, regarding Iraq, that if he broke it, he owned it. I like Colin Powell, and I do believe he was right. Bush did break Iraq, and now, unfortunately, it is his to fix. He can't possibly blame a failed Iraq on Bill Clinton or anybody else.

George Bush is responsible for the national debt, the highest ever in history. He is responsible to cut the deficit in half, or very close, by the end of his second term. Kerry would have had a pass on this had he won... after all, it was an election promise and the debt wasn't his fault. But Bush... this is his debt; he promised over 54 million people he would work to reduce it, and he's got to. He is going to have to cut so many of the programs he said he wouldn't or that he attacked John Kerry for voting against, etc.

Despite the intelligence that I feel the President possesses, I do believe that he is aware of his legacy. He knows, as most second term Presidents realize, that his legacy rests upon his ability to forge the country's future in the future. I believe Bush pandered to the religious right for votes. Don't get me wrong, he is a very religious person -- too religious -- but many of the things he did in his first four years were solely done to mobilize, encourage, and revivify the latent evangelists, and Christians and protestants, etc. He and his entourage knew they wouldn't get away (yet) with clearing the partial birth abortion ban or a gay marriage amendment. What's obvious now is that they were done as peace offerings, so to speak.

George Bush is now fully responsible for everything that happens to this country from here on out. If he can't pass things through the House or the Senate, it's not because of Democratic filibusters or a liberal media, it's because he's trying to pass a radical agenda that many Republicans can't even support. The real fiscal conservatives will give Bush a hard time, as many posture their way into the light for the 2008 election that Hillary Clinton hopefully avoids because she'd lose so badly. Then again ... I think if President Clinton never had the bypass surgery that John Kerry would be naming his cabinet and receiving congratulatory phone calls from Sylvio Berlusconi, Vladimir Putin, Tony Blair, and even that Polish dude. They'd all say, "Thank god. We never thought we'd get rid of that bumbling buffoon" in whatever language or accent they have. Bill Clinton could have delivered Ohio for Kerry because he could speak to those jobless and toothless fucks. He would have delivered Florida because he could talk to trailer trash and 2-bit whores. He would have delivered New Mexico, Iowa and Colorado because he could speak to... whatever kind of people live in those states.

So. Now. Bush won.

Georgy: Prove every one wrong. Your people need you to lead like a man. Not like a Christian, not like a born-again, not like a 'Texan,' not like a War President, not like a retarded scumbag but like a man. Be a man. Think about arguments on both sides. See the separation of Church and State. See the difference between science and god. See the difference between division, disagreement and disillusionment. Don't alienate the other side because you never have to campaign again, and don't pander to the right every time for the same reason. Unfortunately, no demographic or religion or state can influence your decisions again. You made your promises, as incredibly vague as they were, now follow through in action, not inaction, not incompetence. Your administration needs work; maybe you just need to grow into the position. Everyone takes time. Four years was enough. Get the job done this time otherwise the history books won't be able to hide it. Eight years are harder to blur than four, just ask your father.

I’m not happy about this post at all.