This is the nice way of saying it:
My problem with the Christian fundamentalists supporting Mr. Bush is not their spiritual energy or the fact that I am of a different faith. It is the way in which he and they have used that religious energy to promote divisions and intolerance at home and abroad. I respect that moral energy, but wish that Democrats could find a way to tap it for different ends.
And this is the mean way:
There are some who would say that I sound bitter, that now is the time for healing, to bring the nation together. Let me tell you a little story. Last night, I watched the returns come in with some friends here in Los Angeles. As the night progressed, people began to talk half-seriously about secession, a red state / blue state split. The reasoning was this: We in blue states produce the vast majority of the wealth in this country and pay the most taxes, and you in the red states receive the majority of the money from those taxes while complaining about ’em. We in the blue states are the only ones who’ve been attacked by foreign terrorists, yet you in the red states are gung ho to fight a war in our name. We in the blue states produce the entertainment that you consume so greedily each day, while you in the red states show open disdain for us and our values. Blue state civilians are the actual victims and targets of the war on terror, while red state civilians are the ones standing behind us and yelling “Oh, yeah!? Bring it on!”
More than 40% of you Bush voters still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11. I’m impressed by that, truly I am. Your sons and daughters who might die in this war know it’s not true, the people in the urban centers where al Qaeda wants to attack know it’s not true, but those of you who are at practically no risk believe this easy lie because you can. As part of my concession speech, let me say that I really envy that luxury. I concede that.
Healing? We, the people at risk from terrorists, the people who subsidize you, the people who speak in glowing and respectful terms about the heartland of America while that heartland insults and excoriates us… we wanted some healing. We spoke loud and clear. And you refused to give it to us, largely because of your high moral values. You knew better: America doesn’t need its allies, doesn’t need to share the burden, doesn’t need to unite the world, doesn’t need to provide for its future. Hell no. Not when it’s got a human shield of pointy-headed, atheistic, unconfrontational breadwinners who are willing to pay the bills and play nice in the vain hope of winning a vote that we can never have. Because we’re “morally inferior,” I suppose, we are supposed to respect your values while you insult ours. And the big joke here is that for 20 years, we’ve done just that.
I know it’s childish. I know it’s counterproductive. I know it doesn’t represent…healing. But at the moment? I’m feeling mean.
ashley said on November 4, 2004 at 4:45 am
Ok.
For all of you 18-24 year olds that didn’t vote: congratulations! You’ll be the first ones drafted to serve the United States of Halliburton in Iraq, Iran, or wherever der Fuhrer needs oil. Also, good luck on that privatized social security, chumps. You get the government you deserve.
For all the retirees on social security: wait until it is privatized. Then enjoy eating your 9-lives and burning newspapers for heat. Remember all those FDR social programs? Well, fuhgettaboutit. You voted red. You get the government you deserve.
For all you people of color: good luck next time you’re at the airport. You reelected the guy who doesn’t know the difference from a Mexican and a Jordanian. He also thought that Sweden didn’t have an army. You get the government you deserve.
For all of you not born in the US but live here. Enjoy that whole Patriot Act and Patriot II thingy. He did that shit before he declared having a “Mandate”. Yeah, and 55 million voted against him. You get the government you deserve.
Welcome to the largest deficit in history…4 years after the largest surplus. You get the government you deserve.
We are now no better than Saudi Arabia or Israel. We are now a theocracy: the Evangelical state. You get the government you deserve.
As for me: hasta la victoria siempre, siempre.
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James said on November 4, 2004 at 7:42 am
Am I evil because I prefer the second version. I’m so tired of the good guys being respectful while the evil ones fling poo. This isn’t a “civilized discourse”, but rather, a “cultural war.” Thanks for coining that, Pat Buchanan…
I especially like the part you didn’t cite:
I concede that I overestimated the intelligence of the American people. Though the people disagree with the President on almost every issue, you saw fit to vote for him. I never saw that coming. That’s really special. And I mean “special” in the sense that we use it to describe those kids who ride the short school bus and find ways to injure themselves while eating pudding with rubber spoons. That kind of special.
I see it as evidence that the dumb people finally outbred the smart ones.
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Danny said on November 4, 2004 at 9:24 am
I’m so tired of the good guys being respectful while the evil ones fling poo.
I agree James, but in a different way. Figures you would like the part that Nancy did not cite. The Dems tried to paint the Reps as racist, war-mongering, idiots. That lack of respect that they and guys like Felbers show for the voters is astonishing. Liberal elitism at its shining best.
All I can say is, see you in ’06 for another round of astonishment.
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Barry said on November 4, 2004 at 9:29 am
Holy Christ! It’s interesting for those of us who were/are neither Kerry nor Bush supporters to see how hysterical you on the Left have reacted. You’ll deny it, and devise all sorts of learned-sounding explanations as to why it’s not true, but it is true that your reaction to Geo. Bush and his re-election is a mirror of the Right’s reaction to Clinton’s election and re-election: pure hysteria.
Get a grip.
And secession? Please, by all means, work for it! Many of us who live in Bush-land (whether or not we like Geo. Bush) welcome such talk! Secession was the right thing in the 19th century, when the tyrant Lincoln put his boot on the neck of the South, and it’s the right thing now. Free people have the right to self-determination. So if we Rightists and Leftists can agree on one thing, it’s that: secession may be the best thing for Americans in every state.
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James said on November 4, 2004 at 9:54 am
“The Dems tried to paint the Reps as racist, war-mongering, idiots…”
I’m not talking about Republicans. I’m talking about NeoCons.
Do you honestly think those NeoCons represent the Republicans? No more than Zell represents Dems. They’re crazy folk who voted for Bush because they were afraid of gay marriage. Or gay folks. Or something like that (“family values”).
The NeoCons are war-mongerers by definition. They started a preemptive war with no good intelligence, for no good reason.
They’re racists if you believe that the struggle of the gay community is analogous to the civil rights struggle (which I do). If you believe that gay folk are “evil” or “deviant” then I could see where you’d have no problem. The NeoCons used “gay marriage,” a non-issue that both candidates were against (Kerry was for civil unions, and Bush was for state’s rights) as a way to divide people and bring out their wingnut base.
Remember this when you find yourself on the wrong side of the Culture War, and remember how you stepped aside and let your fellow citizens be marginalized.
And as for respect… respect must be earned. Bush and his crowd have no concept what that means, being pampered bullies who are the privileged elitists in this situation. They have no idea what sacrifice means, and have no conception what the “average folks” lives are like.
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Joe said on November 4, 2004 at 10:20 am
Ashley,
Where did any one but a democrat ever say anything about a draft? W said as long as he was pres we would not have draft. Get your facts straight. Also I will take my hard working middle class friends over you spoiled little rich snots anyday. Close to 4 million more people voted for the Pres, than your guy, so get over it. I have a idea, instead of secession why dont you and Mike Moore and your friends just move to the mid east maby you could all hold hands and sing Kumbiya
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TSO said on November 4, 2004 at 12:56 pm
Joe Klein on Air America today: “I’ve been talking to a lot of Democrats and I believe the only way to take social issues off the table is to localize them. It’s ridiculous that the whole Democratic agenda has to be held hostage to abortion and gay marriage. Why not have these battles at the state level? Utah outlaws abortion? Fine. Texas doesn’t recognize gay marriages? Fine.”
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Dave Reilly said on November 4, 2004 at 2:22 pm
There will be no draft because there’s an election coming up in two short years.
There won’t be a need for a draft because George Bush is going to cut and run. We were far more likely to be stuck in Iraq for a long time under Kerry because Kerry is a responsible adult and believes that the country needs to honor its promises. George Bush’s record throughout his whole life has been one of making messes and leaving them for others to clean up. Sometime soon we will stage a major offensive, kill a lot of supposed insurgents, declare mission accomplished again, and pull out, leaving Iraq to self-immolate.
There will be no theocracy. Roe v. Wade will most likely be overturned and gay people won’t be able to get married in states gay people, like all intelligent people, don’t want to live in anyway. Kids in Mississippi will have to say their prayers in school, but they’ll need to pray, because how else will they get through life with the lousy educations they’ll get down there?
The Republican Party cares about only one thing: making rich people richer. It doesn’t really care about the Evangelicals. If they did we’d have the theocracy already. They’ve been running the joint for four years now and having it all their own way. They had their chance under Reagan too. They didn’t use it. They don’t care. Cut taxes on the rich, deregulate everything, pocket your share of the loot, and go home, that’s their motto.
That’s what’s made the mess of the last four years.
That’s what will make a bigger mess out of the next four, if we don’t take back Congress.
Cursing and gnashing our teeth and indulging in nightmare scenarios of what could happen doesn’t do anything but bring the trolls out to gloat and curse us back. (See various comments here.) Go to work getting Democrats elected where you live.
Also, remember, a year and a half ago Karl Rove was talking about winning all 50 states. 55 million people voted against Bush this time out. He is not Reagan. And he and all his crew are incompetent. Every time they’ve been given an opportunity to advance they’ve done something dumb and lost ground. They can’t do anything right except scare and bully their own base.
This has always been the main reason to vote against them. This has always been the way they are dangerous, to the country and to the world. They screw up on massive scales. It’s also our best hope.
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Nance said on November 4, 2004 at 3:11 pm
Well, I’m going to spend some time being bitter. As over-the-top as it is, I thought Felber hit on the crazy-making part of this election for me — the moral angle. I know, I know, evangelicals resent being intellectually patronized by the left, but you know what? I resent being morally patronized by them. I’m tired of them telling me they stand for everything that’s right and I stand for everything that’s evil. They think gay people should go through reparative therapy? (But they’re not bigots!) They think a stupid, wrong-headed, badly run war that kills a few soldiers a day is a great idea? (But pity the poor clumps of fetal cells, those BABIES!) They want to cut taxes, already among the lowest in the developed world? (So we can all homeschool, with mom, the way God intended it!) I’ve just had it. The head of our local GOP is Jewish. He consorts with people who think he’s going to burn in hell for all eternity, who support Israel not because it’s a democracy in a trouble region or because it shelters a people persectued for centuries, but because it has to be in Jewish hands before Jesus comes back. Mary Cheney is a lesbian, standing on stage with her lesbian lover, before a room full of people who’d be happy to see her pushed to the margins of society, where she belongs, with all the other sodomites whom God hates. Shame on him, shame on her, shame on all of them.
But Dave’s right. The people who voted for this are going to get none, or little, of what they really want. And they’ll fall for the trick all over again in the next election.
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Danny said on November 4, 2004 at 3:54 pm
Nance, I also think that the special interests who continue to vote for Dems would have gotten little of what they wanted. Sure, Kerry will show up at a few black churches leading up to the election, just to show how religious AND ethnic he is, but it doesn’t really mean anything to him either. And the way he handled the homosexual marriage issue was just as lack-luster. “It’s a states rights thing,” he defers. Truth be told, we live in a secular nation and other than abortion, I believe that something has to be done in regard to letting people be themselves.
But you are wrong about Evangelicals. The real reason that ANY Christian should have a love of the Jewish people has to do with what Paul says in Romans 15. To paraphrase, we (gentiles) are debtors to them in most every way, chiefly of which is that the Oracles of God came through them. In our eyes, they are still God’s people, the original vine into which we are grafted. We pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
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Mary said on November 4, 2004 at 5:29 pm
Nance
Your words are exactly what I’ve been trying to say. My children witnessed me yelling at the TV, “MORAL VALUES? THEY VOTED FOR BUSH BECAUSE MORAL VALUES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE?” This was followed by stomping into the kitchen to finish off the Halloween chocolate. I don’t drink, you see. What is moral about war and bigotry is beyond me. I need a few more days of outrage before I can shut up and put up.
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deb said on November 4, 2004 at 5:42 pm
oh, but, mary, didn’t you hear what dubya said yesterday? we all need to work together now! he’s going to win us over! he’s going to earn our respect!
fat freaking chance. i was in my car when i heard him speak, so i couldn’t stomp into the kitchen for chocolate, but i did yell a lot.
i agree with e.j. dionne, who said on NPR that a 51%-48% margin is hardly a “mandate.”
kerry’s speech, on the other hand, moved me to tears. i don’t think his voice was choked with emotion just because he lost, but because he knew the whole damn COUNTRY lost. he gets it. he gives a shit.
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Dave Reilly said on November 4, 2004 at 6:00 pm
Nance,
Angry is good. I’m all for angry. And I understand bitter. It’s hard to feel otherwise. I hear Lance Mannion’s going to be pretty bitter himself tonight.
Matt asked me why Kerry lost. I had to bite my tongue to keep from screaming, “Because 4 million yahoos hate your Uncle Jon!”
But I think it’s important that we keep the anger focused on what’s real not what we’re afraid of.
And to remember that Bush did not just get coronated.
Bush was re-elected by the smallest margain for any incumbant president in history.
Nixon was re-elected by the largest! And, folks, Nixon was worse.
Far worse.
So, see, we’ve gotten a little smarter in 30 years.
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Dave Reilly said on November 4, 2004 at 8:23 pm
I heard right. Mannion got bitter.
http://lancemannion.typepad.com/lance_mannion/2004/11/a_good_man.html
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Cal said on November 4, 2004 at 11:11 pm
It’s ironic that at a time when homosexuals have experienced huge gains in public acceptance so many on the left are at their peak of rage concerning the issue. There seems to be a delayed reaction. Blacks are madder at whites today than in 1950 even though their situation has greatly improved. I wonder if isn’t misplaced anger at God, angry that he didn’t provide a perfect world with people as tolerant as we are.
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Dave Reilly said on November 5, 2004 at 9:41 am
Cal,
Have you seen the flyers the Bush Leaguers put out all over the South and the swing states?
Have you paid any attention to the ravings of the new GOP Senators Thune, Coburn, and DeMint?
Do you think Jim Bunning’s operatives were just kidding around when they saved the election for him by gay bashing and spreading rumors about Bunning’s opponent?
Do you think all those people in Ohio who put Bush over the top voted for him *despite* their tolerant and loving feelings towards gay people?
Do you think the 11 states that passed those anti-gay marriage laws did it out of admiration for gay people? Do you think the subtext of those laws is, Hey, come live here and be our neighbors?
Who wrote the rule that the right gets to call people all kinds of names, accuse them of every sort of treason and perversion, smear a war hero’s record, call anybody who disagrees with their economic policies “girlie-men,” suggest that Timothy McVeigh should have bombed the New York Times building instead, set out to scare people out of voting, steal one presidential election, and make plans to steal the next one if their strategy of gay bashing and fear mongering doesn’t bring out their base and then when the left says, Hey, wait a minute, that’s a lie, that’s mean, that’s unfair, it’s the left that’s letting their rage get out of hand?
Fortunately, our president is a uniter not a divider and we’ll get over this.
As long as we agree with his goals.
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James said on November 5, 2004 at 10:06 am
Dave:
“Who wrote the rule that the right gets to call people all kinds of names, accuse them of every sort of treason and perversion…”
Hear! Hear!
This is the way the NeoCons operate. They make artificial rules (like the “one question rule”… what’s up with that?), they cheat, they lie, and when someone calls them on their perfidy, they backpedal and muddy the political water with their own effluvium.
There will be a day of reckoning. What goes around comes around.
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KCK said on November 7, 2004 at 12:26 pm
An interesting red/blue county Map :
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/countymap.htm
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ashley said on November 8, 2004 at 1:31 pm
And a more accurate map.
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ashley said on November 8, 2004 at 3:03 pm
Actually, all of the maps are kind of misleading.
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Juan said on November 9, 2004 at 5:30 pm
Ashley, honey, you need to take the advice of your own endeared and “Move On.”
I’ve long posited that the reason the left hates (make that “HATES”) Dubya is that he represents the success of values that many had long held to be misguided and/or held by a minority.
It’s really hard to have your values rejected. It’s really hard to recognize that you are part of a minority. I know. I lived that existence between birth and 1992. But things changed. They’ll change back one day in your favor when you have some marketable ideology to sell� well, besides hate, I mean.
I have no doubt that it’s incredibly tough to be a 4% minority, like the homosexuals.
It’s tough to be an 11% minority like black America. Even tougher since black America truly expects 51% representation in all things political.
And I’m sure that it’s tough to wake up one November Wednesday and abruptly find out that your values make you part of a 48% minority, too. Been there.
Oddly enough, the Hispanic minority seems to have beat the yolk of their “minorityship” by letting go of it and blending into the fabric spectrum of America. They choose not be a minority by virtue of the fact that they are following the Asian example and are ceasing to segregate themselves.
At any rate… A long time ago, when I was a kid, we had these bicycle seats called “banana seats.” Big long things that were designed for no other reason than the fact that two kids could ride on the same bike at the same time. The kid up front did all the peddling, and the kid in back would hold on to the rail behind their butt, splay their legs, and ACTIVELY balance. It was kind of an art form. There was this silent communication whereby the passenger kid had to shift his/her weight in the opposite direction and the diametrically opposite force to the kid humping and pumping at the pedals.
Well, there were some dangers to riding on the back of the banana seat. With no place to put feet, some toes got tangled in the spokes. The age of lawsuits spelled the death of the banana seat.
And I blame the death of the banana seat bicycle for your hate, for our society has lost the art of gracious passengership. Nobody can go along with the momentum any more. We all want to steer, and we�ll work against anybody so arrogant as to try and steer for us.
You can stare wistfully at the �purpleness� of your Red Vs. Blue map. You can proclaim defiance. You can join the ScareAmerica radio nuts in claiming the conspiracy theory du jour. But the brutal fact is that a value that loses by a margin of one single vote is a rejected value. That�s the agreement we sign by this experiment in democracy.
Now, go rethink your values. Find a better way to sell them, or a better way to tolerate their demise. Take a look at the success of the Asian and Hispanics. They�ve stopped working against the momentum and have joined on to see how far it can take them.
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