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11/09/2004: "Post-Election Roundup"
Well, it's been a week, and I thought I'd finally peek my head out from behind the kevlar blanket I've been hiding under for the past week. Not because I'm upset at the outcome - obviously, the lesser of two evils walked away from it in a win that is still slightly surprising. I thought Kerry had it in the bag.
And in an attempt to be concillatory to my very upset Democratic friends over at Raul's place, I ended up stepping on some toes. Which is at least partially my fault. Mostly though, I should have known better than to interrupt some much needed venting on their part, even if my intentions were good. I'm certainly not here to gloat like some Republicans have been doing. Seriously, choosing Asshole Loser Candidate A over Asshole Loser Candidate B is not something to be proud of.
I will respond to some of the comments fired at me, though, and throw some other observations into the mix, for Raul's readers and mine. Hit the jump for the Vampire Elf post-election roundup.
- First off, the Canada thing. Okay, fair enough, I should not have compared everyone who wanted to daydream to a "dumb teenager". Even if that teenager was a former version of myself. But further consideration ought to show that while a fullscale defection of Democrats to foreign countries might be a nice daydream (for both sides), it's not a very usefule line of thinking. Obviously, it was really just blowing off steam, and I suppose I should've stayed out of it entirely, but it's frustrating to hear people who should know better talk like that.
- I can completely understand why Juls feels like Bush doesn't listen - he doesn't. But on the major issues of this campaign (war, terrorism, gay marriage), there isn't a lot of middle ground to meet on. And in those cases, to the winner goes the spoils. But for economic stuff, I'm with ya. Bush has to do better this term. More on that later this week.
- This gay marriage thing is sad. Especially the bullshit ammendments that ban civil unions too. I propose that we create "garriage" which is neither a marriage, nor a civil union, but a joining of one man to another of one woman to another. I suppose, if you'd like separate terms, "larriage" would be appropriate for the women.
- I think sarachkah is cool as shit. Nothing further.
- I think Uncle Carlos needs to watch Season 5 of Angel all the way through. The lesson is simple: There is never an end to the fighting. People will be arguing these same things long after you and I are dead, Mr. C. You muster the energy or you lose. In fact, that's what the other side wants. And just to put it in perspective, the other side fought a bunch of battles and lost. But they're still here, and the tide just turned. You'd better have the mettle that they had to stick it out, or your whole party is in a heap load. Bonus points for picking out the Rush song I just named.
- Speaking of Rush, those guys have some cool Bumper stickers. Keep an eye out for Raul's car, as it should be adorned with one shortly.
- As for Raul's angry lashing out over the Clinton analogy, he even made my point for me again. Hyperbole aside, he states several bad things about Bush, then goes on to list a couple of good things about Clinton. Of course, my point was, Clinton was't nearly as bad as I expected as far as a US leader goes. And he surely beats Bush in the balance-the-budget department. But "international statesmanship?" I think Paul Rusesabagina would disagree.
- Speaking of which, I was feeling rather empathetic towards my liberal friends this week. I thought Kerry was going to win. In fact, I think maybe I even wanted him to win, just to show Bush that there is some accountability for the rather stupid things he's done. Of course, Bush won the by a surprising 3.4 million votes, and people start scrambling to explain it.
- Raul called it first - the big cities. Karl Rove touched on it during his Sunday morning tour-of-duty. The people in the big cities made the difference. Why? Because Islamic Terrorism ain't coming to Neosho, MO anytime soon. And yes, arguments can be made that Bush has been helpful or hurtful in the battle against terrorism (and both sides are more right than they other side wants to admit), but it comes down to a lot of these big city folk taking a good look at John Kerry and saying, "Ummm, No."
- Would God truly be so kind as to give as us another Democratic congressional leader with the first name of Dick? I should be so lucky. And here I was missing Gephardt for the first time ever.
- I figured out how to deep-link to individual articles on Raul's blog. Finally. Not that it matters, since I believe the minimum wage debate will be continued sometime in 2009. After Hillary takes office.
Alright, that ought to do it, though if I think of anything else, I'll add it in. I hope all my Kerry-voting friends are feeling at least a little better this week. Hey, "The Incredibles" opened on friday, and that should make everyone happy. Also, CBS decided to grow a sack and fight off these stupid FCC fines. So good things are happening, you just have to look for them.
Later this week: What Bush has to do now
Next Week: Hawaii: Part 1