Why are liberals such bad losers? 59,100,000 people voted FOR Bush, and we all agreed that in a democracy we use ballots not bullets to decide who is boss. Its time to work *together* from both sides instead of trying to undercut our own future. The election is a US domestic issue, granted - with world ramifications. But the *voters* on this are the citizens of the US.
KJ
HEAR HEAR BROTHER KJ!!!<br /> <br /> I sat in the park today over lunch with the warm sun shining on my face, and I just basked in it's glow. I have HOPE for the future. It's a wonderful feeling to know the US has the character that it does to lift up the rest of the world.
JK
Its interesting how different countries react to their own governments elections, and other peoples views on them. Down here, its quite normal to be cynical about your own electoral outcomes. in the UK, its entirely normal. Whats not normal here is to conflate an essentially 50% split into some sense of national convergeance on 'one true way' -which appears to be much more common in lots of other countries, including the US. <br /> <br /> 'Pride in my country' is an amazing concept. I very much like G.K Chestertons (?) statement:<br /> <br /> 'My country right or wrong is like my mother, drunk or sober'<br /> <br /> Personally, I think its awfully sad that a 60% turnout/participation rate is heralded as 'good' -But then we have mandatory voting here and consistently get 97% effective real participation (mandatory voting really means mandatory attendance at a voting booth, you can still lodge a spoiled vote or blank one)<br /> <br /> I also retain very mixed feelings about the various 'felons cannot vote' laws, the voter intimidation issues, the level of lawyer-vine entanglements. I do think it was a fair (overall) election result, I do think 'the people have spoken' but to herald this as some clear signal of unity would be stretching it a bit..<br /> <br /> george
George
Yeah, what George said!<br /> <br /> This American is perplexed at the idea of a "bush revolution" The number of people in this country who "elected" him is about the same as can fit in a couple of hummers, and you call that a revolution? sheesh, man, sober up!<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.drudgereport.com/">http://www.drudgereport.com/</a>
John Weeks
I’m almost 40 now and back when I was in history class learning about Hitler’s Germany, I used to think to myself “how could anyone (the common folk) justify in their minds letting what happened, happen?” Now I know.<br /> <br /> Long live His Holiness George Bush II<br /> Long live The Crusades<br /> Long live the Fundamentalist United in a Common Kingdom<br /> <br /> PS: Six hours after his victory speech the White House called to raise the debt ceiling, ask for another 50 to 60 billion in Military funding, which increases the national debt to a little over 8 trillion dollars. That’s 150,000 dollars for each and every one of you who voted for “Gods” chosen president.<br /> <br /> PPS: Hitler was elected by a majority, too.<br /> <br /> PPPS: Just because you are the majority does not make you right. It just makes you sheep.
Gentlemen. I am not convinced, as a US citizen, that this was a real reflection of the actual vote....2000 was just a driver's test for the fraud we had this election....give it two weeks and see what comes up? www.blackboxvoting.com
TrudyStagnant
I'm not remotely anti-American, but it's become normal for even for pro-American non-Americans to be anti-US foreign policy, against your policies on global warming and increasingly worried about the US's growing sense of being somehow God's chosen people. In the light of fashionable thinking in the US, Bush's stances on most things may seem justified within your borders. But please understand the rest of the world (that is, the place where these policies are carried out) has every right and every reason to disagree about what the problems are and what the remedies might be.
Gavin Atkin
I agree Gavin. In the last 45 years the US has been overtly or covertly involved in over 250 skirmishes/wars/subversions. What we in the trenches are concerned about is EXACTLY what you are talking about. As for our 'Democracy', I find disgusting that our media here is bought and paid for by corporate interests. Evangelicals and Republicans together only represent 30% of our populace! So imagine the frustration of that, the voter suppression we saw in 2000 and 2004 and the introduction of E-voting machines manufactured by DIEBOLD! The leader of DIEBOLD is a PIONEER(100k donor)Republican who publically assured Bush in 2000 that he would get the vote for him. I am sick now. It's probably best that you all OPENLY hate, deride and throw eggs at America, so that our village idiot of a president doesn't think he has this unspoken mandate to RULE THE WORLD....ugh..
TrudyStagnant
Guys, there were 75,000 Diebold machines used during the election. Assuming each of those machines were processing votes at 3 minutes per vote for 24 hours, each vote for Bush, that would only account for 3.6 million votes. And I am being very generous in my calculations.<br /> <br /> Sorry, you are going to have to face the fact that 55 million people think that same sex marriage, abortion and gun control are more important that the future of their children.<br /> <br /> The Anonymous Coward has spoken.
I think we do face these facts, Anonymous, and for many of us it's more than depressing or heart-breaking - it's terrifying when I think of the world my kids will live in.<br /> <br /> I know little about the stats Trudy, but in the UK we've seen documentaries on the evangelical movement in the US claiming that as many as 42 per cent of US citizens are born-agains. A coalition between this group and the Republicans must have a natural majority or nearly so - so the rest of us have to hope that the conservative agenda is the right one. The troubling thing is that outside the US huge numbers of ordinary people including those with no particular political agenda think they are exactly wrong.<br /> <br /> Gavin
Gavin Atkin
A friend of mine was working in a UK defense contractor, with some Americans on some project or other.<br /> <br /> During a meeting in 2001, one of the Americans said "...in Bush's second term we can expect...". Numerous Brits at the table coughed, cleared their throats, etc asking how they could be sure he would get a second term (by that time, most Brits already thought Bush was an idiot). Anyway, the Americans said "we know some people".<br /> <br /> Conspiracy theorists, infer away...<br /> (also, read the US Uni's study showing that if every electronic voting machine made one mistken vote for Bush, that would swing the vote in his favour).
Gavin, that statistic (42%) is probably just about right, it might even be higher, but it is difficult to get accurate statistics on how far a particular denomination leans toward the conservative. However, it is nothing new. Republicans and conservative Christians have been preaching “family values” since the Carter administration when the US was emerging from the relative decadence of the 70’s. And there was some validity to their point. People on the coasts were having lots of unmarried promiscuous sex and doing a lot of drugs, while people in the heartland (Midwest and South) felt that was not proper. And looking objectively at it, they were somewhat right. AIDS, Gangs and Drug problems are the children of the 70’s.<br /> <br /> From a historical perspective this national is probably no more conservative now than it was in the early 1950, the difference is that American Conservative Males no longer have minorities, women and children to “impose their will” upon, and the Communists to hate and go to war with. This urge they have to “impose their will” has been transferred and our foreign policy is the manifestation of that urge.<br /> <br /> And thus the American Empire is born….and will fall, in due time, just like every other Empire before it.
DDM, the first coward above
full page front of guardian - black with the words "Oh God"
Laur3nce
I am still sickened....and 'born agains' DO NOT make up 40% of our electorate. Fraud is likely....
TrudyStagnant