Wednesday, November 03, 2004

My response

From Bush's speech today:

Reaching these goals will require the broad support of Americans, so today I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support and I will work to earn it. I will do all I can do to deserve your trust.

A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution, and one future that binds us. And when we come together and work together, there is no limit to the greatness of America. (Cheers, applause.)

MY RESPONSE:

The marriage amendment cast in hatred of those different from you, calling those who dissent from your misguided and foolish policies traitors, implying that criticizing you weakens our nation, and the slimy campaign you ran don't bring us together.

Mr. President, fuck you and the horse you rode in on. You are still a fool. Being popular doesn't make you right. It makes you popular. You are the worst president our nation has ever suffered under. And history will remember you that way.

Vote Hillary in '08!

25 comments:

Ruth Douthitt said...

Nice. Very mature. That sort of response is exactly why you Liberals haven't won anything in so long.

Here is a much better response from Andrew Sullivan........

:But the most fundamental fact of this campaign - and one of the reasons it has been so bitter - is that we are at war. Our opponents at home are not our enemies. The real enemy is the Jihadist terror network that, even now, is murdering innocents and coalition soldiers in Iraq. Our job now - all of us - is to support this president in that war, to back those troops, and to pray for victory. We saw yesterday, in the cold-blooded murder of a Dutch film-maker for his open criticism of Islamist misogyny, that the enemy is still at large; and aiming directly at our freedoms and security. In Fallujah, our troops are poised for a vital battle against terrorists and theocrats intent on derailing a free future for Iraq. Democracy is on the line there and throughout the world. I've been more than a little frustrated by the president's handling of this war in the past year; but we have to draw a line under that now. The past is the past. And George W. Bush is our president. He deserves a fresh start, a chance to prove himself again, and the constructive criticism of those of us who decided to back his opponent. He needs our prayers and our support for the enormous tasks still ahead of him. He has mine. Unequivocally."

Jamie said...

An outsiders POV.

I can understand TWD’s frustration and those like him.

Bush relied on unaccountable voting machines, a campaign of terrible lies, a campaign of getting out the base of people who don't like homo's invading your church, Saddam being a part of 911, and embryos. People likeTWD live in a reality based community. It stings like hell so many people turned out from their caves to vote on such pretentious reasons who aren't even affected by the REAL ISSUES geographically or culturally where the highest contingent of realists live... understandably pissed, I think so...

His group IMO is from a fact based community. Karl Rove simply looked (obsessing really) at what really fires up Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania and forged policies to suit by ramming this radicalism down their collective throats with the help of the voter vault of names collection profiles, social profiles et al at the anti-gun law rubes, the anti-abortion rubes, the low-tax rubes, the family-values rubes, the pro-war rubes, values before pocket book group. They passed out flyers accusing Kerry of wanting to ban the bible. And oh my god the lies. Never has a candidate so blatantly lied to the rubes and the scribes parroted them. That “Global test” ad nauseam, lie(!) was not even the worst, but it definitely hurt Kerry and it was a pure lie, don’t make me get the transcripts out!

And that bigoted amendment in order to drive them out was disgraceful. The only revelation in Bushs life was the evangelical vote, not god.

Now being Canadian I have my own reasons for feeling pretty bad. Not because I am a sore loser who doesn’t agree with anything Bush stands for politically on the world stage, but I lost hope for a reconciliation with America.

Bush doesn't want to cooperate. He doesn't care. It would be easier for me to scoff and laugh and tell you how you have lost Iraq STILL and go ahead and elect Bush so he can clean up his mess...with whatever "plan" he has...

Canada has paid hundreds of millions of dollars for assistance in Iraqi aid, and he won't even take our Prime Ministers call for settling the soft lumber dispute or beef industry, which are not even on life support anymore but buried 6 feet under because you have a child running the show....and now he wants our flu vaccine....yeah right, tied to a cow on a lumber truck you'll get one!

Tell me how that heals wounds? tell me that’s how an adult governs....

but, as long as you don't allow gays to marry...

what about the Beatitudes, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount?

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. …

Not exactly planks in a Republican platform but look like true values for real people

You voted in elmer fudd, pinky instead of the brain, a campaign of outrageous lies, wedge issues, fear and religious pandering...regardless of the dems tactics, they at least provided a new beginning without carrying a homophobic bible with blank pages...

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit pissed...I didn't gloat, even when I KNOW that all of you would have...I wouldn't have acted this way either (surf the 'left blogs' it's downright scary) --my post from yesterday was written BEFORE I knew who won...I was prepared to move forward no matter what the outcome and I expected the same from all of you. We felt as strongly as you did -and worked just as hard.
THIS is my response to the whining. I understand being upset, but come on...this is just sad.

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Anonymous said...

TWD,

All I can say is, wow. I came here expecting to see a rational response to the election results. Too bad you seem to have temporarily lost your mind. I have always had a lot of respect for your writing and opinions (and I still do). Sorry to see the election result has had such a negative effect on you.

By the way, if you really want to see a Democrat win the next election, I hope you are not really going to hitch your wagon to Hillary. She's got even less chance of winning than a liberal Democrat from MA.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

Thank you

Jamie said...

And the right person to do that probably isn't Hillary. It's probably going to be a Southerner who connects with the Red Staters on the same gut level that President Bill did --

ugh. What does it say to you that in order to connect with these people bush had to run a campaign of fear that never concerned them, and of faith based values that has absolutely nothing to do with governing but all to do with prejudice? What exactly separates the Christian-right from the Taliban? Just the book they read, from what I can tell. It’s interesting how you are becoming the very thing your president says you're fighting against...

i dare you to prove that family "values" are anything other than homophobia

mandatory aids lists...are you kidding me?

Reps, is this true and are you proud of this?

Tom Coburn, the new senator from Oklahoma, has advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions and warned that "the gay agenda" would undermine the country. He also characterized his race as a choice between "good and evil" and said he had heard there was "rampant lesbianism" in Oklahoma schools.

Jim DeMint, the new senator from South Carolina, said during his campaign that he supported a state G.O.P. platform plank banning gays from teaching in public schools. He explained, "I would have given the same answer when asked if a single woman who was pregnant and living with her boyfriend should be hired to teach my third-grade children."

John Thune, who toppled Tom Daschle, is an anti-abortion Christian conservative - or "servant leader," as he was hailed in a campaign ad - who supports constitutional amendments banning flag burning and gay marriage.


I'm ashamed to be your neighbor

Jamie said...

"the most uncompromising wartime president in the history of the United States"

?? why wait ?? you have one in office now.

maybe you should watch this and apologize to the troops for your vote.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/

Anonymous said...

See everyone (look above) THIS is who I share my city with...this physco-babble freak who knows nothing about anything. Mr. Howard from Philly... (hopefully no where near me and my kids)...#1 TWD has worked for the past 5 months screaming that he is NOT a liberal –and that that kooky side of your party doesn't represent the party...he is ex-military & pro-gun...still like him?
#2 Bush won because of the 'Frank Rizzo' factor...not the gay marriage amendments or anything else --if you are really from Philly you'll know just what I mean by that.
For those of you not familiar with the infamous Philly mayor...he was un-popular, known for commanding police forces that were encouraged to use police brutality-and did (never stupid enough to do it on the street in front of cameras though)...crime was at an all time low -people felt safe on the streets. No one ever wanted to admit that they liked him...it wasn't PC. He would poll at the lowest numbers and then sweep elections. They might have wanted to turn a blind eye to his methods -or not admit to their friends that they thought he was great...but they all knew he got the job done! (and I sat in the Mayor's box with him when I was 6 or 7 and watched Barnum & Bailey's circus eating ice cream and cotton candy...feeling quite safe).

Jamie said...

Only a conservative would use the word "liberal" as a dirty word. I use the term with respect. If the Bush administration is conservative, or even the Harpers party, I'm a homosexual who has actually been to the moon and danced to "its raining men".

theres nothing wrong with being american before you jump down my back, its being an american trapped in another america you don't belong to and have no power to change anymore, thats the real tragedy

Its being an american who had to watch segregation in the 21st century. what do you think about a government that uses referendum on an election year ballot?

Let me get this 'straight'.

So if I want the right to see my partner of seven years in the hospital, or to take sick leave to care for him, or make medical decisions if he is unable to, or get benefits through Social Security, get tax breaks, veterans benefits and insurance breaks, family discounts, obtain family insurance through my employer etc, then it's an 'unimportant issue" because I'm a 'homo' who wants 'self-validation' for my kinks?

I don't claim and never have claimed Canada as perfect, but we haven't had a vote on segregation since I have been a voter, and if we had, I wouldn't sit here and try and explain it away under a flasehood of "family values". Bigorty is bigotry, its time you faced your racism together...

Frater Bovious said...

Hello? Hello, calling Lefty Jones...

Is this thing on?

Where did you go, and who's been posting on your blog?
fb

Anonymous said...

Howeird: Just like a LIBERAL...you obviously didn't EVEN READ what I wrote (or maybe you just didn't comprehend it)...I didn't compare GWB to Rizzo...I knew Rizzo...my parent's best friend was his bodyguard...I said that GWB won in the same manner Rizzo used to win. He was always down in the polls and yet always won and the press just didn't get it...
...r-e-a-d-i-n-g c-o-m-p-r-e-h-e-n-s-i-o-n...
p.s. 4 million votes is a pretty large margin...

Jamie said...

vrangel, while it is extremely hard not to comment on the bigotry of your post I will correct you.

It may not be about tax breaks to you, its equality. You may feel you don't want to raise your son in an equal society, and sad to hear that as he will no doubt grom up to be as bigoted as his father, but its not up to you to FORCE your opinions and "values" which are masked to hide your bigotry.

There is a reason the Pentagon has 300+ bathrooms, look it up.

I remember the the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.

Are you (as a society) not enlightened enough to move forward from that dark period?

I don't care about your bigotry, its imposing it on a minority who has zero say and zero clout in any corridor of power. March the streets against the gay community, thats your right. amending the Constitution to REMOVE rights from a certain group of people is historically unheard of in your country. Period.

Jamie said...

"the United States on most of the core cultural issues is much closer to Nigeria and Saudi Arabia than to Europe and Japan" - PEW foundation....

god

gays

guns


Reformation needed....badly...start here and let the healing begin
Steps to Recovery from Bible Abuse

Jamie said...

you said:"clueless ideologues like you who dominate the system."

Wanting equal protection instead of amendments removing rights makes me a clueless ideologue?? on top of that, people like me ruined your education system??

I feel like I am on crazy pills...

Yikes...ooooook pal...good luck with alllll that.

*Bush to Seek Gay-Marriage Ban in New Term*

President Bush will renew a quest in his second term for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage as essential to a "hopeful and decent" society, his top political aide said on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Howard...you are the reason the suburbs are thriving...I was not a 'sir' the last time I looked down...for the 20th time, I wasn't saying anything bad about Rizzo -he rocked as a mayor...I am NOT wrong about the police brutality --but I don't think there is anything wrong with roughing up the bad guys...Bush was not polling at the margin that he won -remember Zogby?...Rizzo did poll lower than the margins he won...you ARE the typical frothing, bitter liberal...I am mad that I planned to take ANY result from the election well...I planned to lose gracefully even when I knew the other side wouldn't...I also won gracefully until I came into contact with you...normally I wouldn't have even engaged, but I hate that you are the typical Philadelphian...I bet you even voted for John Street...more than once...*sigh*

Anonymous said...

Howard:
I went back and re-read my first comment and I don't see where it was so hate-filled..., but OK....if you say-so. If I offended you I am sorry...like I said, I was feeling quite gracious BUT upon reading TWD's rant (who used to be quite level-headed) and then yours I was FED UP. Having two young kids...I turn to the blogosphere to ESCAPE the whining. My bad this week. As you will see by MY POST the day after the election, I was hardly a sore-winner. I may be a bit impatient with the sulking...but not a bad winner. I do apologize if I offended your sensibilities... (even though -in my estimation -you were nastier than I have ever been...)
p.s. I never said I didn't live in the city...

Jamie said...

big·ot ~ noun One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.

Jamie said...

First of all, Slate offers both left and right sides of issues.

Second of all, pretty much everyone knows that values are what decided the election. You finding a random opinion piece that says they didn't (whether left or right in origin) proves nothing except your need to decide on something beforehand, then scramble for something (anything!) to back it up. Kind of like the MO of the entire Bush administration.

one of the topics on the mclaughlin group today was about how gay marriage was probably the single issue that won bush the election. 22% of voters said this was the single most important issue to them and 80% of those voted bush.

and last. the exit polls in 2000 DID NOT I repeat DID NOT use the same questions for comparrison

Jamie said...

"So until you crunch the numbers . . . some of us will stick with reality, thanks."

LOL I provided alternative studies which doesn't jive with your example so I'm the one being unrealistic..how facinating..

Since you love crunching numbers so much heres some for you to chew on:

Palm Beach County Logs 88,000 More Votes Than Voters
November 5, 2004 04:56 PM

According to the official election results posted on the Palm Beach County election website, 542,835 ballots were cast for a presidential candidate while only 454,427 voters turned out for the election (including absentee). This leaves a discrepancy of 88,408 votes cast for the presidential candidates.

Palm Beach County's supervisor of elections is Theresa LePore who is known for the 2000 Presidential Election and the notorious "butterfly ballot" that caused confusion among seniors and other Floridians.

Other election oddities occurred throughout Florida with some counties registering a 400% increase in expected voter turnout among Republicans while Democrats supposedly experienced a -60% decline in expected support within certain counties. The 50+ counties experiencing the high percentage fluctuations in expected turnout used optical scan voting machines on November 2nd.

Vote discrepancies were also found in Gahanna, Ohio which gave an extra 4,000 votes to President Bush. The error was explained away by Franklin County administrators as a "glitch" in the electronic voting system.

Update: Palm Beach County has updated their numbers and added 91,802 absentee ballots and 1,041 provisional ballots. The vote totals for president increased by 1,543. To view an archived copy of the previous report, click here. While Palm Beach County appears to have accounted for the discrepancy, this underscores the flaws in the system and data compilation.

frstlymil said...

Thanks for your blog. I'm astounded that some of the responses seem to treat the anguish people feel over Bush being elected to another four years like the petty bad mood of some over losing a ball game. But those people voted for a man who speaks at a low sixth grade level and they appreciate how he talks "like one o'them." Something I wouldn't proudly admit to, frankly. They see him as a man they think they could sit down and have a beer with. I don't want to have a beer with a man that I want to run the country. I want a man that can run the country. I'm interested in finding out the definition some of these responders have to the term "liberal" and if it actually means anything to them other than a word used frequently with a particularly unpleasant tone by conservative commentators. Globally, we have a problem. We have a globe concerned over the richest country in the free world going bankrupt and what that will do not only to the U.S., but to the rest of the world. We have people who are actually Christian in the spiritual sense, not the political sense, who worry about reverting our country back to the persecution of the 17th century. We have people who are very concerned, both nationally and internationally about how we are currently representing democracy - we are promoting and ramming it down the throats of other countries, while simultaneously tearing it down here at home. There are those on the west and east coast who did not vote for Bush, and who are in the sitting duck location of another terrorist strike because of the coastal geography. No one wants to bomb a grain mill. All those in the mid-west who voted again, really have nothing to fear about a terrorist attack. Curious that those who actually do, voted for someone other than the man who got us into this mess. I am devastated by this election to find out that the majority of this country are actually small minded, petty, poorly informed individuals who are predominantly bigoted and hateful of anything or anyone who thinks differently than them. Rather similar mindset to those of the fanatical Al Quaida. This country voted not for another four years, but another 40. And threw out checks and balances in the process.

frstlymil said...

Dearest Big and Mean:

Exactly. How CAN you be tolerant and understanding if you are uninformed. I urge that you become so. I must repeat again. This was not a ball game. Read a history book. Read newspapers from other countries that are also lamenting this election and what it might mean at a global level. I'm not upset over people disagreeing with ME - this is not about me, but the world we are all living in together. This is about actually researching patterns of American history and actually living in an urban environment horribly effected by the present administration's policies and fiscal irresponsibility. This is about looking in the eyes of young women and men who have young husbands and wives over in Iraq who joined up so they could get their college tuition, and who might not come home, and are finding out that they got manipulated into joining the service to fight a war for oil rights that is NOT about the nifty wall street slogan "War on Terror" and has become far more dangerous in the result. This is about making a point to turn off the television and going out there to observe what's actually going on. And since you did not respond to anything other than the final paragraph of the post, I will assume you scanned and did not read.

J.D. said...

While I understand and in part agree with you on the anger, Genevaconv, as a BA in History I must point out that Jefferson and Washington were both from the red state of VA, and they were pretty important revolutionaries.

And I refuse to let any part of MY country turn to darkness, so for all the red staters who say "get over it" like, as somebody put, it was nothing more than a baseball game, you should realize the reason I wanted Kerry to win, as did many of the "anybody but Bush" crowd, is not because I wanted to "win" or see somebody else lose. It is because I don't like what our nation is becoming, I don't like Bush's policies and practices, and I don't like saddling my children and grandchildren with debt you dumbass red-staters were too ignorant or selfist to realize must one day be paid.

Because I love my country, not just those who worship like I do or look like me. I love ALL my country, even the backwards, ignorant South that for some unexplainable reason still feels superior despite being on the wrong side of history on every national question since the Revolution.

And Jefferson and Washington? Radical LIBERALS.

What we need is to continue our revolution, and despite the votes of 51% of the electorate (mandate? 51% is a mandate? that's another topic) it doesn't make them RIGHT, just in the majority. The majority of Jews in zero AD would have voted to condemn Jesus - so should He have said "well, they are the majority" and given in on what He believed? Of course not. In 1933 Hitler was elected. Should Germans have simply acquisced to Nazism? Many did. Were they right? They were in the majority after all.

So I don't feel like "I" lost the election. I feel "America" did. Because Bush harms us and what we stand for, and because 51% believed Kerry would cause their kids to turn gay or would surrender to terrorists doesn't mean Kerry was wrong or Bush was right.

Bush wants to spread "democracy" just like Britain wanted to spread "civilization." And both Britain and America are wrong in how they are doing/did it, and that does NOT mean I am against democracy or civiliation. I am against uncalled for, unnecessary, risky WARS based on false pretenses.

How radical of me.

So I will continue to stand up for what I believe in. And in case anyone forgot, I repeat: "Mr. President, fuck you and the horse you rode in on."

Ala71 and others are "shocked" by such language, while still displaying such hatred as Swiftboat veteran lying assholes on their blogs. Hypocrisy abounds when people claim God dictates their politics.

"Got Mitt Uns."

J.D. said...

Interesting.

Bigandmean tells Genconv that:

1) Genconv is an "emotional cripple,"
2) Genconv could only kick the ass of a "fellow blue stater" (along the lines, I suppose, of the "any Southern man can whip 10 yankees" logic that led the South to destruction at the hands of those blue-stater yankees),
3) and suggests that those who are upset with the President's ignorant and harmful policies should simply "grow up" and accept that because 51% of the voters disagree, the policies must be correct.

He then, amazingly, tells everybody "For God's sake, grow up."

Not that it is unusual for a Bush voter to invoke God in all matters including those in which God has NOT taken sides (or even in cases when He surely has made His position clear and it is against the red-stater), but the hypocrisy of insulting somebody by calling them an emotional cripple and implying that they are wimps, and then telling THEM to grow up - amazing.

J.D. said...

Bigandmean: I disagree with you on politics. I also respect your discourse and enjoy it when you add your thoughts to the discussion.

CG: you and I probably agree politically, but I must say that Bigandmean makes some good points about your post. Please keep contributing, but with respect for those who disagree with you as well as those who agree.

Thanks to all for a wonderful and lively conversation.