La Salle Debain

I am embarrassed to say I actually ended up not voting. I have a good excuse though, my wife had to be rushed to the hospital as it seems our son may be born prematurely. Had I voted, I would have cast my ballot for George W. Bush. (Not that it would have mattered too much in heavily Democratic Hudson County, NJ.) As I write this, it the majority of my countrymen have also picked Bush who will remain president.

Not that GWB is someone I'm necessarily jumping up and down for. In fact from a conservative point of view there are plenty of reasons to be appalled by his track record. for instance the unprecedented increase in the national debt, the expansion of the federal government, our inept handling of the liberation of Iraq which should have been a cakewalk. Although I've tended to vote Republican since I became a citizen, I genuinely considered a switch this time.

And at first the Democrats didn't disappoint. Any candidates displaying any incipient signs of progressivism (Kucinich, Dean) were swiftly shown the door. I would have preferred Lieberman myself. He would have also appealed to the Evangelical Christians who are the Republican core (the most philo-semitic and pro-Israel constituency in US politics.) However today, ant-semitic views are most likely to be found amongst the hardcore left, Blacks and Hispanics -- core Democratic supporters so that wasn't going to fly. I was as surprised as anyone when Kerry got the nomination mostly by hiding in a corner while the others destroyed each other.

That was a winning strategy for the primaries but people want a president who stands for something. To some people what Bush stands for might be scary but at least you know he means it. Why is there always such a cloud over Kerrys opinions? It is a function I think of the state of the Democratic party since the sixties. They stand for nothing. They are just a loose conglomeration of whiny special interests that have nothing in common beyond disliking Republicans. Kerry couldn't have taken a stand on anything even if he wanted to without annoying one faction or the other. If the Kerry of the debates had shown up three months earlier, he may still have had a chance instead he just couldn't shake the flip-flopper label.

The other major factor turning voters off Kerry was his supporters. Bush will not go down in history as the greatest president but the attacks on him reached frightening levels of hysteria. From the Goebels-like manipulation of Michael Moore (apparently currently being channelled by Osama bin Laden,) the blatant partisanship of the media to the shrill shrieking of the newly-minted political experts of the Film Actors Guild Bush was turned into Evil incarnate. If "the people" were so fed up with GW, why did their "grassroots" movement have to financed by an international billionaire financier? Voters were savvy enough to realize that the opposition were every bit a part of the oligarchy they claimed to be rebelling against.

Aging flower children were also out in full force. Iraq was to be the new Vietnam. The spectre of a draft was raised. (never mind that itwas Kerrys' plan that was more likely to require a draft.) The tired old tropes of class warfare were trotted out one more time. They even dug up the corpse of Joan Baez at one point. For those of us who have only experienced the sixties on MP3, it was not impressive.

Despite P. Diddys direst threats, the vote did not get rocked. Young people love liberal comedians for the zingers the throw at President Bush (who lets face it is particularly zinger-friendly) but inadvertently this has caused them to think of politics as just another entertainment spectacle. This election shows that rumors...(pause)...on the inner'nets are a piss-poor match for old-fashioned and boring organization.

All this means Americans have by resounding margins put their trust in George W. Bush. Both houses of congress have also increased their Republican majorities. Any illusions liberals may have that they represent America may be considered crushed.

Predictably though the libs will start wringing their hands over why the "sheeple" have let them down once again. Good old reliable Adam Kessel has already blogged about how Bush may have stolen the election . If that's the kind of thing that will tide you over for the four years until President Giuliani is elected, knock yourself out. You might try a new tactic: personal responsibilityand respect for your country and its people. Ironically Bush would have been vulnerable on that front but the American left in its present condition can never make it stick.