Posted on 10/31/2004 4:30:28 PM PST by Pokey78
Left-leaning Californians say they would rather leave America than stay with George W Bush as president.
"Do you think Great Britain would give us political asylum?" the woman in Starbucks asked. "It's just . . . I don't think I can stay if Bush wins again."
In the heavily Democratic state of California, it has become an increasingly familiar refrain.
At first, the threat was little more than a joke. Now, on the eve of one of the most polarised elections in recent history, some say they really do intend to leave should "the worst" occur. There seems little doubt Californians will deliver the state's valuable 55 electoral votes to the Democratic candidate. In a poll on Friday Mr Kerry had a seven-point lead statewide, with a 24-point lead in Los Angeles county and a 35-point lead in the San Francisco Bay area.
But fear at what may happen in the key swing states of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania has led to an escalation in coffee shop chatter about emigration to Canada, Britain and elsewhere.
"I certainly don't love the climate of Vancouver, but I love the sanity," said Steve Crawford, 54, a singer and actor working as a volunteer at the Democratic Party offices in Santa Monica.
He and his wife, Karen, have been investigating selling their home in the upmarket area of Pacific Palisades and moving to Canada.
"For someone like me, if this happens, I can't in good conscience allow myself to support another Bush government, even benignly. And a lot of other people are saying the same. I have a good friend who is adamant he will leave if Bush is re-elected. He's picked two countries and will definitely go to one should this happen." Mr Crawford said it would be a difficult decision to move his nine-year-old son from his elementary school. "But if I feel he's going to be living in an environment that's not safe for him, then I will do it. First and foremost I'm a dad."
Gretchen Witte, 35, from Alhambra, east of Los Angeles, who runs her own internet business, is making plans to move to London, where she previously lived for eight years, should Mr Bush win.
"As a woman, the current climate is becoming intolerable. Bush has just appointed a man to the FDA reproductive health panel who believes that women with medical trouble should pray to Jesus for relief. If this is what America is becoming, I cannot live here. The only reason I can sleep at night is the thought that I can leave the country if he wins."
Robert Boleyn, a 35-year-old independent consultant from Los Angeles, said he heard people saying they would emigrate if Mr Bush won "all the time".
"But I think it's often more a measure of frustration with the last four years than a real intention to leave," he added.
Voluntary exile as a political statement is nothing new. When Franklin D Roosevelt was president, one of his Hudson Valley neighbours, who viewed him as "a swollen headed nit-wit", moved to the Bahamas until he was no longer in the White House.
Democrat-supporting celebrities have a habit of making (usually empty) threats to leave should the election not go their way. Robert Redford, a vocal critic of Mr Bush's policies, was reported to have vowed to move to Ireland, where he owns homes near Dublin, if Bush is re-elected.
Before the 2000 poll, Alec Baldwin's then wife, Kim Basinger, told Germany's Focus magazine that the actor "might leave the country if Bush is elected . . . and then I'd probably have to go too." Baldwin did not leave.
The only public figure to carry out his promise was Pierre Salinger, the White House press secretary during the Kennedy administration, who died last month. Before the 2000 election, he said: "If Bush wins, I'm going to leave the country and spend the rest of my life in France." He did.
We can only hope!
Buh, bye !
They need help packing?
Buh bye!!! But if Skerry wins I want to move to a Red State. I'm in Pa. :(
Even more reason to vote for Bush.
U'm worried about you. You're going to overload on polls! eheh
Na na na na...na na na na...hey heyyy...good-bye.
Na na na na...na na na na...hey heyyy...good-bye.
I'm thinking about leaving if Kerry wins....
Please go, please. Maybe there is some chance of returning California to the Republic. Please go, you stinking piles of stool.
Please go, please. Maybe there is some chance of returning California to the Republic. Please go, you stinking piles of stool.
Please follow through, liars!
They are clueless as to when they are well off.
Immagine how I feel. I'm IN Kalistan!!!!
No such luck. These vermin are whining, grandstanding, and lying.
Start packing the bags!
We could only wish they'd leave.
Great news!
I want ALL of those scumbags to get out of my country.
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