Posted on 11/04/2004 9:18:11 AM PST by Kiss Me Hardy
The morning's email haul summed up what happened better than any editorial writer's reflection on the divided hearts and minds of the American electorate.
The first message was from a friend in Washington, a former military guy and proud son of the American heartland.
"Can you believe it!" he gushed. "Let the Democrats just try and steal this one. Bush by 2 million votes!!!!"
(snip)
Then came the second email, penned by a TV news producer at one of the Big Three networks. A couple of weeks ago, at a Long Island barbecue to celebrate her 50th birthday, she shot me a dark look when I said John Kerry struck me as neither honourable nor coherent, and that if foreigners were able to vote, mine would go to George W. Bush.
Well, the beer was flowing, the mood relaxed, the election still far enough away for the observation to raise only eyebrows, not tempers.
"You and I have known each other for 20 years," she wrote. "Thing is, I'm thinking of what you said and it's got me real angry. A lot of things have me angry tonight, but if I see you any time soon, I'm going to say something I regret."
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at nzherald.co.nz ...
"Can you believe it!" he gushed. "Let the Democrats just try and steal this one. Bush by 2 million votes!!!!"
"If its not close, they can't cheat." Hugh Hewitt
A former military guy versus a TV news producer at one of the Big Three networks.
Blue seems out-of-touch… and has the blues.
I can only shudder when I think about another Clinton running in '08.
The BBC World News did a set of extensive interviews and discussions trying to figure out why Bush did so well. They just couldn't believe that Americans would vote for Bush. The Reporterette kept coming back to the exit polling information that "moral values" was such a high factor in why people voted and voted for Bush. She asked everyone about this "moral values" thing.
She was clearly threatened by Americans with "moral values" of which she had no idea what that meant or what it could mean in the actions of this country.
This was later commented on by someone being interviewed on Fox News and he laughed about it as wasn't the UK one of the Countries that had fought a religious war? My thoughts raced to Northern Ireland where religious intolerance is worse that racial intoleragnce in the "old South."
My feeling is that religious intollerance is such a major part of "old Europe," the Middle East, and Asia, that Bush with his deep religious feelings and with Americans voting on "moral values" has them scared beyond belief. I would truly expect that if there was an AP story about Bush calling on the American people to mount a new crusade to free the religious shrines of the Middle East, that people around the world would start building bombshelters and hoarding food.
The Canadian National commentary was cautious. They are unsure of where the US will now be headed in regard to the war on terror. They sit on our doorstep, view that the person in charge now has a sweeping mandate of huge (by Canadian standards) popular support, increased party control over the Senate and House, and absolute fear that Bush can now do anything he wants to on the world stage and get away with it.
You wrote:
"...Bush can now do anything he wants to on the world stage and get away with it"
Well, thank God for that!
The issue isn't that the really vocal partisans on the Democratic side didn't like Bush, it was that they had ramped up a truly insane level of hatred for Bush and anyone who voted for him, sympathized with him, or even attempted to give his point of view fair consideration. The election is past, but the hatred lingers on. It's dangerous stuff, it etches the soul.
We misunderestimate her at our peril. We better have a strategery that goes far beyond simply expressing the loathing we all feel for her. That didn't get us to far with her husband, and it won't help us defeat her.
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