Kerry Concedes…
But I am far from conceding that this was a clean race. For my tastes, Kerry went noble far too soon, before any indications or evidence of voter machine fraud could be investigated–and there were thousands of reports.
So now we have four more years–of massive deficits, stolen civil liberties, corporate and government corruption, a weaker economy, a stacked Supreme Court, unchecked growth of al Qaeda, global alienation and disdain, environmental destruction and bitter partisanship, among what will undoubtedly be a host of other maladies.
So the Democrats have two choices: lie down and get kicked some more in the gut in the name of a bipartisanship that will never be returned by the other side… or spend the next four years fighting as bitterly and as sharply as the GOP has all these years. We discovered that if the other guys have all the responsibility and turn the country to crap, they can still win by lying their asses off–and if you give them even an inch and don’t call them out and pin them to the wall as hard as possible, they’ll get away with it.
The Democrats tried cooperating, tried working with the opposition, tried bipartisanship for the good of the country, and at every turn the GOP has screwed them thoroughly. Well, enough. The GOP has never been bipartisan, they show no signs of it, so to hell with that. Time to be as viciously bloodthirsty as the other guys. Howard Dean taught us that the people respond best when you unabashedly and unashamedly call a lying bastard a lying bastard. So the gloves come off.
Next stop: taking back the Congress in two years.
Why wait two years?
I’m Canadian, so I don’t know about the impeachment process- but if everyone with video evidence of fraud intimidation and vote manipulation compiled all that hard evidence and filed a massive lawsuit, couldn’t George W. be forced from his stolen throne?
With mini digital video cameras and video cell phones so prevalent in society, this evidence is surely out there. Mobilize now, before momentum is totally eroded, channel that anger and frustration and unseat Bush.
I was so sad to see John Kerry concede so quickly; maybe this is part of some master plan to reveal the Republicans for the Evil Empire they realy are.
There is no way that W is going to be forced from the White House, for a couple of reasons.
First of all, despite the hand-wringing, the odds are that the election was fairly clean. As much as the true believers want to think otherwise, the odds are that the Republicans didn’t “steal” the election.
I don’t trust the voting machines, and I think that much work should be done to make them auditable, but the odds are that Bush won pretty much “fair and square”.
Secondly, even if there WERE some evidence that he hadn’t won, to get him out of office would require votes of both the House and Senate against him, and both chambers are held by the Republicans, and they just wouldn’t do it.
The sooner the progressive types get over it and get moving on dealing with the situation as it is NOW, the better. I have enormous respect for Luis and the job he does here, but man, Luis, you wring your hands too damn much sometimes.
Move FORWARD. Remember, Kerry didn’t win his Bronze Star by dithering around; he won it by changing tactics and charging straight ahead and blasting the hell out of the enemy, even chasing him down and shooting him while retreating if necessary.
Bayonet the wounded. Take no prisoners. You know Karl Rove wouldn’t, isn’t, and will not in the future.
Paul
Enumclaw, WA
I don’t fault Kerry by and large, but why didn’t Democrats blame him for 911. When Bush was pointing at Kerry’s record why wasn’t Kerry pointing at Bush’s record levels of vacation, both befor and after. They were being too nice.
I don’t believe that Bush won the election fair and square. Look at Florida, he some how overcame a huge statistical short fall to win, and all of those un auditable voting machines are out there. Come on, why would they exist in the first place if not to perform graft. I’ve designed systems in the past, to not have an audible trail is to do so on purpose.
Fact is 2000 was a coup, and 2004 confirms the coup. For the rest of our lives, the Democrats will play Washington Generals to the Republicans Harlem Globe Trotters. Elections are going to be a sham.
The coup is complete!!!! They have all branches of Government, and in enhanced mode. Over the next few years there will gerrymandering to strengthen and deapen the hold. There are no checks and balances against President Bush and the Thugians in the formal method. The only check and balance on these guys is going to have to come from informal sources and at times the street.
This will take some time to sink in, but gradually Dems are going to realize they have little and shrinking handles of power in the formal sense. Repubs will try to give them just enough to keep them from hitting the streets. But the time is coming, and something will trigger it. So much massive incompetence will eventually spawn mega problems. The French are very good at this. So good that the Champs Elysee was errected so wide so as to make it impossible to set up barricades. But its out in the street that change will have to come from. Otherwise from here on out, we are officially and increasingly, a banana republic. Holla.