Yes, I know we don’t need another election topic but I’d like to hear about how other people responded to the election results. This past week has been hard for many of us and maybe through sharing our reactions, we can help each other.
I thought I had mentally prepared myself for a Kerry loss but the whole week leading up to Nov. 2, the numbers had been looking good for him and it fed my hope. My hope that the madness of the past four years had made an impression on Americans and they wanted to rectify things. My hope that US stem cell research would be properly funded and that within my lifetime, I’d be able to completely recover from my stroke. Then, the electoral returns started coming in. I was horribly sick that night so I went to bed early when Kerry was ahead in the electoral count (that brief tantalizing window).
I woke up to this. This past week, it has been a struggle to get out of bed and I’ve been breaking down into tears almost every day. The office has been like a funeral home with people speaking softly between themselves sometimes you can overhear incredulous “What happened?” or " How can people be so stupid?"
I know candidates lose and the world does go on. But this year the election was personal. The election results weren’t just that my candidate lost, my hope was lost, and I feel like I lost my country. Any other devastated people out there? We should form a support group! We could call it Bitch-slapped Blue Staters support group.
I was simply relieved that it was all over. You’ve been at it for nearly a year! IMHO this is a major failing of the American system. Why not have your election start in mid August, have the Primaries all at once in mid-late Sept, and on to the election itself on Nov 2nd?
I try not to talk about politics at work (with the exception of IMing my friends, of course), but I took Wednesday off because I was up all night watching election results and alternately crying and worrying. I spent most of Wednesday on the couch, glued to the television, bawling like a two year old. Yes, it was that important to me.
I also took Wednesday off because I was pretty sure my boss is a Bush supporter, and I just couldn’t handle any smugness on the win from her.
Turns out that she actually told my coworker, “Man, Kerry got CREAMED!” during an informal meeting in her office. It’s a good thing I wasn’t there for that. She spoke about it like it was some goddamn football game, and not the direction that her WHOLE COUNTRY IS HEADING IN.
I’m a bit more optimistic today. I’ve been following alot of post-election e-voting problems and I cannot tell you how happy I would be if they shoved the whole lot of them right back up Satan’s arse, where they certainly must have originated from.
Surprised and disappointed by the Presidential election; largely unmoved by the Congressional election; shocked and appalled by the anti-gay marriage propositions; mildly stunned that my state (Florida) increased minimum wage to $6.15, and curious to see what happens to its economy.
First, I would like to mention that on October 30th, three days before the election, I told everyone who asked my opinion on the matter that Bush would win by a small majority both the popular vote and in the electoral collage. Can I call it or what?
It seems to me that Kerry would’ve made a better president, and Bush has made many descisions as president that I disagree with. However, I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t at all educated myself on most of the relevent facts, and therefore I’m completely unqualified to make a judgement (or vote, if I were old enough). My preference for Kerry mostly stems from the fact that most Dopers are for him, and you guys seem like pretty smart people.
What bothers me about this election is the amount of, for lack of a better term, hatred. I can understand disagreeing with one candidate or the other, even vehemently. But many, if not most Democrats seem genuinely afraid for the future of the country now that Bush is elected, and view supporters of Bush as dangerous. The Republicans view the other side the same way. And each side genuinely believes that they’re right.
I’m starting to think another civil war might be likely within my lifetime.
This absoultely baffles me. Please educate yourself on the issues!
Again, please educate yourself. The U.S. isn’t divided into simplistic blue and red zones. We basically all live in purple zones. Hell, half my family are Bush supporters so I don’t see a Civil War coming.
DocCathode, I like what you wrote in your blog. I’ve made an Election 2004 mix CD that has been really cathartic with:
Fortunate Son
Blowin’ in the Wind
War (Edwin Starr’s)
Special Delivery
Bombs or Bread
The Impossible Dream
In the Waiting Line
I Am Mine
Bad Day
I Don’t Want to Be
It’s the End of the World as We Know It
Tuesday’s Gone
Mad World
Gollum’s Song
Pride
War (Marley’s)
We’re Not Gonna Take It
Yup, definitely helped. Now, I’m going to get back to researching the CA stem cell bill so I can push for a similar bill in MA. If the Federal Government is screwed up, focus on state!
One good thing at least from my end, however, is that we really haven’t heard from those “we should merge with the US and adopt the American dollar” lunatics that made so much noise in 2002. (Not that anyone listened to them at the time – it was completely manufactured by the National Post and the Fraser Institute – but it was annoying to have to listen to.)
So if anything, it’s reinforced in general Canadians’ sense of their sovereignty and our protectiveness of our institutions and distinctiveness.
Which are, of course, available to any of you who care to brave the winters and the immigration officials. My opinion is that I applaud all American left-wingers who are going to stay and fight – it won’t be an easy thing to do and it takes a buttload of courage. On the other hand, people’s lifespans are finite, and I sympathize with and welcome those who are considering moving here because they would rather not spend an indefinite period under the gun before they get to enjoy some equality and peace.
I felt like I woke up to find I’m living in a different country. It is incredible to me that fellow Americans have such a radically different world view than I do. I have more in common with a college educated European or Asian then I do with the people in the heartland.
I think we’ve reached a point where one side or the other will have to win and I think that the Evangelical Christians who turned out for Bush are every bit as dangerous and misguided as the Islamic fanatics who back Bin Laden. I think we are headed for a non-shooting civil war.
Kinda mixed about the results. On one hand, the majority won and that is just plain fair. On the other hand the Bush Regime stands for everything I think is wrong with america. It’s like I woke up wednesday and found myself on Planet of the Apes or something.
I’m surprised at how disappointed I feel. I voted for Bush in 2000, but have been very unhappy with his performance. I wasn’t crazy about Kerry, but I had litle trouble deciding to vote for him.
I’ve long been liberal on social issues. (I favor of equal rights for gays and I’m an atheist). But I always considered myself somewhat right of center on fiscal and foreign policy issues.
However, this election indicates that in the last four years, either I’ve become more liberal, or the scale has shifted to the right.
Not particularly happy about the result, but I wasn’t a rabid Kerry fan either.
I was and am more concerned about all the electoral skulduggery going on, particularly (but not exclusively) in Ohio and Florida. Putting the fate of the country in the hands of the equivalent of MS Windows does not make me happy. Missing absentee ballots do not make me happy. People encouraging “snowbird” voting do not make me happy. Partisan Secretaries of State limiting polling stations in selected districts do not make me happy.
I very concerned about what lies ahead for our country. I think it will get much worse before it gets better, but I am here for the long haul and have become somewhat energized trying to figure out how to best help the situation. I am thinking that I want to get more involved with an election reform organization as well as one that supports our troops where ever they end up, and I do not think Iraq is the last war our young will be asked to fight essentially alone. Even now, and it is early, the mind boggles…1000 dead = 2000 parents = 4000 grandparents… do the math, that is a truckload of pain.
As for shorter term goals, I am trying to spend a lot of time with my mother. She is very depressed about the results of the election and I worry for her. I spent Friday and Saturday nights with her and tried to focus on some other things and help her get her energy back in a more positive way. She is turning into quite the conspiracy theorist (some very well thought out, I might add) but I hate to see her go in that direction as I think in the long run it may cause her more distress.
matt_mcl thank you for your kind support keep your border intact (you don’t want this up there) but open and friendly as we may need, at least temporary, refuge from time to time.
I have a strong dislike of the current incarnation of the Republican party, and whats more, was also one of the few people I’ve know of that actually voted for Kerry because I thought he would be a good president. Needless to say I was disappointed by the results.
That said, I’m suprisingly excited to see where this will go. Had Kerry won, we would’ve ended up with a deadlocked gov’t, a president hated by the other party, in short, the 90’s all over again. Better for the country, in my opinion, but kinda boring. A continuation of the status quo
Instead, we now have the most interesting possible outcome. The Repub party has been making claims about what they would do for many years now, it will be interesting to see what they do now that they have a fairly uncontested hold on the federal gov’t. How will the nation react to their changes? Will they be able to hold their big tent togeather? Will they “chicken out” and basically spin their wheels for 4 years". It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Also, the Dems have been coasting for too long. I get a sense that this election has finally made them start to question why they’ve been loosing their grip on power for the last decade, and what they can do to stop it. Instead of blaming it on dirty tricks by the Repubs, as they did in 2000, they’re finally starting to question what they can do to regain more of their appeal. Will they become Repub light?, Will they manage to capitlize on future Repub mistakes? Will this defeat splinter or unify the party?
In short, there’s a part of me that would rather live in interesting times then in good ones, and part of me that would rather root for the underdog then for a winner, and so I’m suprisingly upbeat considering my party got such a beating.
