Stoid is absolutely correct - from here on in, every judicial appointment Bush submits will sail thru without a problem. All abortions will be illegal within sixty days of the convening of the new Congress. Baghdad will be radio-active glass by dawn tomorrow. The homeless will be shot on sight.
Everyone with a yearly income under $50,000 will be rounded up as slave labor to work on the estates of former Enron executives. All funding for AIDS research will be redirected to subsidize make-overs for Katherine Harris. Kenneth Starr will announce the re-opening of the investigation into Bill Clinton’s conduct while in office.
The New York Times and the Washington Post will be subject to military censorship. Ted Kennedy, Al Gore, Hilary Clinton, and the entire Florida Supreme Court will be held at Guantanamo Air Force Base indefinitely.
And there will be prayer in schools.
Bwahahahaha!
Regards,
Shodan
Or maybe you might be getting just a little hysterical - do you think?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m unpleasantly stunned at how things turned out in a number of these races (not that they turned out the way they did, but how much of a walk it was) – still, something very similar to this happened 22 years ago and we lived through it. As mentioned before (I seem to be using that phrase a lot these days), if the GOPans get too giddy and try to go whole-hog on the rightwing agenda they’ll get b*tchslapped back into line by the electorate in 2004.
(Yet, Shodan why do I have this uneasy feeling that a certain Mr. Ashcroft would not really “get” that some bits of that nightmare scenario are supposed to be parody…?)
The only thing I’m worried about it Roe v. Wade. I hate abortion, but I’m pro-choice. I want abortion to disappear as the result of a mass shift in public thinking on the topic, not by declaring it illegal. I fear that reversing that decision will tear a serious rift in our society.
Because they aren’t really Republicans. They are radio-active flesh eating zombies from outerspace!!! Be very afraid.
An over-reaction from Stoid and some others, yes. But it is just so funny!
What this election should be is a wake-up call for the Democratic Party. Playing “me-too” games and cautiously trailing in the wake of the G.O.P. without any real message or convictions gets you a butt-kicking, and deservedly so.
With only narrow majorities in the House and Senate, the Republicans are not going to be able to run roughshod over our (sob!) civil liberties even if they wanted to.
A recipe for further disaster for Democrats and the leftists who turn to them out of desperation, is to wail incoherently about the evil demonic tendencies of their opponents, rather than acting as a tough and rational opposition.
My only fear is that we are going to be plunged into a black pit of overwhelming bullshit from partisans who should know better - the post- 2000 election blather all over again.
Republicans did not have control of the House in 1980. They do now.
Although you are probably correct that extreme measures will not go over well with the electorate, and the GOP would be rebuked by the voters next time up if they tried any. Although doubtless the media will present everything that passes for the next two years as “extreme”.
I have not hit the levels of despair that Stoid has, but I think its a mistake to be nonchalant about changes in the government.
Perhaps I’ve read too many books like Margaret Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale, but I think only a fool counts on the current state of affairs remaining the same indefinitely. Everything changes, and I believe that voter apathy is a good way to make sure it changes for the worse. I believe that our government’s success relies on people actually giving a shit about what happens in elections.
Doesn’t it worry people that Bush’s Homeland Security Act pushed for INS hearings being closed to the public or American citizens allowed to be held as enemy non-combatants? I heard this on NPR. Do you think we can safely sit back in your chairs while we watch other countries being repressed by dictators and think “it can’t happen here”?
I’m not saying Bush is another Mao Ze-Dong, but statements such as The Tim’s “Your vote means nothing. This election means pretty much nothing.” worry me.
We now have a single party full of scheming idealogues in complete unassailable control of both the Executive and Legislative branches of the Federal government.
We have to expect forced redistribution of wealth, pandering to special interests, and unprecedented intrusions into our private lives.
Not to mention the spectre of extended, bloody war.
Plus, we still have a drawling Texas cowboy as President.
