Well, fuck, it looks like it's going to be Bush. Putcher rants here.

The BBQ Pit
101

As a business owner who desires less governmental interference, I voted for Bush (go ahead - call me stupid - but I’m still in business and have never laid off any of my employees - so I must be doing something right), but I expected Kerry to win and planned for it. I’m not the type of person who will just blindly believe that “my horse” was gonna win and then just throw a cussfest tantrum when he doesn’t…I’ve learned to adjust to adversity over the years, especially when some outrageous legislation is annually pimped by our states’ democrat representatives on a monthly basis.

Plan.
Adapt.
Persevere.

That’s about as American as it gets, no matter who our leader is for the next four years. Have some of you forgotten what being American is?

102

Yes, Rex, they obviously have.

In the vein of your post: got any job openings? :wink:

103

I don’t recall anyone predicting a Kerry landslide.

104

Yeah, who did that?

105

Stupid. :wink:

106

Fuck.

Just fuck.

107

Heh. I guess I asked for it, but that’s ok.

And yes, I do have job openings.

You must pass DOJ clearance and have at least 6 months of experience working with people with developmental disabilities. First aid and CPR also required. That’s just for starters.

108

That’s cool, but I think the commute (either California or the Himalayas) would be a killer.

Thanks anyway.

109

Let
me
refresh
your
recollection.

110

Brutus and Bricker, get your buts over here.

111

This afternoon Britt Hume was talking about how even though the polls were hours from closing, the buzz throughout the news community was that the election was looking very good for Kerry. Then I turned to CNN and Judy Woodruff was flitting around like a schoolgirl, all smiles and energy. I thought “Fuck, Kerry’s actually gonna win.” Then I thought about my online self and hoped I’d be able to handle it graciously and with a cheerful, positive, upbeat attitude…

you know, like rjung has. :slight_smile:

Bigtime kudos to you, sir! I’d a never thunk it. You are truly to be congratulated, especially given the depth of your anti-Bush passion. My estimation of you, for whatever that’s worth, has increased a thousand fold. I don’t know when I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by such a classy display of guts and positive attitude in the threads you have contributed to tonight.

Again, kudos to you, sir.

And to my friends here on the other side of the aisle politically, I know you’re terribly dissappointed, hurt and saddened. I got a little taste this afternoon of what you must be feeling now and it isn’t fun. I feel no desire to gloat; instead I find myself wishing that somehow political issues could be resolved without anyone having to lose. You are all in my thoughts. You are some of the best people I know and I’ve learned much and become a better person because of you.

My regards to you all. :slight_smile:

112

Thanks, SA. That shows real class.

Shit, my candidates for state rep and state senate lost, too.

Maybe I can suck it up tomorrow. Not now.

113

Yeah, but just as many people predicted Bush winning, and I didn’t see anyone use the word landslide, and the predictions didn’t break down along party lines at all. Many Kerry supporters predicted a Bush win and vice-versa. Most of us said it was too close to call. Plus, out of those 5 links, 3 are the same person.

114

No. That’s why people are going apeshit. It’s their way of “PAPing”. They have every right to do that, especially since it’s fun to witness.

115

D’oh!

OK, not as probative as I thought.

116

Theres some terrorists having some parties tonight, I’m sure.

Look guys, I know some of you voted for Bush and I’m glad our country spoke and all that. But you probably voted for Bush because you thought he’d do a better job and might keep us safer and whatever. But I voted for Kerry because I think Bush is an insane would-be emporerer with a Jesus complex that is destabilizing the world and destroying what America stands for, and lowering the quality of life for us in the meanwhile. I feel very very strongly about this. I’m a little upset right now and I think I have a right to be. I gotta vent somewhere.

America. What the fuck is wrong with you? How did we become the backwards nation of the Western world? Europeans used to come here because the streets were paved with gold. Now they stay away because the streets are paved with our health-careless poor. We represent the outer limit of civilization. We are more in line with places like China and Iran than the rest of the free world. Our big difference is that we get to vote the bastards out- and in this case for some inexplicable reason you didn’t take that oppertunity. You willingly vote for someone that doesn’t represent you on most of the issues. You willingly voted someone who has and will continue to destroy freedoms both here and abroad. You willingly voted for someone you know for a fact tells lies that kill people.

What for? Safety? The terrorists are probably cracking open the sparkling apple cider. George Bush is their Saddam Hussain. They’ve got someone to rally support against. Someone to demonize and villinize and almost everyone in the world has to agree that there are some good reasons to do so. I just hope I don’t get caught up in the carnage because I don’t want to fucking die for the sake of the mad cowboy’s deluded visions. Yeah, it’ll be great once we invade Iran and the Middle East problem will be solved because we just took over the whole place. But it’s wrong. It’s the wrongest wrong ever. It’s murder and it’s taking away people’s freedom. And all we’ll have to trade for it is the constant threat of attacks and probably some atrocities here and there. But who cares if we make the terrorists right? I mean, to consider that we’re galvanizing our enemies is practically like giving the US to France, right? Why should we care how many of our civilians die because we pissed off a few ragheads by taking over their countries?

Four more years of terror alert yellow-orange-red. Four more years of fear.

That isn’t the biggest deal. The big problems are the things that last forever. My body may soon end up under the mandate of the state if my condom breaks. The land and resources of my country may end up ruined for the sake of profit. My freedoms may be gone. Already my chance of seeing my gay relatives in simple happy marriages is gone in so much of the US. There are things that can go away that we may never get back.

Don’t think it can’t happen. Governments go insane. Atrocities occur. Countries become evil. We arn’t exempt. It’s happened in the West. It’s happened recently. The world isn’t some stable object and we arn’t exempt from trouble. We aren’t exempt from evil.

But don’t welcome it with open fucking arms. Don’t cheer it on. Don’t vote for it!

I kind of want to cry. I kind of want to shout “fuck” over and over again.

But instead, it’s time to fight. Our big hope is that fifty percent of the country voted against this bastard. At least some of them must see what is going on. We can’t let our country be destroyed by our own president, by our own people, by our own complacentcy.

117

America is going to get exactly what it deserves.

118

And how the hell do almost 50% of us “deserve” Bush?

Look–a lot of us worked pretty damned hard to make sure that Shrub did not get another 4 years. I realize that no-one–including me and people who voted the way I did-- is entitled to have their preferred candidate win. But that doesn’t mean that all of us deserve to be stuck with a :wally .

119

That’s what I’m afraid of.

120

The Official Part

Ok, Bush, you won. You really did. So congratulations. I recognize your presidency in a way I didn’t four years ago, when your legitimacy was pretty shady. The voters of the United States have spoken.

I am not moving to Canada. I am not moving to New Zealand. I will stay here because this is my country, too, and I will live under this system.

The Rant (because I just gotta)

Ok, I hate Bush. I admit it, no hiding. I hate his monkey face!

Why do I hate him? I don’t hate him for all of the issues that he scares me on, which others on this board have so eloquently enumerated in the past. For those, I oppose him, I exercise my right to protest against him, and I vote against him.

No, I hate the man because to me, he has come to symbolize the triumph of mediocrity over excellence in this country. He himself is hardly an intellectual; he has earned nothing in his life. He stands for blind faith and internal hunches and plain-speaking, rather than intellectual rigor, intelligent self-examination, and personal excellence.

He and his people have failed in the biggest tasks put to them. I feel they have been disasters at war, world diplomacy, and fiscal discipline. He and they have been rewarded for their mediocrity.

I hate that aspect of our culture. I hate George Dubya Bush. I hate his frat-boy, cowboy, born-again Christian persona. I hate the blunt stupidity and ignorance that he has come to represent for me.

Sigh. It’s going to be a long four years. But I just thought I’d bare my thoughts, because I think that if I do, it’ll be easier to live with myself, and live under this President, for another four years.