Four more tears
Aw, geez…
And I can’t help thinking: if this was how they acted while trying to get re-elected, how will they act when it’s no longer an issue?
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- My own response was to start looking for real estate in other countries and wondering if I could teach Photoshop in French. That and nausea.
— the mean miss bean Nov 3, 7:34am # - I. Just. Don’t. Get. It.
Honestly.
— sick in DC Nov 3, 7:54am # - God knows I’m as bitterly disappointed as anyone. But I spent election day as a MoveOn volunteer at a polling site in Toledo, OH. It was cheering to see everything moving smoothly. Turnout was high and there were lines, but things just worked. Both the Republican and Democrtic observers were genuinely interested in helping everyone to vote.
I’m a liberal, and the guys I hoped would win, lost and lost hard. Yeah, there will be days, weeks and months of heartache ahead, but I”m not going to forget the experience of watching democracy function.
— Douglas Anders Nov 3, 8:27am # - Well, I suppose, too many of us thought that nobody really wanted to have them in power. But jugding from the figures, this is not the case. We were all wrong. They really wanted – and still want – to have them. There’s no misunderstanding and no injustice in this. That’s the fact.
I think, we simply have to move on, accept things as they are and try to get the best out of it for ourselves.
— Sonja Tomaskovic Nov 3, 9:25am # - Got any room in your house for two adults and two kids?
— michaelbrown Nov 3, 9:39am # - I’m caught between the desire to stay in the US, (yes, even after the people I voted for lost) and work for change from within, and the desire to leave and work for change from with out.
Honestly? I just wish I could travel internationally without being ashamed of our government as a US citizen.
— roggey Nov 3, 10:10am # - OK, time to jump ship…anyone have pointers for two adults and toddler wishing to become expats—anywhere but here sounds good to us! Help!
— Heather Nov 3, 10:47am # - http://harpers.org/ElectingToLeave.html
— ~A Nov 3, 11:41am # - This would be a stupid moment to leave. Come on.
This election was pro or anti-Bush -not between two real candidates.
Spend your time and energy in the next 4 years in finding a serious, charismatic candidate. Someone that is capable of leading a nation towards other times. Sounds corny, but what is this leaving-blabbering else?
— Koen H, Belgium Nov 3, 12:15pm # - As my girlfriends says… ugh.
There’s nothing good about this. I had thought, in the months leading up to the election, that perhaps it would be good medicine for the country if Bush were to have four more years to muck things up. Perhaps things would get so bad that we could launch a real progressive backlash.
But then I remember the Supreme Court. And the deficit. And healthcare. Education. The environment. War. Losing the trust and respect of the rest of the world.
We have a lot of work to do. It’s difficult at this moment to retain hope, but we need hope. And we need each other. So, let’s take a week off and then get to work.
Thanks, Gail.
— Jeff Nov 3, 1:43pm # - Gail, you’ve hit the nail right on the head.
That mocking smile on CNN’s site this morning before it was official (whatever that word means now) said more than enough.
The only possible upside is thinking of this like tearing off a band-aid and just hurry up and get it over with. Although there’s certainly no transparency with the current US government, imagine what four years of vengeful scheming out of the spotlight would result in come 2008.
If I lived in the US, I’d close my eyes and think of England.
— gord Nov 3, 2:04pm # - Anything that survives a disaster gives thanks in its own way.The debate’s whether the universe runs to the good or the neutral.
Because that’s what this is now, a reliance on fundamental benevolence, that can be summoned with magic phrases and intention.
People who can’t survive without things being the way they are are more fuelled going into the conflict than people who want change but can only vaguely imagine what it might be.
It was a race between the desperate and the confused; I don’t mean the election, I mean the race to control the PR of the election.
The rising tendency of things to be decided based on how they looked on TV just broke through the fourth wall.
This election was decided inside the television. Voting had nothing to do with it.
— vernaculo Nov 3, 3:14pm # - In ripping off this bandaid, I’m afraid we are going to take a bit of flesh along with it. I hate to think how much healing will be needed by 2008. Our relations with foreign countries are already so strained, and so many other important issues will be ignored or actively made worse. I fear for our civil liberties.
— CindyD Nov 3, 4:36pm # - Well, we’re more than happy to set up refugee camp in our garden (I understand Bosnia is selling some gear on Ebay).
And I can only imagine how thoroughly disheartening this defeat must be.
I actually heard a reporter on CNN yesterday saying that any current negative feelings about Bush was the fault of foreign nations, and that it was high time we took a long hard look at ourselves, and began to reasses our view of him.
Who knew?
But I dare say your country needs you now more than ever and, if it’s any comfort at all, you’ve got the whole world behind you.
(And may I recommend this new compelling voice on the web.)
— gail Nov 4, 1:41am # - I’ve already had a number of proposals of marriage from dissatisfied young American women. It’s a shame my girlfriend would not approve.
I think the media in this particular race had a lot of trouble keeping out of it; I listened to the election coverage on NPR’s webcast (I don’t own a television), and the broadcaster’s kepts slipping and saying “Mr. Bush” and “President Kerry.”
— August Nov 4, 11:07am # - I’m leaving. I want to go home: or at least, to somewhere I feel less of a foreigner. And I really want everyone who voted for Bush this time round to suffer on account of their vote. To have sleepless nights on account of the people they’ve empowered.
This isn’t my fight. My fight’s to make sure that every toadying step Tony Blair takes towards Bush is treated, as is proper, as a national betrayal back home.
— nick Nov 6, 6:07pm #
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