Author: Nate

… on why even though we lost, the future is not so bleak.

Plenty of it on the usual suspects (see right column) as well as particularly a note on Some historical perspecitve on the election I found via MyDD.

OK, yeah, way too early… … on the subject of the possible Dem nominee for ’08. I’ve been mouthing off a bit too much in the comments.

But dangit. I need something to cheer me up.

First, I may have to stand corrected. It’s looking like the problem was not that young people didn’t turn out — all though proportionally, there doesn’t seem to have been an improvement from 2000 — but rather that Republican-supporters turned out in much higher numbers than expected. Karl Rove’s “4 million evangelicals?” Perhaps.

Second, two amusing graphics I got via forwarded mail. Enjoy…

I am ashamed for my country today, but I am even more ashamed of my party (the Democrats) and my generation.
Kerry wussed out by conceding.
My generation and younger wussed out by not voting.

What do we get in return?

4 more years of rule by fear,
4 more years of record deficits,
Up to 4 new conservative justices,
4 more years of secret no-fly lists,
4 more years of eroding civil rights,
4 more years of tax cuts for the rich,
4 more years of “faith based initiatives”,
4 more years of the threat of a new draft,
4 more years of pro-big-oil “energy policy”,
4 more years of hatred of the non-mainstream,
4 more years of not catching Osama Bin-Laden,
4 more years of “preemptive” military adventurism,
4 more years of Americans increasingly hated abroad,
4 more years of concern about women’s right to choose,
4 more years for Diebold to prepare to steal another election,
12 more years of Bushes if Jeb is elected in ’08.

Let’s all enjoy the future we let them steal.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. – Benjamin Franklin

…my next concern is if he lied about a possible draft.

My guess is that he won’t have the guts to put one through, but if he does then I hope that those younger than my 29 years won’t take it lying down. I’ll be out there protesting with you, if it comes to that, and if they ask folks as old as me to participate in any way, I’ll probably emmigrate instead. I wonder what it takes for the EU to classify someone as a refugee?

Election results as of my bedtime:
Bush 249
Kerry 242
Iowa count suspended until tomorrow

Ohio is possibly contestable, and argued too close to call until the overseas and provisional ballots are counted… a 10-day window by Ohio law, if the pundits on TV are right.

If Bush sweeps the remaining states (NM, NV, WI) and takes Iowa tomorrow, Ohio ceases to be an issue. That would be a 296-242 victory for Bush, and just at my outside guess of “One Florida” for how strong a victory either side might get… but not really what I’d call “close,” and various folks on RASSF are entitled to an “You told me so” from me.

In the more likely event that Kerry takes Wisconsin, or Wisconsin ends up within the margin of litigation, well… we’ll have to see how the the Democrats decide to play it, and see if Ohio is a clear victory or another squeaker. Or if it looks like Florida 2000, with significant fraud.

The one point I genuinely worry about is if WI ends up in the margin of litigation, and either the Democrats decide to fight a slight Republican victory there, or the Republicans decide to fight there to preempt any contest in Ohio. I think the country could take one contested state this time. Two would worry the heck out of me. Blood in the streets? No, but bad nonetheless.

Effing Bush.