Okay, so the election is over, Bush won it fair & square, and yet people all over the blogosphere are gnashing their teeth and claiming that Western Civilization is over as we know it.
Uh, it’s only a four-year-term, folks. Calm down. If you didn’t vote and are upset Bush won, then maybe next time you’ll get off your butt on election day and make your voice heard by voting. If you did vote and are upset Bush won, I’m genuinely sorry. In three years you can rest easy that Bush will be out of office, and another Republican in place (because it seems to me that the Democratic Party is a MESS). If you did vote and voted for Bush, then please don’t go on and on and be all “In your face, liberals!” because again – it’s only a four-year-term and you never know, the Dems may get it together in the next four years and actually put up a candidate who can win against whatever Republican candidate we have.
But my advice to the DNC? Don’t put up Hillary Clinton.
Just out of curiousity, how does getting 48% of the electoral votes make the Democratic party “a mess”?
Well, it is relatively well known that a lot of Kerry voters were not voting FOR Kerry so much as AGAINST Bush. There were not a lot of true “WE LOVE KERRY BECAUSE WE LOVE KERRY” people as much as “WE LOVE KERRY BECAUSE WE HATE BUSH” people (sorry to use caps – I know you hate caps). My husband is one of them and made that clear on every post he made and every blog he visited. That’s why I think they are a bit of a mess.
Can one of YOU republicans enlighten me PLEASE??? Why is it that I don’t get it?? What is Bush doing that is SO wonderful? I’ve gone over SOME of what he’s doing that is very damaging to this country and now I want to know, so will one of YOU please explain.
The way I see it: Bush won, we all lose.
Jane, you nailed it! I was one of the people that voted for Kerry, cause I didn’t want Bush to be re-elected.
If there were a different Republican running, I would have probably voted for them. I don’t believe that “Western Civilization is Over”… I just think we took a few steps back.
I had to laugh today, cause during his speech he said that “No President should impose his religion on a Nation” My personal opinion on Bush is that he Dictates our country on Theology not Democracy.
Rob, I’d love to answer you, but you’ll need to tell me what you consider he’s done that’s damaging. If you’re talking about Iraq, then there’s not much anyone can say to change your mind. Although I could point you to a lot of blogs by Iraqis who are pretty happy with the results of the war and with this President.
If you’re talking about other things, please list them and I’ll try to answer point by point.
Ace, with all due respect, President Bush is not leading as a theocratic President. Were that the case he would be trying to impose his faith on the nation. That he’s a man of faith doesn’t mean that he’s unable to govern rationally. It means that he has a concrete set of values from which his whole life is based. I would hope that would be true of all of our Presidents. That you disagree with him on a couple of those points doesn’t mean he’s a bad leader – it means that you have differing values. The majority of Americans must agree with his values to have re-elected him.
Well, I wanted to know why YOU or any other republican thinks Bush is so wonderful. I didn’t want to get into his multitude of faults AGAIN, and the fact that you and others don’t see any is disturbing to me. The list is endless!
Are these Irais actually LIVING in the country??? And God bless them if they are happy, cause it doesn’t look like ANYTHING to be happy about to me! They might be the only ones, besides republicans, in the world happy that GW was re-elected.
Listen, I know that the President isn’t perfect. No President is. There are plenty of things that this President has done and will do that I don’t like – he’s a big spender and while he claims to be for smaller government (an idea that I really like and agree with), he hasn’t cut the growth of government. He’s only cut the growth of the growth, which means he’s still spending too much money on programs that I don’t think the federal government should be paying for.
He’s not the best communicator – we all know that. What I wish is that he would be a little more definitive in his explanations of what and why he’s doing. There have been plenty of times that I think, “Man, I could explain that better than he just did.” I was yelling at him during the debates because he missed perfect opportunities to do just that on many points.
I don’t know about you, but I got a tax refund and I see more in my paycheck as a result of his tax cuts.
We haven’t had a terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.
We have a stable and growing economy and unemployment is very low.
I could go on but I’ll stop there.
As for the Iraqis, yes they are in Iraq. I’ll post links in another comment.
This is what my political friend Ed wrote me about the election:
“If the Democrats want to win, they better get right with God sometime in the next four years. And also arm themselves to the teeth. That’ll protect us from those gays and jihadists with their Hollywood values. I wish I was surprised at the result. But I am truly scared about the end of this country as we know it, and in particular of the media no longer serving the public interest as an arbiter between fact and fiction.”
He always says it better than me.
A few links from people Iraq.
http://thetruthaboutiraq.org/ – The Truth About Iraq
http://rosebaghdad.blogspot.com/ – Diary from Baghdad
http://healingiraq.blogspot.com – Healing Iraq
http://www.roadofanation.com/blog/ – Road of a Nation
http://messopotamian.blogspot.com/ – The Mesopotamian
Ya know, I remember that when Clinton was elected in 1992 and again in 1996, many Republicans despaired about the future of this country. We survived his 8 years. We’ll survive this next 4 years just fine.
He’s not an evil man. He’s not out to destroy democracy as we know it – on the contrary, he’s the one who’s doing his best to help build two new democractic nations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The US is not imperialistic – if we were we would invade countries and KEEP THEM. Instead, we invade to liberate, help rebuild, and then leave. Think Germany and Japan post-WWII. The same holds true for Afghanistan and Iraq today.
Take a deep breath, Dems. Things are fine. Sheesh.
Hey, I just noticed that my links didn’t work. Can Jaynee or Denis fix that?
How come NO one can explain to me why he is so wonderful??
Calling him a big spender is an understatement. He took a surlus and created the largest deficit of any president in three and a half years.
Not being a good communicator doesn’t bother me, it’s funny-though you’d think after attending Yale and Harvard he might have SOME ability to speak.
I got $400 from his tax break and had to declare it. Wonder how much the Walton heirs got? Hmmm… His tax cuts favors the middle class-okay.
My pay check is the same.
We had the worst attack since Pearl Harbor ON HIS WATCH!
He is the first president since Hoover to not create one single net job.
You could go on, and so could I.
If those Iraqis are happy, like I said, God bless them. I wish I were as happy as they are.
Jen – links are fixed.
Some achievements during the Bush Administration, in no particular order:
1. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents.
2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax.
3. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
4. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains.
5. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA’s from $500 to $2,000 per child.
6. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000.
7. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans.
8. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
9. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history.
10. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives.
11. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom.
12. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD’s without bribes or bloodshed.
13. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian “Roadmap to Peace,” along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU.
14. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health.
15. Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you’ll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA.
16. His medicare reform means drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine.
17. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits.
18. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims.
19. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered.
20. Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them.
21. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa.
Those all sound like good things to me.
And Rob, to claim that 9/11 happened on “his watch” is ridiculous – it would have happened on GORE’S watch if he had been the one in office. If ELMO had been in office, it would have happened on ELMO’S watch.
As for unemployment, everyone knows that the rates were so bad because of 9/11 – but that our economic is improving and jobs are being created at a consistent level of increase since the devastation of 9/11.
But Jane what are YOUR reasons for voting for him and why do YOU think he is so wonderful? We can all use google to dig out things that he has done but I doubt many of the things you listed were what made a little more than half of the country re-elect him.
(And just for the record the horse is seriously dead let us stop beating it…please.)
Also…I will concede my dead pool choice because I just sent it in and the man is probably dead as I type I will re-submit!!!
Have I mentioned TAR6 in just 12 days?
Deep healing breath everyone let us move on…
*lol* Tara, I never intended my post to become another political debate – I think it was your own husband that forced the issue again! =)
On Monday I officially claim all talk of politics dead on this website. Just like Yasser Arafat.
TAR 6! WOO HOO!!!!
Can one of YOU republicans enlighten me PLEASE??? Why is it that I don’t get it?? What is Bush doing that is SO wonderful? I’ve gone over SOME of what he’s doing that is very damaging to this country and now I want to know, so will one of YOU please explain.
I don’t think this is forcing the issue, it’s being curious, something we know Bush is not. My only guess is that for most it comes down to guns, God, gays and abortion. Sad, but looks like it’s true.
Okay, this proud resident of a blue state is done posting. No more for me.
Rob, did you not read my list of things he’s gotten done in the last four years that I think are great things? I figured that pretty much told you why I like GWB over Kerry.
I have resisted getting into this but would like to try to give Rob an answer to his question about what is so wonderful about GWB. Here are my thoughts. He is wonderful to me because:
He is a man of integrity. When I hear someone say that he is a liar it upsets me. GB is a godly man who has put God as first in his life. As a committed follower of Christ, he is called to a life that reflects Christ. Truth-telling is an imperative. He has been called out of darkness into the light of truth and it is God who gives him the power to stay on the path of truth.
He is a man of his word. Because of his commitment to God he takes seriously the saying that ‘his word is his bond.’
He is a man who understands the importance of FREEDOM for all people of all nations. Freedom comes at a price, often painful, often sacrificial. For his part GB has endured the pain of sending his country’s sons and daughters into harm’s way in order to help freedom become a reality in two oppressed nations. He has faced the rejection of some of his fellow Americans and sacrificed the good opinion of our so-called allies in France, Germany and others. Perhaps he is familiar with what our Founding Fathers warned our newly formed nation about ~ to guard ourselves against becoming too entangled with Europe. I love that GW doesn’t require a “World test” to decide what is best for our country. The opinions that really matter are those countries who have overwhelmingly embraced our president and his Bush Doctrine and appreciate their NEW freedom ~ those countries that were under the control of the former Soviet Union. By the way, the people of Iraq are happy because they are now FREE, something most Americans take for granted. People are still willing to die for that right.
He is a man who understands that peace can only be accomplished through strength. He has done everything in his power to protect our nation from further enemy attacks. We may suffer at their hands again, but I am confident that he has and is doing all in his power to prevent it. If I didn’t feel safe I wouldn’t be living so close to the Nation’s Capitol.
He is a man of humility. He acknowledges that all he has and all he is is a gift. And he loves to give credit where it is due. I love his humble heart. Humility does not mean weakness.
George W. Bush is a wonderful man, a man I admire, pray for, and trust.
Rob – let me just say right now that my mother just made that last post, so you had better be polite to her!!! *wink*
Yeah, what Mom said! 😆
He’s not a pretty speaker, but he manages to get his point across.
He’s openly loving and loyal to his wife and family.
He’s steadfast and resolute in the face of annoying opposition. He doesn’t make decisions based on which way the wind is blowing or on polls but out of his own deep conviction of what is right.
He understands that the federal government’s primary role is to protect and defend the citizens of the US, not to be Santa Claus. That said, he does believe that we can do more to help those who are struggling and has worked to see that help can be provided – be it through a government program or faith-based initiative or whatever.
He understands that the money I earn is my money and not the government’s. It’s why he’s such a strong advocate for tax cuts and tax reform.
He understands that government programs are broken and need to be fixed, including privatizing Social Security for younger workers so that we’ll actually be able to benefit from the money we’ve contributed towards our own retirement. The way it is now, we won’t see a penny of it.
He understands that life is precious and that you shouldn’t take a life to prolong a life. (Yes, I’m talking about embryonic stem cell research.) There are countless other methods for stem cell research to be conducted without killing babies.
Marmie, I love you, but much of the country does not trust George. A lot of us voted against him for reasons of trust or performance. I’m glad he’s a man of faith, but many question his motives and his trust-worthiness. This is by no means an attack against you. I’d vote for you if you ran for president before Bush. He scares many of us. He’s definitely not a centrist. That’s what many of the democrats are looking for. A Guiliani type.
Let’s not the forget the 100 million Americans who are so upset with the political process that they didn’t even bother to vote. Why can’t we make it mandatory to vote like they do in Australia?
This country survived Pearl Harbor, it survived McCarthyism, it survived a civil war — it will survive four more years of George Bush.
Marmie, I love you.
Denis, 100 million so upset they didn’t vote? I doubt it – more like 100 million who didn’t vote because they are too lazy to get off their butts and make their voices heard. The ones who are truly “upset” DID go out and vote – and the majority chose GWB.
At least the majority chose Georgie this time around. *lol*
I used to be one of those “lazy” people. Actually, I don’t feel voting matters much for two reasons. One, I voted for the better guy, and still America got it wrong. Two, neither of these guys thrilled me. Only one guy I hated more than the other. That’s how American politics has been for quite some time. That’s why so many people don’t vote. There really isn’t anyone who truly represents the views of the many, so we are left voting for the lesser of two evils. Only this year, one was truly evil. Politics is a dirty game. Both of these men are up to their hips in dirty water. I’d rather not wade through the muck if I can help it. That’s what makes 100 million American’s smarter than me. They’ve got better things to worry about.
Now let’s go back to talking about things that really matter. The Jets are in first place, the Redskins are in last place. All is right with the world again.
D, I love you, too. George IS trustworthy. And I am glad he isn’t a centrist. He is a man of conviction, not willing to compromise his values and policies for the sake of winning a few more votes. To me, centrists are lukewarm, wishy-washy, fence sitters, ready and willing to fall or be pushed over by any wind of politics. Classic example ~ Bill Clinton. That’s what got him elected. That was his strategy, it worked, but he was not and is not trustworthy or a man of conviction.
Redskins suck. I admit it and lament. *sigh*
Whoa, there is a lot of love here at cootiehog today! Because Rob my DH is not posting anymore on this issue I will say this for him…
Jaynee, Rob would NEVER be anything but polite to your Mom whether he agrees with her or not (he does not by any means) he is a man who respects and loves his mother and the mother of his little girl and would never speak ill to your Mom.
All the reasons stated why GWB is so great have TOTALLY confirmed what Rob thought in the first place.
That being said I look forard to Monday when stuff like this is banned from the new and improved Cootiehog.
Not to feel left out…I love the Cooties and the extended family too (but not so much GWB!)
Tara, I wasn’t sure that Rob knew that “Marmie” was my mom – thus my post. Other than that, we’ve actually decided that TODAY is the end of all political talk at Cootiehog. YAY!
Of course we know who Marmie is!