November 03, 2004

• hey monkeys: i'm on deadline today but i wanted to share this with you. this is an excerpt from tom delay's "victory" remarks. FDCH Political Transcripts November 3, 2004 Wednesday HEADLINE: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE TOM DELAY (R-TX) DELIVERS REMARKS (APPLAUSE) I think we know who the ultimate winner is going to be tonight. (APPLAUSE) We know that we're going to have George W. Bush as president of the United States for four more years. (APPLAUSE) We know that we're going to have a larger majority in the United States Senate. (APPLAUSE) We know we're going to have a larger majority in the United States House of Representatives. DELAY: We're going to have a larger majority in the Texas Senate and the Texas House. (APPLAUSE) The Republican Party is a permanent majority for the future of this country. (APPLAUSE) And you did it by all of your hard work. All of those weeks, all of those days, all of those hours that you put in are paying off, ladies and gentleman. And it's not paying off for me. It's not even paying off for you. It's paying off for the future of this country. We're going to be able to lead this country in the direction we've been dreaming of for years. We're going to be able to turn this country over to our children better than we found it. And that's all God is asking of us. (APPLAUSE) And we're going to put God back into the public square. (APPLAUSE) And then when we do that, He will heal this land, and He will bless America. God bless America. God bless you. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) END
• COCKSUCKER.
• Well, I'm outta here I think. I guess it's back to Australia and try and run a little interference against the mongrel that got re-elected there. I need to think this through a little more but, as near as I can see, there's no future here for me at the moment.
• I think Kerry's team should preemptively declare victory. No difference than Bush's team doing it. That's a scary speech you quote, SideDish.
• ass clowns.
• well, many think the 2 party system just isn't working, so maybe we should give this single party system a try.
• or for that matter, why don't we just merge the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. it would be much more efficient..
• TOM DELAY (R-TX): Dickwad cumshot
• Jebus, I am happy to be leaving. The sooner the better.
• or for that matter, why don't we just merge the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. it would be much more efficient.. you could ask good queen bess to take you back.
• I hate people. I see people around me, in my workplace, on the street, and I hate them. I used to like people, but now I have the sneaking suspicion that they're all of them bastards. I don't like being a misanthropist, but what other choice to I have? The evidence to the contrary (MoFi, for instance) seems to be mere exception, aberration even. Nope, I hate them. People suck.
• So it wasn't a dream, huh? I regret very little of what I said last night. It isn't even about GWB. It's about what happened to America last night. The fact that Bush can no longer be considered socially conservative on the American political spectrum. The fact that insane proposals passed all over the country. The fact that insane candidates were elected all over the country. Even Alan Keyes received 10% of the vote. What's wrong with that 10%? The candidate in Louisiana, the proposal in Ohio -- what's wrong with the human race? Even the nutcases who didn't get elected but received the support of the Republican party -- Hawaii Republicans are an embarrassment. This isn't about Bush for me, although I didn't want him to win, obviously. It's about, I don't know, basic human decency.
• basic human decency No such animal, obviously. Shit.
• That's it. I'm done with civilation. From now on I'm living in the tunnel system I'll be burrowing.
• quick d.c. update: the anarchists just marched down connecticut ave past my office toward the white house. about 100 of them. more cops than protesters. their main banner read: YOU CAN'T FIT OUR DREAMS IN YOUR BALLOT BOX
• I don't think God has been in the public square to begin with, historically.
• Stick their God in the public square. Tie him up there, so we can urinate in his general direction, and throw stones. My kids learned a new word from Daddy today, this one: FUCK!
• I don't think God has been in the public square to begin with, historically He doesn't exist, the Bastard.
• It appears we may be witnessing the birth of a theocracy. Fuck.
• By way of comfort to the majority of Mofites, I profer this: regardless of what happens in the next four years, you can be assured that Bush will NOT be elected in '08. I will go on to say: this election, more than any I have participated in (and I say "participated" in the sense of "having lived through" since I was unable to actually participate in yesterday's election), this one was the first in my recollection to generate as much ire and ill-feelings on both sides of the fence (and I must applaud my fellow monkeys for their continual unwillingness to sink to the level of vicious personal attack - it makes me proud to be a member here) as I have seen At one point, I was watching Jon Stewart, and they were breaking to commercial when the announcer quipped "What side of the civil war will you be on? Find out when we return to Indecision 2004!" It was, perhaps, the funniest thing that I heard on that show, for it all at once seemed to both distill and mock the vituperativeness that characterized this election. Surely, this election was an important one, as they all are, but almost just as surely it was not *the* important one of modern history, as has been presupposed. We all like to believe we live in the most interesting times eva, and we Americans have a intellectual history-hole a mile across, but we cannot forget that there have been bigger and worse wars (Vietnam) and bigger and worse issues (civil rights) very much in recent history. Iraq, though it be today's news, is a small, rather pitiful war as war's go; terror has always been with the world, and while 9/11 brought it most succinctly to our shores and brought us into the fight, there will always be those who will target the small and the innocent. Gay marriage, though the states voted to ban, is inevitable - one cannot constitutionally deprive an entire section of the populace of it's legal rights forever based on whom they happen to sleep with. Economically, we ebb and we flow. Reagan ran deficits in excess of Bush's, and yet Clinton presided over nearly a decade of nearly unparallelled profit and budget surplus. Tomorrow could easily bring more of the same. All of which is to say: while many say that life is short? Life is LONG. Today, many of you woke up and thought "My candidate lost, and the world is changed forever." I would respond: today's candidate lost, perhaps. But tomorrow's candidate is on the horizon, waiting to be chosen and to lead. And yes, the world has changed, an infinitesimal bit - but was it never thus? The world changes forever each day, which upon wakening each of us apprehend and, with aplomb, negotiate the day. [a little more coming...]
• Presidents come, and presidents go. Their policies and predilications, similarly, are here today, yet often sublimate to vapor when they depart the office. By which I mean: be cautiously optimistic, for Bush is a man that has been made, for good and/or ill, by the events that have befallen him, and those events will continue to unfold over the next four years. Know that you will, in four years, have the opportunity again to vote, and that despite the hysterical charges by those who would seek always to inflame, Bush will exit the White House and make way for whoever comes next, for it has always been that way and the stength, the REAL strength, of American democracy is that those in power give over that power to the next speedily, fully and without pause. Today, for many of you, is not a good day. But life is long, and today does not mark the Beginning of the End. So long as all of us, Left and Right, can reasonably and rationally discuss the issues of the day, consider critically that which we are told, and defend our positions, though they may differ diametrically, with logic and heart, then *who* sits in the White House does not matter. I, for one, hope for good things to come. Please forgive the length.
• Will this vitriol be the vaunted liberal mindset for the next four years? I sure hope to God it isn't.
• Well, I'm outta here I think. .. I am happy to be leaving. .. Nope, I hate them. People suck. .. I'm done with civilation (sic). Stop it, all of you. As Joe Hill was being dragged to his questionable execution, he said: "Don't mourn for me. Organize!" What if all the decent people had fled from Haiti when the Duvaliers took over? What if William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass had fled into Canada during the slave era? We need good people to stick around and be active and fight! We've obviously got our work cut out for us. Despair is one thing; giving up is quite another.
• And what Fes said.
• f8x, my friend, I think a bit of vitriol can be forgiven today, after such a long, difficult and contentious campaign has gone against them so narrowly.
• Presidents come, and presidents go. and the supreme court is around forever
• This is starting to feel like an endless nightmare...... I came into work today trying to figure out a way to fire those people that were openly supporting Bush... It will happen, I have the power to do it. I'm also trying to figure out if one of my key people wasn't sick yesterday but was in fact working in Ohio for the Republicans.... might be, if so he's out the door as well. I see myself becoming a more militant person, and much less tolerant of those supporting this regime. They must go, the question becomes how far I'm willing to go to make it happen. I think I'm becoming something different..... perhaps this is a good thing..... I recall feeling this way back in '68, I was young, it didn't matter what happened to me.... then 30 some years of having a family, being responsible, keeping a low profile... Guess what... the family is grown up, i'm only responsible for me now, and I'm so f*cking old that it doesn't matter what happens to me now.... And...to steal a line from Mr. T - 'I pity the poor fool......."
• Life is LONG. Especially when you make the wrong decisions! /chris rock
• And we're going to put God back into the public square. (APPLAUSE) And then when we do that, He will heal this land, and He will bless America. God bless America. God bless you. Thank you. (APPLAUSE) ******************************************** O shit, that's very scary...Scartol couldn't be more right. We're fucked, but we're not dead. I'm not going anywhere,
• Oh and Huron, fire all the fuckers...
• CNN's exit polling page is VERY interesting. updated 1:30 a.m. very intricate breakdown of who voted which way.
• Don't fire anybody. We're going to need the jobs. I'm sticking around, despite wallowing in despair for, oh, the next few weeks, at least. I've got a five year old son who will be nine before there's even a chance of a return to reason. I've got a four month old daughter who will be four before there's even an outside possibility that things will get better. I can't even hope that scandals will bring down this president, since he and his cronies will control all three branches of government, and obviously the voters don't care about things like truth and honesty and making the world a better place. I'll be working in 2006 to get the senate/house races on the right track. I'll be working like hell in 2008. But that doesn't really matter now, does it? Imagine the damage that can and, let's face it, will be done in just the next two years, esp. now that the incumbent need not fear getting tossed out. The country is going fucking backwards. They elected a crazy man in one state. In another they put a guy in office who wants single mothers barred from teaching in public schools for moral reasons. They WILL overturn Roe v. Wade. They WILL continue to destroy the economy. They WILL continue to make the US the object of deserved global scorn, fear, and hate. And all I can do, for at least two years, is watch. Did I mention that I hate people?
• Fes, I suppose. I just hope I don't hear it for the next four years. The previous four years were quite exhausting.
• tenaciouspettle-- You know, I can't help but think of that Neil Young song. Republicans, why can't you remember what your Good Book says? God has heaven, I suspect He doesn't have any interest in ruling the Senate.
• ...a long, difficult and contentious campaign has gone against them so narrowly. Yep -- 4 million (popular) votes is oh-so-narrow.
• The past four years have been a hideous spectacle during which so-called "American Values", trademarked during Reagan, became a top-shelf brand, like Coke, or McDonald's, or Nike. Like any successful brand, its maintenance depends on a matter of advertising: the identity needs to be a carefully polished veneer that hides the unlovely realities of business. Those realities are things the everyday consumer will never see without making the effort to find them; more than that, the advertising has to make the consumer not want to see them by dazzling with bright, shiny images. In the case of American Values, the bright, shiny images are of sunny, clean, brightly-clothed Sunday mornings at church, well-behaved, optimistic children, brave, innovative men and helpful women, all working successfully together to recreate an imaginary past. Moral values have been reduced to one issue: sex. Homosexuality, abortion, Clinton's blowjobs -- these are the things that undermine America's greatness. In this "culture of life", a dear little fetus is a punishment for sexual activity, and so is AIDS, and so is impeachment. And if gay and lesbian citizens are denied basic rights, it's for the good of the nation. There are no shades of grey. Yet moral relativism, supposedly a liberal fault, is given play in non-sexual areas of morality. September 11 and its four stolen planes gave America the "right" to kill indiscriminately, while putting "Thou shall not kill" aside, leaving others to count the non-American dead. This election proves, apparently, that a majority of Americans hold that right to be self-evident. Despite a million and one documented reasons to consider the reactive wars more circumspectly, brand loyalty demands allegiance, not circumspection, which is a sign of weakness and "lack of resolve". This America has become a gated community that suspects, resents, and even hates the communities outside its walls. This America has all the toys and all the answers, the guns and the Bible. Nothing more is needed than an insular solidarity as they huddle together against "the terrorists", the gay abomination, and baby-murderers. This America is the polished veneer that hides dirty business. It's obvious now that nothing's gonna peel it away anytime soon. My heart feels like a lump of lead today, and I fear what America will be in four years. And there is nothing I can do about it.
• Thanks, Little Durian. I share many of your fears, for myself and those I love, who do not fit into the narrow, ugly moral mold of the Right. If Kerry does not prevail, it will be a very bad four years for anyone who does not thump a Bible.
• There's nothing I can do to change the election, but I'm thinking of a smaller scale. I've always meant to volunteer again, but now I want to more than ever. To do something constructive. I'd hate to sit by and let everything go badly, throw my hands in the air and say "Well, that's it. Nothing I can do." I voted, yes, but that's not the end. Matter of fact, I want to do that no matter how the results come out. There are so many people saying all is lost. It's not. It never is unless everyone gives up, one at a time.
• People for the American Way Americans United for Separation of Church and State The Interfaith Alliance The American Civil Liberties Union
• And now our final thought . . . Democracy depends on a well-informed electorate. The electorate is desperately ill-informed. The blame, for those who wish to blame, rests squarely on corporate media organizations. I would use "sycophantic" and "Pavlovian", but I'm just to angry to fit them into a sentence. Democracy is an ideal we'll technically never reach, but goddamn how far away do we have to be from it to call it dead?
• Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill issued a statement saying Ohio would go to the Democrat when all the votes are counted. Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt responded: "The Kerry campaign is delusional." the fun continues!
• JC, that's the sort of stuff I want to investigate now. (I don't have much money to donate to groups like that, but I do have time.) Thanks.
• you guys see drudge? Kerry tells President Bush he will concede White House race at 1 PM ET...
• On MSNBC and CNN...Kerry concedes.
• 20 years ago by Alex Reynolds
• Fes: By way of comfort to the majority of Mofites, I profer this: regardless of what happens in the next four years, you can be assured that Bush will NOT be elected in '08. Well maybe not this particular Bush, but don't forget about Jeb. Otherwise, well said Fes. I'd like to be able to view this in perspective, as you have, but it's hard. The sun did rise today, so that's a start.
• Scartol's right. What's the deal with all those people who say that they'll be leaving because of the election results? I read the same let's quit sentiment on electoral-vote.com from Tanenbaum. Stay and fight, damnit. Maybe 2008, the Dems nominate an even lamer dude than Kerry. And it turns out the Republicans field a hands-down better candidate. Still, stay and fight, fight for what you think is right.
• it is done. AP: Kerry Calls Bush to Concede Election Email this Story Nov 3, 11:14 AM (ET) By CALVIN WOODWARD and RON FOURNIER (AP) President Bush smiles as he watches early poll results with members of his family in the residence... Full Image WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush won a second term from a divided and anxious nation, his promise of steady, strong wartime leadership trumping John Kerry's fresh-start approach to Iraq and joblessness. After a long, tense night of vote counting, the Democrat called Bush Wednesday to concede Ohio and the presidency, The Associated Press learned. Kerry ended his quest, concluding one of the most expensive and bitterly contested races on record, with a call to the president shortly after 11 a.m. EST, according to two officials familiar with the conversation. The victory gave Bush four more years to pursue the war on terror, a conservative domestic agenda and probably the opportunity to name one or more justices to an aging Supreme Court. He also will preside over expanded Republican majorities in Congress. "Congratulations, Mr. President," Kerry said in the conversation described by sources as lasting less than five minutes. One of the sources was Republican, the other a Democrat. The Democratic source said Bush called Kerry a worthy, tough and honorable opponent. Kerry told Bush the country was too divided, the source said, and Bush agreed. "We really have to do something about it," Kerry said according to the Democratic official.
• Adonai, Adonai...
• President Bush smiles as he watches early poll results with members of his family in the residence... Smirked. He smirked. Smirkers do not smile.
• As an outsider...a non-American...let me say this: You Americans may not know it or realize it, but the vast majority of the world thinks that your president is an idiot. They hate him, hate his lies to the UN, hate his overthrow of a sovereign nation without just cause, hate his arrogance. But they didn't hate America or Americans. Until today. Now that the majority of Americans have shown their support for Bush and his policies, his failings are now YOUR failings. His lies are now YOUR lies. His arrogance is now YOUR arrogance. And the blood in Iraq is now on YOUR hands. The world will hate Americans in a way you've never seen before. If you travel abroad you will fell the wrath of the world. The world now hates you. YOU personally. And they don't care who you voted for yesterday. You're an American and that's all that matters. Healing the divides within your own country is the least of your problems. People all around the world blame YOU for it's current instability. And I'm one of them
• Rocket88, you are 100% correct. Hate away. Please encourage your fellow countrymen and women to boycott American products. Do everything you can to hurt this country economically the next four years. With an electorate as dumb as ours, we need all the help we can get to enact change.
• Why is it okay to stereotype all Americans as Bush supporters / Iraq-war supporters when some 49% did not vote for him?
• All bitterness aside, I am truly perplexed that I'm not hearing about various local elections being contested. Where were the lawyers? The injunctions? Could things have gone so well at every polling place that nobody called the process into question? I thought the integrity of the electoral process was an issue, especially given the very narrow margin here. I wonder why the Kerry people didn't put up more of a fight.
• Wurwilf: It's not okay. I know it's not okay. But I feel it anyway.
• rocket88, on the other hand of what Alex said - and I think you should go with that, us 49% can deal with it - some other country's going to have to play the part of "beacon of liberty and opportunity and fun" for the next half century. My country isn't going to do it. Our people are clearly sick of it. Will someone else step up to the plate? I don't care who but we really need another beacon.
• "Wurwilf: It's not okay. I know it's not okay. But I feel it anyway." So do I. And I live here. For low long, remains unknown, though.
• I don't think it's fair. But you're free to think so if you like; just don't be surprised if someone points out the inaccuracy.
• As long as you're content not to actively fight your prejudice, I don't really care what your opinion is. Some people care deeply about prejudices and want the world to think that everyone is equal etc. Everyone has prejudices, but if you meet someone, and they are different from what you expect, but you use your preconceived notions about them rather than what is actually presented, then that opinion means nothing to me. Mind you, I'm not saying I hate your for your prejudices, or even care. I just won't let it figure into my view of self worth. So hate me as much as you like, if it makes you feel better.
• i am fucking furious.
• f8xmulder: Will this vitriol be the vaunted liberal mindset for the next four years? I sure hope to God it isn't. see, maybe you should read the actual platform of the Texas Republican Party. They are the people in charge these days. I like the part where they want to go back to the gold standard. I'll stop being vitriolic when the bigoted asshats are no longer in charge. ok?
• Rocket88 et all. America has jumped the shark. Guess which parts of the country contribute most to GDP? What type of people are the engines of innovation and growth? I'll tell you what. They sure as hell ain't nascar dads. It's almost like people who wonder why cambodia is still struggling. THEY KILLED OFF ALL THE SMART PEOPLE. Or people who wonder why einstein and oppenheimer came to work for the US. So go ahead america. Keep on hitting yourself in the head with a hammer cus it feels so good. Kill the goose that is laying the golden egg. I wonder what happens when the blue states stop filling the coffers of the red states. Or when the creative class decided to get the fuck outta dodge. Rest of the world, Feel free to boycott the US. You don't have a vote, but truly, Cash is King.
• For clarification, I'm not insinuiting any sort of link between the khmer rouge or the Nazis and the Republican/Conservative party. I am merely indicating that there is a strong correlation between anti-intellectualism, and the villification of the primary sources of innovation with economic catastrophy and significant "Brain Drain" expatriation.
• So go ahead america. Keep on hitting yourself in the head with a hammer cus it feels so good. Kill the goose that is laying the golden egg. I wonder what happens when the blue states stop filling the coffers of the red states. Or when the creative class decided to get the fuck outta dodge. Our telecom industry will thrive under the Bush empire.
• Dead link, Freen. Is it mirrored anywhere?

• All of which is to say: while many say that life is short? Life is LONG.

  It's a bit easier to be sanguine about that if you're not, say, gay, Fes, and waking up to a world where hatred for you is now enshrined in the law of many states. I'd be pretty fuking bitter if I were a queer American.
• Ahh, there are spaces.... try this http://www.rlctx.org/RLCTX/Texas%20Republican%20Party%20Platform%202000.htm with all of the percentagy goodness....
• I agree with rocket88 100%. I'd go much further. For the first time in forever I wish Osama bin Laden all the success in the world. Please terrorists, come put us out of our misery.
• Fuyugare, if every atom of my being had the word rage written on it a million times, it would not equal one iota of the rage i feel towards you at this moment. If you were attempting to be funny, well, you can't shake the devil's hand and say you are only kidding. If you said this in front of my person, I would have tore your throat out where you stood. Good friends of mine lost their lives in the world trade center.
• Cunting hell, fuyu. Righteous anger, fury, despondency, blinkered bitterness - they're all cool right now. That's fine. No criticism there. But Jesus, man. Anyway. On what everybody else was talking about. 49% of your population being sensible is actually pretty fucking good, guys. I know, I know - it wasn't enough. But we, the rest of the world, we can work with you. And, in fact, we know that there are plenty of people in that 51% who we can work with as well. Tacit supporters of $BADBADTHING they may be, but they're not all part of the "faith-based community". The Republicans may have cemented a mighty, steadfast and powerful base - but it's not a majority. It's just part of their majority... but a part that they're now tied fast to. The rest of you can leave them behind, if they can find common ground in reason, and pragmatism, and common, compassionate decency. I don't mean to diminish the lasting damage and immediate pain that the next four years will probably cause, but I think that it might have a positive effect - it could make it quite clear to a lot of Americans exactly what kind of future they don't want to live in. The rest of the world; we know that 49% exists, and we will welcome Americans with open arms, open hearts and open thighs. But actually, I'd quite like you to stay right where you are - and calmly, steadfastly help bring together all those who want to live in a country where morality is not a reaction, a tradition or a law, but an appreciation of the capacity for pain and joy in the lives of every living person on the planet. There's a lot of good to be done over the next four years. Also, if you all leave, the subsequent lightening of the east and west coasts will cause America to fold in the middle, creating vastly destructive tsunamis that will wipe out the fancy-schmancy new countries you were planning on moving to. Thus is the wrath of the Rove-deity.
• Freen, now you now how I felt when you called davidmsc a baby killer. Now you know how members of the military feel when you say things like that. It's reductive and it's stupid and it's counterproductive. What I'm interested in is, what's your solution? Condemning all Republicans and condeming all military members won't get us very far towards creating a more just and moral system, will it?
• Judging from fuyugare's other comments, I think he's talking as if the downfall of America is now inevitabile and he'd rather have it now rather than in a year or two. He isn't the fabled terrorist sympathizing liberal. I doubt he thinks we deserve it, even though we are maybe asking for it.
• Well, it is inevitable in the long run. I am convinced that the anomaly of America being the sole superpower is not sustainable. The EU will displace America within this decade. Next decade will bring competition from the rising Asian superpowers (China and India). Bush's re-election only hastens America's fall. This temporary popularity is the radical right's last great gasp before it goes the way of the Tories. It's interesting that a disorganized party without a strong leader came within a stone's throw of defeating a wartime president.
• I agree it's inevitable. I just hope it's with a whimper rather than a bang. Four years ago America had very few enemies and many friends. Immediately after 9/11 the international community offered aid, comfort, and support to their American friends. Now, after three years of George W. Bush's lies, arrogance, cover-ups and insults, the US has more enemies and fewer friends than they've ever had in their existence. I predict that four years from now, the US will be facing a united Europe, and a strengthened, economically powerful China, and will no longer be the sole superpower in the world (a title they held for almost twenty years, but used for evil instead of good). I don't know how an America, so used to being in charge, will handle the competition. Hopefully not in the typical American way.
• I'm less sad than I was on Wednesday, but more angry. So as therapy I'll post this concession speech, which pretty sums up how I feel right now. courtesy of Fanatical Apathy.
• My god, it's perfect. Thanks Cali.
• Felber should be on that list of underrated talents. I love it when he's on "Says You."