Being galvanized...

It's the second time I heard the same comment within the span of an hour tonight:

"The premise being that the likes of Bill Maher, Michael Moore, myself and others actually facilitated the success and re-election for George Bush.. That somehow we galvanized the 59 million who voted red this time because our viewpoints, opinions and actions caused a divisive wedge between Republicans and Democrats in the 2004 election.."

That struck me the second time I heard it because the question I ask myself is whether or not we may actually did galvanize the nation to one extreme or the other.. If the suggestion is being made that Michael Moore, Bill Maher, Myself, Susan Sarrandon, Darby, or anyone else who has a blog or offered an opinion, a viewpoint - somehow contributed to making people make a choice this election; then okay, I guess we did..

But I cringe everytime I think about why people voted the way they did.. If in fact Moore, Maher, et. al. galvanized the 59 million - what specifically galvanized them?? Kerry's war record?? The fact he "flip flops" like any other politician out of water?? Was it Theresa?? Guns?? Iraq?? The Economy?? What issue(s) galvanized 59 million people to vote for Bush??

And when start to think about why people vote to begin with, I cringe.. When I hear stories about how churches told their congregation to vote for Kerry meant that he was going to legalize gay/lesbian weddings.. Aside from the fact that their belief is false, it caused many folks to rise up and say "no to Kerry because he wants to legalize gay/lesbian marriages.."

If that was their singular issue.. If it's the only reason why they voted for Kerry, then I feel sad for those people.. This is an election that had so many different facets, so many different issues, so many different opinions in terms of what the complexion of the nation was going to be like -- and to have it hinge on a falsified lie to send the masses to the polls to preserve a sense of moral value is stupid..

When Bush won in 2000, I wasn't happy about it, but he made a lot of statements during that election that was going to have a profound impact in life in America.. He was right - there is a profound impact to be found, but I can't say that it was a very favorable one for the nation or the world.. No one can deny that the events of 9/11 changed everything.. And no one can say what, if any difference would've happened if Gore would've been President..

What I don't know, I can't change, so therefore it's fruitless to consider "What would've Gore done differently??" Move ahead please..

While I didn't agree with Bush's policies, the one major thing that caused me to forever disavow this President was: (no big surprise) Iraq.. There are countless reasons why the Iraq approach was not a good idea.. Once the WMD were never found, the ongoing instability issues throughout the reason, and this very disturbing isolationism that comforts this administration were the major preliminary reasons why I could no longer even consider Bush to be even in the running for 2004.. My blog aptly chronicles all of the reasons as they appeared..

So in my search for the perfect candidate for 2004, the only viable options I could pick from came from the Democrat party.. Keep in mind that while I can say that I'm liberal - I'll still vote for who I think is the best person.. When I began looking at the various democratic candidates, I tried to look at the totality of the person.. I thought Dean was a little too animate in his delivery.. I was bored with Libermann, I thought Kerry could drink more of Dean's coffee to liven him up, I believed General Clark was too focused in specific areas, I liked Edwards because I thought on a totality level - he fit the ideals that I thought were important for the nation as a whole.. He became my horse of sorts..

There wasn't a singular issue that I was rooted on.. Basing the election of a candidate solely based on a platform is completely unrealistic in my opinion because as time goes on, a candidate's platform shifts, moves, takes on water, sinks, swims, and otherwise changes in the 4 years they're in office.. A platform merely serves a purpose of outlining their ideological compass direction in what they want to do for you..

So when I voted this past week, I voted for what I thought was right for America.. Obviously 59 million other people disagreed with that assertion.. But when the results were coming in, I was amazed and in disbelief..

I wondered how 59 million people voted for a candidate whose track record included: not getting the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, going into Iraq on false information, and unable to provide a provable link between 9/11, Al Queda and Iraq..

Moreover, I cannot understand how people can walk out of a polling booth and say that they believe Saddam was involved in 9/11 and that he has WMD when it has been proven otherwise.. What's even more puzzling is how if majority of voters felt that Bush represented a higher sense of moral values than Kerry, I urge the following be recited:

* He is Pro-life, yet he's in favor of the death penalty.
* His tax-breaks for the upper 1% was exceedingly more than the $600 tax refund most families got a couple of years ago.. So he hasn't done much in the way of helping the poor - which is a traditional moral Christian value.
* In addition to the tax breaks he's supported and otherwise done nothing to assist American families whose jobs have gone overseas in the form of outsourcing.
* He is liberating a country that from all indications did not want to be liberated at all. We can't compare our revolution by that which is happening in Iraq - apples and oranges.
* His keen sense of moral values otherwise dismisses how over 1,100 of our troops have been killed along with the 14,000 dead Iraqi citizens. If we blame Bin Laden of being a mass murderer of 2,900 people - what does this make our moral value leader, President Bush??
* Bush's views on gays and lesbians only further promote the moral values of those who are less tolerant and otherwise hateful towards gays and lesbians. 11 states now lead the ban on same sex marriages or civil unions. This ranks in the same moral value system that once believed that slavery was a "God-given right.."
* Then there's the moral value of trying to instill a democracy in an dissolved dictatorship. Moreover, there are those that believe that democracy and Islam simply cannot mix. So is it a higher moral value to impose one's belief system on another??

So I hesitate to believe the premise that Bush's moral values are somehow a good selling point.. Not that any politician alive has values worth a hill of beans, but still..

So yeah, I'm disappointed.. I'm disheartened.. and I'm outnumbered by 59 million people that feel that Bush was right.. I don't agree.. I don't like it.. But the fight has to continue..

Yes, it is a fight..

I'd like to heal..
I'd like to reconcile..
I'd like to say "Okay, I'll support you Mr. President.."

But I can't.. Not when the olive branches are full of thorns.. Not when the Republicans are partying and when the President believes he finally has a mandate..

Guess what folks - from day one, 2000 - Bush ALWAYS believed he had a mandate.. He's going to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants.. This hasn't changed, but it makes him feel easier when he sleeps in his jammies.. It makes him be able to say that he has the mandate of the people, where as before the floundering was excused away for one reason or another..

Mandate will now become his new explanation and excuse for the things he does.. 59 million people helped him secure it..

... and for those that support Bush's moral values, I hope you rest easier knowing that 14,000 innocent civilians died for weapons that did not exist or for a non-existent connection between a leader and the attack on our soil all the meanwhile the one true leader remains free and dedicated in his pursuit to tarnish our world-wide respectability ...

... at least you don't have to worry about gays and lesbians having rights; afterall, that's more terrifying than someone who committed the murder of 2,900 American citizens in 2001 ...

Real smooth, America..

Real smooth..