Hi Dan. I am a first-time voter (not sure if you knew that). I am partly goaded to vote because of people like you who believe it’s their civic duty. So, please, don’t ever think it was all for naught.

At my polling site the lines snaked around the corner and I waited about an hour and 40 minutes just to get in the door. Many waited even longer. In my home state of Massachusetts, there are 4.1 million registered voters (a new record) and over 2.8 million cast their ballots on Tuesday (also a record). I HATE the result, but I LOVE the process.

I too was convinced that Shrub wouldn’t be reelected. So many Achilles’ heel: anti-stem cell research, horrible environmental record, ballooning healthcare/prescription costs, Iraqi prisoner abuse, unjustified war in Iraq, staggering gas prices, steady unemployment, corporate scandals, etc.

Shrub’s reelection, like it or not, is legitimate. Damn. I never thought I’d write those words.

Or, as a friend of mine believes... there's a "silent majority."  You hear from MoveOn and all the others, but the silent majority out there is going to work, raising their families, not causing a rucus... and voting Republican.  Quietly.

(Don't bonk me, I didn't vote Bush.)

i suppose we get what we deserve. but how many people must die? thats a hard lesson to learn.
i just pray that bush's fantasy of leading the second coming doesn't become a reality. the man must be stopped.

I think moveon.org and Michael Moore did more for the Republican solidarity and getting out their vote than Bush ever could have.

The election result was a mixture of Bush instilling the fear of terrorism in his people, his promoting the cause of homophobia and a little bit of extra rigging on the side. Whatever way you look at it, it makes you realise that people can be so easily manipulated. His administration has fostered hatred for the French and hatred for gays - and he is inciting those feelings in people. His recent speech about uniting the country is no more than a post-election campaign to draw more people towards the republican party. (That is really so transparent.)

The local television station ran an ad this morning asking people to enlist in the fight to find Osama bin Laden...and so it all begins two days after the election. More deaths and damaged families will occupy our thoughts in the future. But my sympathy with the parents will now be stone dead - they elected Bush, so they must now take the consequences of their actions. If they had not been so bigoted, we would not now be in this predicament. And all of the right-wingers who swore that we were in such peril from terrorism, can now prove their courage by enlisting, or waiting a little while until not enough people enlist...and Bush begins drafting them. I have heard right-wingers say that this is rubbish, but they will soon have the opportunity to find out if it is, indeed, rubbish. If I am wrong then I will concede victory to the right-wing - but we shall all have to wait and see. Anyway, as enlistment ads are now being aired, they will all have the opportunity to prove their bravery...after all, they have been spouting about the threat to our country for so long - if I believed that, I would be on the first plane to Iraq or Afghanistan, or wherever. Why are they still here, I wonder? Many of them are the right age to fight. (I guess they must be all full of shit...and prefer other people to do their fighting for them.)

End of rant...

Scarily enough, reinstating the draft is not a remote possibilty. Presidunce Shrub can do whatever the hell he wants now--not that he didn't before. I am disappointed that young-vote turnout was short of predictions; they have a lot to lose.

Young people, more than anyone else, have the most to lose.

I don't get it either...I was sure it was going to be super-close in the popular vote, but it really wasn't at all! I'm not stressing out about it though...in another two and a half years or so, we can start looking at the next crop of nominees. Hopefully there will be some better choices!

I voted, and it didn't matter a damn.  It never does in the ever-red state of Indiana

The Republicans are fear mongers who look upon intimidating minorities as sport.

I'm alternating between depressed and frightened as I consider the world we are likely to be in after another four years ... I stood in line for over two hours in order to exercise my right to speak against this administration in the best way I know ... by voting against it.  Now, I simply don't know what to do next.  I'm thinking of burying myself in ice cream. 

For 24 hours after the election, I was determined that I was emigrating to Canada, and then reality set in, and I calmed down. And now I've thought of three things that I can do immediately to help me feel better and to help my country: I'm joining the ACLU, PFLAG, and Amnesty International.

People bought the lies and gave in to fear. And we'll all pay for it dearly. I just wish I believed that in 4 more years there will be another presidential election, because right now, I really don't. 

time to get up stand up, people.

[wave]

well, the democrats didn't run a good campaign and the republicans galvanized people to the polls with "moral" issues who would most likely vote for bush. they had better marketing.

actually i think its a trend that is going the right way. when you think back to nixon's time it seems like it was more popular to be conservative and the thought of being liberal or a hippe was only for the subculture.

now we are 49 percent and growing. we will fix this problem sooner or later by making the govt more moderate. it is only a matter of time.


namaste

To abuse an old phrase, don't blame me i voted for Kerry. And you know, the thing that really aggravates me is he gave up so easily...

I dont want to talk about it. :(