Wednesday, November 03, 2004
A WORD OF PRAISE FOR GRACIOUSNESS
This post is going to be relatively short because the hour is late. I admit to being pleased at Bush's victory over John Kerry, partly for the echo chamber, Moveon.org type extremists who are upset. The impotent fury of the Micheal Moores, Sean Penns and itinerant reporters from the Guardian should be fun to watch over the next few weeks.
Now on to Mr. Kerry. I think we owe him a debt of thanks as a nation for ignoring the bitter-enders and not contesting the election, a move that would have scraped raw all the bad feelings of 2000 and then added fuel to the fire, worsening the partisan divisions to no point whatsoever. I'm sure there were more than a few supporters who wanted him to take this path and Senator Kerry, to his credit, put the good of his country over that of his party. Thank you Senator Kerry, for your patriotism and commitment to public service.
Despite my very hawkish foreign policy views, I am hopeful that President Bush takes this moment to behave toward our less helpful allies with the same grace by reaching out and allowing some statesmen a face-saving retreat and in other cases making small concessions ( no, some of these " friends" don't deserve the gesture - that's why it's called " grace " and not an " exchange"). They realize Bush will be in office for another four years and a permanent state of irritation, while perhaps inevitable, should be soothed instead of cultivated.
Yes, for war supporters it's time to celebrate. But the United States has some very tough, very nasty, campaigns ahead in the War on Terror. Perhaps sooner than we think. We could use a greater number of friends at the time than we have now and a little grace at the right time can go a long way in some parts.
¶ 9:10 PM
This post is going to be relatively short because the hour is late. I admit to being pleased at Bush's victory over John Kerry, partly for the echo chamber, Moveon.org type extremists who are upset. The impotent fury of the Micheal Moores, Sean Penns and itinerant reporters from the Guardian should be fun to watch over the next few weeks.
Now on to Mr. Kerry. I think we owe him a debt of thanks as a nation for ignoring the bitter-enders and not contesting the election, a move that would have scraped raw all the bad feelings of 2000 and then added fuel to the fire, worsening the partisan divisions to no point whatsoever. I'm sure there were more than a few supporters who wanted him to take this path and Senator Kerry, to his credit, put the good of his country over that of his party. Thank you Senator Kerry, for your patriotism and commitment to public service.
Despite my very hawkish foreign policy views, I am hopeful that President Bush takes this moment to behave toward our less helpful allies with the same grace by reaching out and allowing some statesmen a face-saving retreat and in other cases making small concessions ( no, some of these " friends" don't deserve the gesture - that's why it's called " grace " and not an " exchange"). They realize Bush will be in office for another four years and a permanent state of irritation, while perhaps inevitable, should be soothed instead of cultivated.
Yes, for war supporters it's time to celebrate. But the United States has some very tough, very nasty, campaigns ahead in the War on Terror. Perhaps sooner than we think. We could use a greater number of friends at the time than we have now and a little grace at the right time can go a long way in some parts.
¶ 9:10 PM
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Kerry is probably relieved. Bush had already screwed the pooch, and Kerry really did not have much chance of getting out of the economic and world-pariah box Bush has put the country in. What a bunch of crap any right-wing mandate is. Only 30 percent of Americans even voted, so 15% voted for Bush and half of that, 7.5% were voting for God and against the non-issue of gay marriage. Of course the Democrats also have their own idiots and extremists, but unlike past elections that were mostly decided by the middle, this election was decided by the radicals. I am a independent moderate wishing both gays and envangelists would stay in the closet like they used to (talk about my traditional values). But from what Bush seems now be enunciating for his second term, it is looking to me like an even more radical lurch to the right. At a FL Bush rally last week, supporters raised their right arm to pledge alliance to America, God, and the election of George Bush. Would make Nazi's proud. I don't think Bush is a Nazi in any way, but it sure seems to me same mentality of too many voting for him. Don't get me wrong, I think spreading democracy to the Mid-east is long overdue and that the Iraq war was inevitable. And I sincerely hope that killing a lot more people in Falluja will calm things down in Iraq. But have my doubts that it will be any long-term solution (win the battle, lose the war), with even more muslims becoming actively militant as more of their friends and family are killed and even more pictures of grisly death are broadcast over the mid-east media. All is not lost, we still have plan B, we can still nuc the entire middle east upon a major terrorist attack in the U.S. I don't have any answers and don't expect any quick solutions had either been elected, but did believe Kerry would have at least provided the U.S. with some needed auditing of the current situtation and some overdue govermental checks and balances. So please, let really encourage everbody to support doing what is right for America for the long-term, whatever that is.
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