Unifying the Country
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Just for Fun
Perhaps electing this man as President would do it?

"Latest Conspiracy Theory -- Kerry Won"
Mood:  energetic
Now Playing: FSU-NC State football
Topic: Politics
The Washington Post takes a look at the conspiracy theories abounding on the liberal side of the blogosphere:

"Even as Sen. John F. Kerry's campaign is steadfastly refusing to challenge the results of the presidential election, the bloggers and the mortally wounded party loyalists and the spreadsheet-wielding conspiracy theorists are filling the Internet with head-turning allegations. There is the one about more ballots cast than registered voters in the big Ohio county anchored by Cleveland. There are claims that a suspicious number of Florida counties ended up with Bush vote totals that were far larger than the number of registered Republican voters. And then there is the one that might be the most popular of all: the exit polls that showed Kerry winning big weren't wrong -- they were right.

"Ultimately, none of the most popular theories holds up to close scrutiny. And the people who most stand to benefit from the conspiracy theories -- the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee -- are not biting."

Of course polls are more accurate than the actual vote!! Sheesh. And they say Bush supporters are ignorant and deluded.

Moral Values, an Election Ploy?
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Politics
Conventional wisdom (as well as data from exit polls which were wrong concerning the presidential vote, but all of a sudden we're paying attention to them) says that "moral values" and, in particular, amendments to ban gay marriages contributed to Bush's re-election.Any way, back to "moral values" and the thought that these eleven gay marriage proposals some how led to Bush's re-election. Some have the opinion that this strategy might work in other states. Spivak & Bice in yesterday's Milwaukee News Journal, for example, reason that it may be put on the ballot in Wisconsin to turn out evangelicals to vote out Governor Jim Doyle when he runs for re-election in a couple of years:

"If Karl Rove, President Bush's political brain, worked in Wisconsin, here's what might happen:

"Right-wing Republicans would push to get a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the ballot in late 2006 when first-term Gov. Jim Doyle is up for re-election. The move would bring out conservative types in droves who - as long as they're in the voting booth - would then cast a vote for the Republican running against Doyle, a liberal Dem from Madison.

"A similar strategy worked just fine for Bush last week. The president benefited from increased turnout sparked by similar proposals being on 11 state ballots.

"Hey, wait a minute, maybe Rove does work here - or, at least, devotees of his shrewd style. It turns out just such a prohibition is on track to make it on the general election ballot in Wisconsin sometime in the next two years." (italics mine)

Well, maybe. But this assumes that opposition to gay marriage is a Republican/ Democrat thing. Not so fast. Let's look at some numbers.

State	Yes Vote		Bush Vote
Arkansas	746,382	75%	566,678	54%
Georgia	2,317,981	76%	1,889,331	58%
Kentucky	1,222,240	75%	1,066,736	60%
Michigan	2,686,139	59%	2,306,292	48%
Mississippi	924,540	86%	666,396	60%
Montana	294,056	67%	261,939	59%
North Dakota	222,899	73%	195,998	63%
Ohio	3,249,157	62%	2,796,147	51%
Oklahoma	1,075,079	76%	959,655	66%
Oregon	979,049	57%	818,792	47%
Utah	562,619	66%	608,851	71%

Notice that first, the "Yes" vote outpolled Bush in every state except Utah. This means that even some Kerry supporters voted for the initiatives. Even two states that went for Kerry, Michigan and Oregon voted "Yes." Only two states were the so-called "battleground" states, Michigan and Ohio. So I'm not quite sure how this affected the outcome that much, nor how it would be that much of a reason for Republicans to put it on the ballot.

Paul Freedman writing for Slate is more to the point about moral values as an issue in this election:

"More to the point, the morality gap didn't decide the election. Voters who cited moral issues as most important did give their votes overwhelmingly to Bush (80 percent to 18 percent), and states where voters saw moral issues as important were more likely to be red ones. But these differences were no greater in 2004 than in 2000. If you're trying to explain why the president's vote share in 2004 is bigger than his vote share in 2000, values don't help.

"If the morality gap doesn't explain Bush's re-election, what does? A good part of the answer lies in the terrorism gap. Nationally, 49 percent of voters said they trusted Bush but not Kerry to handle terrorism; only 31 percent trusted Kerry but not Bush. This 18-point gap is particularly significant in that terrorism is strongly tied to vote choice: 99 percent of those who trusted only Kerry on the issue voted for him, and 97 percent of those who trusted only Bush voted for him. Terrorism was cited by 19 percent of voters as the most important issue, and these citizens gave their votes to the president by an even larger margin than morality voters: 86 percent for Bush, 14 percent for Kerry."

Taking the Election Campaign into Church?
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Politics
Donna Brazile wrote for Slate: "We fought a tough battle, and the results are clear: Our opponents took their campaign inside the church while we mobilized outside in the community."

Intesresting. Any one remember Bush/Cheney speaking in any churches? No. But here is the schedule for the second Sunday before the election from ABC News:

"After campaigning out West for several days, Senator Kerry spends Sunday in Florida. The Senator attends church services at Mount Herman AME Church in Fort Lauderdale at 11:00 am ET, delivers a speech on values and beliefs at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale at 2:15 pm ET, and speaks at a rally at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton at 5:15 pm ET.
Vice President Cheney is in Washington, DC with no public events.

Senator Edwards speaks at church services at Allen Temple A.M.E. Church in Cincinnati at 11:00 am ET and attends rallies at in Dayton and Lima at 2:20 pm ET and 5:45 pm ET.

Elizabeth Edwards attends church services at Mt. Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburgh at 11:30 am ET and hosts a town hall discussion at Downey Middle School in Harrisburg, PA at 3:30 pm ET.

Former Vice President Al Gore speaks at a church service in Jacksonville on behalf of the Kerry/Edwards ticket and attends an early vote rally at the Leon County Courthouse Lawn in Tallahassee, FL at 2:00 pm ET.

Senator Ted Kennedy speaks at Zion Church and Mt. Airy Church in Philadelphia on behalf of Kerry/Edwards."

Well, conservatives did it first, right? Um, no. Check this quote:

" 'God wants me to run for president..American people want faith in their government.'

"This may sound like President Bush talking, but it is not. These were the words of Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election campaign, according to author Steven Hayward in his book, The Age of Reagan, 1964-1980: The Fall of the Old Liberal Order. Because of this kind of rhetoric, evangelicals voted in large numbers for Carter in 1976."

Seems like Ms. Brazile needs to check her history a little more thoroughly

It's Not Just Me
Mood:  energetic
Topic: Politics
If I hear how divided we are as a nation one more time, I'll scream.

It seems that Leonard Pitts of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel agrees.

Liberals Really Do Love Their Country
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: NASCAR
Topic: Politics
You just can't tell it from these posts:

From Salon.com: "But like many liberals I'm betting on the Armageddon theory of politics. Bush and the GOP majorities in the House and Senate will make things so bad in the next four years that the country will never elect a Republican ever again. So here's hoping things get much, much worse!"

From a commenter on the Democratic National Ccommittee web site: "look on the positive side folks, 2 more years of bush will cause the country to collapse, either because the rest of the world squeezes us, or osama gets us

then we can start over

watch the dollar collapse, then the stock market as foreigners pull out, then the housing market."

Thanks to Opinion Journal's Best of the Web for the links.

The Arrogance of the Left
Mood:  chillin'
Topic: Politics
It's always nice after an election to see the Left look down their noses at the poor, unwashed masses who just voted against their anointed candidate. Comments found here and there:

From Liberal Street Fighter: "Because it appears that slightly more than half of U.S. citizens are f**king retarded, that's why. Someone has to look out for their best interests, and it might as well be me. "

Paul Krugman in The New York Times: "But Democrats are not going to get the support of people whose votes are motivated, above all, by their opposition to abortion and gay rights (and, in the background, opposition to minority rights). All they will do if they try to cater to intolerance is alienate their own base."

Then this rich opinion from Jane Smiley at Slate: "The election results reflect the decision of the right wing to cultivate and exploit ignorance in the citizenry."

Her remedy made me chuckle. "Progressives have only one course of action now: React quickly to every outrage--red state types love to cheat and intimidate, so we have to assume the worst and call them on it every time. We have to give them more to think about than they can handle--to always appeal to reason and common sense, and the law, even when they can't understand it and don't respond."

A poster on the Democratic Underground Forums wrote "what I find most depressing -- and outrageous -- about the election results is that 59 million of our fellow citizens are so messed up in their 'values.' "

And finally, one from the DNC web site: "Kind of hard to export democracy when you're too stupid to manage it at home. Cynical as I am, I wouldn't have thought so many people could be so ... dumb."

I just love the tolerant Left, don't you?

Polls, Schmolls
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Politics
Interesting enough, the closest projectors of the Bush win were both right-leaning web sites, ElectionProjection.com and RealClearPolitics.com. Election Projection was off in giving Iowa to Kerry (Bush is leading but no final determination, yet) and Wisconsin to Bush. Real Clear Politics gave Wisconsin mistakenly to Bush (again, in Iowa Bush is leading but has no final numbers). This in contrast to Zogby who had Kerry 311-213.

Yet people will still love the polls. We will still point to the latest ones and pontificate on its importance. Hey, I'm as guilty as the next. We so want to know what's going to happen before it happens. You'd think the last several elections would have cured us, but it won't. We'll still wait for the latest poll to tell us what we should think. "Look, this poll says that most people should buy cats." Ah, well....

Patience
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Politics
WE need to be patient to our liberal friends while they adjust to the fact that the people elected George Bush for the second time. Typical are the liberal rants here, here (especially in the comments), and here. They are no doubt frustrated by the fact that, against conventional wisdom, a high turnout resulted in a Republican rather than Democratic victory. Many are making dire predictions and are maintaining that this election was stolen also (look especially at the comments).

I guess perhaps its not just Bush supporters that don't live in reality.

First Anniversary
Mood:  celebratory
Topic: Blogging
One year ago today, I started blogging with this post on Tripod.com. It's been a fun experience and I hope to be able to keep sharing my thoughts on items of interest to me (and I trust others also).

A Kerry Presidency
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: News--what else?
Topic: Politics
If Kerry is elected, I will not say anything negative about him for 100 days after he takes office--something traditionally guaranteed to all American presidents.

So I'll have to get it in now, before he might be elected :^)

First, Kerry will raise taxes and will trigger a recession; unemployment will rise, businesses will go under, the deficit will actually increase. This, of course, will be conveniently blamed on the economic policies of George Bush.

Next, Kerry will try to get international help for Iraq. It won't happen. Recruitments will fall further and Kerry will be faced with a decision--draft or cut further back in Europe and Asia. This will increase the urge to get our troups out of Iraq eventually (months or years, I don't know) resulting in a radical Muslim fundamentalist government (like Iran) coming to power.

Getting Osama bin Laden will be the new priority--until we spend months looking for him and still don't find him. Then we'll be diverted by some new Middle East tensions.

Budget cutbacks based on Kerry's health plan and other projects will cause security to lapse, resulting in another terrorist strike.

The new outsourcing (Kerry having stopped the tax breaks as he said) will be foreign companies buying rights to American products and producing them overseas.

Kerry will lose the election of 2008 and Hillary Clinton will not have a chance to run until 2012, unless Kerry is so weak by that time that she easily beats him.

Will these things really happen? How should I know? I'm not Pat Robertson, after all. But that's the way I see it going--perhaps another reason I voted for Bush.

A Kerry Presidency
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: News-what else?
Topic: Politics
If Kerry is elected, I will not say anything negative about him for 100 days after he takes office--something traditionally guaranteed to all American presidents.

So I'll have to get it in now, before he might be elected :^)

First, Kerry will raise taxes and will trigger a recession; unemployment will rise, businesses will go under, the deficit will actually increase. This, of course, will be conveniently blamed on the economic policies of George Bush.

Next, Kerry will try to get international help for Iraq. It won't happen. Recruitments will fall further and Kerry will be faced with a decision--draft or cut further back in Europe and Asia.

Getting Osama bin Laden will be the new priority--until we spend months looking for him and still don't find him. Then we'll be diverted by some new Middle East tensions.

Budget cutbacks based on Kerry's health plan and other projects will cause security to lapse, resulting in another terrorist strike.

The new outsourcing (Kerry having stopped the tax breaks as he said) will be foreign companies buying rights to American products and producing them overseas.

Kerry will lose the election of 2008 and Hillary Clinton will not have a chance to run until 2012, unless Kerry is so weak by that time that she easily beats him.

Will these things really happen? How should I know? I'm not Pat Robertson, after all. But that's the way I see it going--perhaps another reason I voted for Bush.

Zogby's Call
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: News
Topic: Politics
Zogby International is showing the electoral totals as Kerry 311, Bush 213 with Nevada and Colorado too close to call. They give Florida, Ohio, New Mexico and Wisconsin, just about every battleground state, in fact, to Kerry.

He gave the popular vote to Bush 49.4-49.1.

I hope not. I don't know if we can take another popular vote loser being elected president. In fact, I hope whoever wins has a litigation-free margin in both popular and electoral vote.

Election Day
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: News
Topic: Politics
I spent the morning as a poll watcher for the Republican Party. Turnout was heavy in the morning hours--some waited in line for 2 hours. Things went smoothly for the most part and attitudes also were very good considering the long wait. Many folks came prepared, reading material, snacks, things for their kids to do. The section set aside for polling was small but the folks from the election office did a good job of setting up and kept things very organized.

My job was not to look for election fraud. I was to report if I saw any, but that was not my job. And I saw none in any case.

The polling place where I usually vote, however, turnout seemed to not be that high. Folks I talked to reported very little waiting to vote.

Election Day -1, Volunteer Work
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Monday Night Football
Topic: Politics
After the rally, my daughter and her fiance, who went with me to the rally, dropped me off at the Republican Headquarters in Waukesha, WI, where I spent about eight hours phoning people to get out the vote.

To my slight surprise, most people I called were courteous, although some were obviously in a hurry. A few were curt, both Bush supporters and Bush detractors, probably due to the many phone calls some had received (I had one from former President Clinton on my answering machine when I got home). It speaks to the innate politeness of many Americans and in spite of a few on both sides who have been stealing yard signs and other shenanigans, shows that Mr. and Mrs. USA are not as inclined toward the meanness displayed by some.

There was a camaraderie among those of us packed into the small room making calls, joking, expressing our doubts and hopes for the election, sharing rumors, and more. Complete strangers thrown together in a common cause--getting out the vote for our candidate. I'm sure Kerry supporters feel the same way.

Will George Bush win? Who knows? I hope so, but if he doesn't, I hope that I can give Senator Kerry the benefit of the doubt that sadly many didn't give President Bush.

Tomorrow, poll watching. The county I live (and will be poll watching) in is expecting 93% turnout.

Election Day -1, the Rally
Mood:  caffeinated
Topic: Politics
It was a rainy, chilly fall morning as my daughter her fiance and I left to catch the Republican rally featuring President George Bush in Milwaukee's US Cellular Arena. This was my first political rally. It resembled a pep rally, which I suppose is its purpose. Being in the free seats, we were not in a good position to take pictures, although I did take some. As a matter of interest, John Kerry held a rally slightly later a few blocks away.

At 9am Milwaukee County chief executive started (and MC'd) the rally. Various Republicans running for office had short speaking session. Morgan Hamm made an appearance, as well as the coach of the Milwaukee Wave (indoor soccer team). They gradually built up to the folks running for the House of Representative and then Tim Michels, who is running for the Senate.

Entertainment was provided by the Oak Ridge Boys and Brooks and Dunn. Then there was a pause while we waited for President Bush's appearance. A cheer went up when the Presidential seal was affixed to the podium.

Then former Wisconsin governor and current Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson introduced the President at about 11:30 to a rousing ovation. He spoke about 40 minutes, probably the latest version of his stump speech, interrupted by cheering many times. There was a slight disturbance on the other side of the arena during the speech, but I couldn't tell what it was about.

Then it was over and we took off.

Why George Bush?
Mood:  bright
Topic: Politics
As I explained in an earlier post, I voted last Wednesday to re-elect George W. Bush. A commenter asked if it was a clear cut decision or if I had some reservations.

I do have some reservations about President Bush. It is rare that any one of us would agree exactly with any other person. But I have more reservations about John Kerry and decided not to vote for a third party candidate.

Let's look at the major issues raised during the campaign.

Iraq, the War on Terror and Foreign Policy. I believe the war against Iraq was valid at the time. From what we know at the moment, the intelligence was wrong. The reasons are enumerated in a comment here:

1. WMD production
2. US Policy since 1998 of regime change in Iraq
3. Violation of various UN resolutions
4. Unwillingness to be forthright about WMD's
5. Aggressiveness toward planes in the no-fly zone
6. Ties to Al Qaeda
7. Slaughter of the Iraqi people

My disagreements with the President in this area was in perhaps going to war too quickly. But in saying that, I'm not sure the exact imminence pointed to by intelligence. I think we could have tried to get especially NATO to go with us.

I also think the White House was a far too optimistic in its assessment of how Iraq would be secured afterwards.

We should continue to prosecute the war on terror. Kerry's charge about Tora Bora is campaign rhetoric and doesn't square with earlier statements (a habit of his).

The economy. The economy has faced some pressures with the ending of the so-called "dot com boom" and the results of 9/11. These were countered with the President's tax cuts. Now many are wringing there hands about a deficit, but if you will compare previous years (going back to WW2 and WW1) there were years when there were much greater deficits as compared with the total budget or the GNP. I lived through the "stagflation" of the 70's and early 80's, so this so-called "recession" is laughable. Outsourcing really accounts for a small percentage of job losses, but I realize that's small comfort to one who has lost their job in this way. No specific plan has been put forward for Social Security, so I can't comment except for the fact that some reform or fix is needed.

Simply put, I believe George Bush's response to terrorism and the economy is better than it would have been under Gore, and will be better than Kerry's.

NOTE: I posted this before I have all the links for some of the things written about here. I will add the links as I have time.

O'Reilly Settles Harassment Claim
Mood:  bright
Topic: Politics
Bill O'Reilly settled his suit with a woman who accused him of sexual harassment. Having said previously that he would not give into extortion, this doesn't pass the smell test for me.

But I liked the comment by KRM here (scroll down to the October 29, 2004 11:16 PM post).

"I am not defending whatever it was he actually did (and it appears he ws at a minimum inanely crude with a subordinate cowoker - always a mistake, as well as wrong), but the thought did occur to me:

"Only conservatives are really open to charges of moral hypocracy, because they maintain high standards and thus there is a much higher likelihood that they will not be met by some conservatives. Liberals maintaining lowest common denominator standards are not as likely to violate them."

Voter Registrations Triple
Mood:  bright
Topic: Politics
Tuesday may be a very busy day. When I voted Wednesday, there was a steady stream of people voting early with the line growing longer during my time there.

Oh, by the way, I voted for George Bush for President, Tim Michels for Senate and Jim Sensenbrenner for the House.

Iron Blogger Battle
Mood:  bright
Topic: Politics
The latest Iron Blog battle is, of course, Bush v. Kerry. Jay from Folkbum's Rambles and Rants and Iron Blogger Democrat is taking Kerry and Rosemary Esmay from The Queen of All Evil and former Iron Blogger Republican is posting pro-Bush. Two very able battlers and I'm enjoying it. Take a peek.