Sigh...

[Vedra]

Well, he won. And now I realize how stupid America is.

All I have to say to the majority is "baaahhh".

[Chancellor Valium]

You don't have to stay in the US. You could come over to Britain, or go to Canada, for example.....

[Celeste]

Well, he won. And now I realize how stupid America is.

I didn't vote for Bush either. But please don't bash my country. I don't go around criticizing your president/ministor/what have you. There is no reason for that. It was a close race. They two candidates were almost equal, Bush just happend to pull forward. That's politics.

Get over it.

Move on.

[Vedra]

I'm from America, and I'll still say it. I don't have the money or the ability to move somewhere else, I'm stuck. Otherwise, I would be out of here.

The majority here is dumb. Take my parents... they watch nothing but Fox News for their information. It isn't that difficult, take the initiative, do a little research, and if you aren't a psychopath you'd realize he's the wrong choice. But nobody here will do that, we're too lazy and we're too set in our ways. Between ignorance and pandering, nobody in this country seems to have an original thought of their own anymore, and it's sad. I used to blame just Bush and his administration, for stealing the election in 2000 because the Democrats gave up, but now that he's been re-elected legitimately after all he's done, I find the majority of this country reprehensible. That's my opinion, and now I'm over it.

[stripysox]

Atleast it was close though, he didn't win in some kind of landslide. So that makses roughly half the people who voted sane. (Which half depending on your own personal viewpoint.)

And look how many people turned out to vote, especialy compared to previos years. Doen't that show that more people are taking an initiative?

I'm English, so I guess I don't realy have much right to say that realy but thats what I think. Anyway, were not supposed to talk politics here.

[Vedra]

Doesn't matter if you're taking the initiative to vote in a moron.

[Kira]

Take my parents... they watch nothing but Fox News for their information.
Fox News isn't broadcasted in Canada (for valid reasons or otherwise, depending on who you ask), but from what I've seen and heard, I sympathize.

[Derek]

Between ignorance and pandering, nobody in this country seems to have an original thought of their own anymore, and it's sad.
True enough. I've seen similar posts to this one all over the internet today.

It's not the originality of the thought that counts, but the reasons for it. There are good, solid, justifiable reasons for voting for Bush. There are good, solid, justifiable reasons for voting for Kerry. It's entirely possible to do a lot of research on the candidates and their positions and still decide on Bush. I'm sorry you don't see that.

[stripysox]

Yes, people are entitled to different opinions, thats the point of democrasy.

There was some quote from Bush about how a dictatorship would be much easyer as long as it was him dictating. That might have been an extremely inaproaprate thing to say but everyone thinks something along those lines right? (Well I hope its not just me and him.. be scared.) So thats why you sometimes have to let morons win elections. Well when its fair.

PS Derek I love your sig!

[Xeroc]

Get over it.

Move on.
I agree.

All the complaining in the world will not change anything.

[Vedra]

I didn't say it was impossible to go for Bush if you researched, I just find it unlikely that most people with common sense would.

[Ginga]

Get over it.

Move on.

Get over it indeed. The man's not Hitler. We've survived crappy presidents and we'll do it again.

People were crying at school today because Kerry lost. I couldn't believe it.

Then again, I shouldn't really be talking, as I'm the one who cried when Tea At Five got postponed.



*coughs*

[Vedra]

Fine, I'm over it. Zeke, close the damn thread.

[admiral sab]

well I'm an example of someone with common sense and someone who researched and watched Fox News and watched the debates and guess who we voted for? George Bush. ;) We have many reasons for it but trying to explain them to anyone who doesn't like George Bush isn't going to listen I've learned that all week. anyways, just thought I'd give you the other side.

[Alyxe]

Well, he won. And now I realize how stupid America is.

All I have to say to the majority is "baaahhh".

Oh God yes. Baah to them all. I can't believe that Mister Bush (as we call him in Wiltshire --> Wootton Bassett --> Wootton Bassett Comprehensive) not only won, but also got the highest number of votes in American voting history. I mean, you would have thought they would have learnt by now. 1 million people plus are unemployed because of outsourcing to India (my mom just lost her job to that, so I'm pretty cut up about it. Grrr....), over one hundred Americans have died in the Iraq war, blah blah blah American mind-set blah blah og gosh I'm starting to sound like my father :?

[Anonymous]

Ahem. I am not a psychopath, yet I dislike Kerry - I'm sorry, I do. But then I am ludicrously right-wing, to a point where I could just about balance Anthony Wedgewood-Benn...if you don't know who he is, take Vedra's advice, do a little research and FIND OUT. back to my point - wait, I can't remember what my point is. Hm. Maybe I should - ah yes. Bush isn't Hitler - a moustache would look crap on him :P. Seriously, he's not that bad - he manages your country reasonably - he's no Woodrow Wilson, I'll admit, but he's better than some, and while he can't charm people like FDR, he does seem to have some integrity. Sorry, I keep posting about this, but this seems to be all people are talking about. Bush has been villainised and I have to feel sorry for him at least a bit,( I always favour the underdog or the villainised - that's why I was intrigued by Nader - until I found out he was green*) - yes villainised by people. He started a war on terror that he means to continue. Just because it isn't easy and plain sailing in Iraq and your commanders are having a hard time there, as they did in Afghanistan, people whinge. No conventional army has ever successfully overrun Afghanistan before, not even the Victorian British Army, so you have something to be proud of. This wasn't going to be easy, but you cannot give up. and you can't pull out of Iraq, because that will show the terrorists that they can influence western politics - also that the Iraqi provisional government would be unable to maintain the peace and the British army has been whittled to the point where we would be unable to take the full load. Your generals planned for war and not peace, and that was their undoing. Ours have been through experiences such as Northern Ireland and we know about peacekeeping. Also, ask yourselves - was Saddam a good person? Answer: no. So something good has come out of this war on a false pretext. Sorry, I didn't mean to go on, I just feel people shouldn't get worked up or bitter about the whole thing and I just wanted to point out all my reasons.
* the green party supports population control. As a devout christian, I find this morally wrong.

[Chancellor Valium]

Ho-hum. I could have sworn I was logged in.... :?
that was me as "guest", by the way...
Just one good thing to come out of this election, though - we can still make jokes about how stupid Bush is :D . I'll just give a second apology for my rant.

[Alexia]

Just one good thing to come out of this election, though - we can still make jokes about how stupid Bush is :D
That actually does make me feel a little better :twisted: :mrgreen:

(Btw Valium, you actually think Britain has an empire? :roll: :wink: )

[Chancellor Valium]

It's hanging by a thread, but it's still there. And I want to resurrect it :) . That means goodbye independant US, btw.... :)

[Vedra]

I won't get into that Iraq invasion crap again, so I'll condense: US = no right to be there, Saddam = bad guy, but at least could RUN HIS COUNTRY, Oil = ripe for the picking, suspicious maybe?

America needs to get over itself and we need to stop trying to police the world. It doesn't matter if we're a superpower, it doesn't matter if we're the ONLY superpower, we're still just one nation, just like all the others. You talk about the terrorists influencing our politics, don't you think ripping out Iraq's old government and installing one of America's design is "influencing" their politics?

[PointyHairedJedi]

Bah to the lot of you! Twenty-seven votes! And twenty-five of those were people who cast their ballots wrong! Sheesh, so much for doing it this way.

But don't think this means Catbert and HAL have given up, oh no.... :twisted:

[Sa'ar Chasm]

It's hanging by a thread, but it's still there.

A fishing outpost on South Orkney and a Club Med in the Caribbean do not constitute an empire :P

[Alexia]

:roll: Don't forget the tent in Australia :wink:

[Chancellor Valium]

Technically, Normandy, Anjou, Poitiers Rimes (apologies for bad spelling), Oceania and Canada, oh, and Gibraltar constitute the British Empire. So I can still talk about the Empire On Which The Sun Never Sets, damn it! :D . Thank you, Vedra, for the vote of confidence. Oh, and I've uncovered the real reason Britain split so many places in two when we left. It was so they'd squabble and in a hundred years time, we'd be needed back and hailed as saviours...so far it seems to be working....:D

[Vedra]

Now I realize why you all got scurvy.

I also don't recall giving you any "vote of confidence".

[Chancellor Valium]

It was a joke, Vedra. no need to be so anti-me all the time, you know. That was also a very cynical joke.

[AKAArzosah]

Well, he won. And now I realize how stupid America is.

All I have to say to the majority is "baaahhh".

I caught myself just before I was about to say 'Come to Australia' when i realised we just elected John Howard.

[Zeke]

I have a friend who lives in Australia and is so frothingly anti-Howard that reading her LJ posts about him is like listening to Shatner say "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" over and over again (http://www.khaaan.com/).

I'd say "Come to Canada," but frankly, I think we have too many liberals already, especially with all these new ones we're getting from the States. Yeah, that'll help your country's "problem," guys -- leaving en masse so the ratio of right-wingers to left-wingers in the States gets even higher.

[Scooter]

I think it's mostly wistful, as in, "I wish I could go live somewhere where there aren't any stupid people." Canadians seem pretty bright, so, well, it's close enough... :)

The most discerning headline leading up to Nov 2 came from The Onion: "Should the Two Americas Hold Separate Elections?" What a concept. :)

[Zeke]

Canadians seem pretty bright

Nowhere NEAR as bright as we pretend we are.

I mean, come on. We produced Alanis. (Isn't that ironic?)

[Opium]

Well, I like Canada. But I agree with Zeke, sort of...Americans, if you come to Canada, remember to keep your American voting eligibility, so you can help America get less divided. :wink:

[Nan]

Yeah, yeah. Alanis happened. Get over it. :P

A country which feels insecure will choose a leader which is believed to be capable of enforcing order. There's a reason why Napoleon, for example, had such a cult of personality after the revolution: he instituted order. Doesn't mean he was that great a leader, but hey, when faced with anarchy, law and order has a big appeal. I'm not comparing Bush to Napoleon, so don't bite off my head.

From election results it can be assumed that a significant portion of the population of America was feeling insecure. Ergo, Bush wins. However, it is also worth noting that there was a significant number of votes going to the Green Party. Of course, given the political system in the States, these votes didn't really go anywhere, but it does demonstrate that there are in fact more "liberal" voters than "conservative," they just don't know how to vote defensively. Take that however you will.

I'd say "Come to Canada," but frankly, I think we have too many liberals already, especially with all these new ones we're getting from the States.

Peh. Canadians have been majority Liberal since Pearson. And we were originally settled for largely economic reasons by the British, not by Puritans looking for the promised land. There's a difference in founding ethic at work. Also: ouch. I'm going to let that slide, though, because you're from a minority. :twisted: (Yes, that was mean. I feel guilty already.)

Anyhow, this is just one in a number of northern waves of immigration. And given the way our country is set up, we require constant immigration to keep the workforce renewed because of the low birthrate and long life expectancy (also known as the "lots of old people" effect). This is biased toward independent workers more than family reunification. To the economics geeks in the PMO, so long as potential Canadians 1.) can work, 2.) are not criminal, and 3.) don't skip taxes, it's all good. A willingness to pay thousands in fees and spends years trying toget citizenship is required by default. It's been like that ever since the first immigration boom, and the PMO geeks are no way going to discourage it.

On a unity note: cheer up, oh ye unhappy voters, there's always that one group you can focus your ire on without shame: the section of eligible voters who didn't vote out of sheer apathy. I think we can all agree those people suck.

Ooh. It's way too late for me to be talking about this stuff. Bleah. I'll just delete this tomorrow or something when my fatigue hangover wears off.

[PointyHairedJedi]

On a unity note: cheer up, oh ye unhappy voters, there's always that one group you can focus your ire on without shame: the section of eligible voters who didn't vote out of sheer apathy. I think we can all agree those people suck.
Ahh, voter apathy, a phrase that we know only too well in the UK. :D

You know, I had a funny thought the other day. What if all the American states started declaring independance? That would make for an.... interesting situation.

[Chancellor Valium]

T'would be....fascinating....

[Xeroc]

From election results it can be assumed that a significant portion of the population of America was feeling insecure. Ergo, Bush wins. However, it is also worth noting that there was a significant number of votes going to the Green Party. Of course, given the political system in the States, these votes didn't really go anywhere, but it does demonstrate that there are in fact more "liberal" voters than "conservative," they just don't know how to vote defensively. Take that however you will.
Maybe in previous elections, but not this one. The "green party" actually got a whopping 0.09% of the vote (remember, Nader did not run under the green party this year). In fact, if we added ALL independent parties (every vote but Bush + Kerry) they only received 1.04% of the vote! Adding this to Kerry's current total of 48.0%, he still only gets 49.4%, with Bush at a majority at 50.9%. Therefore, the independents did not affect the election.

You can find all the official vote counts, plus lots of other great information, such as visual maps, here at wikipedia's election page. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_2004)


Also, the country isn't as divided as people think, the electoral college map is quite decieving, as these maps show:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/2004_US_elections_purple_counties.png
High-Resolution Version (http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/purple_america_2004.gif)

This is a cartogram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartogram), where the size of each county corresponds to its relative population.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/47/Cartlinearlarge.png


*Note: Likely not 100% of the votes would go to Kerry, only a majority, but this is just an example.

[Opium]

yah know, I just wanted to say, as I always Americans saying it about America, and I really mean it:

I love Canada!

sure, we have things to work on, but so does every other country out there.

I think Canada is super-duper!

Yes, that's right, super-duper!

[Scooter]

So northwestern New Mexico is some kind of Democratic haven?

Huh. That's really -- huh.

[Nan]

That cartogram makes me feel medicated. X(

[Chancellor Valium]

Hm-hm.

I LOVE BRITAIN!

I really do, but our political system is full of left-of-centre shites. Really, truly, vote and money-obsessed people who care not an iota for the welfare of the country. Sorry, bitter and twisted over 8 years of zarking Tony zarking Blair. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ARGH GAR! GAH KLAGEUIOFDKS! etc, ad nauseam, not that many people would understand that in Britain, what with the decline of decency, morality, generosity and education in this country :roll: . sorry, [/rant-rave]

[Sa'ar Chasm]

I really do, but our political system is full of left-of-centre shites. Really, truly, vote and money-obsessed people who care not an iota for the welfare of the country.

Doesn't sound very left to me.

what with the decline of decency, morality,...

Let's not go down that road. We've just gotten over the last flame war.

[Gatac]

Oh, please, Sa'ar, that wasn't a flame war. It was far too tame. :)

Also, about political orientation: whether you're left, right or centrist doesn't influence whether you're a decent person or a numbnut. Both come in all sorts of tasty political flavours.

Gatac

[Sa'ar Chasm]

Oh, please, Sa'ar, that wasn't a flame war. It was far too tame.

Fair enough. It was rather light on gratuitous insults.

Also, about political orientation: whether you're left, right or centrist doesn't influence whether you're a decent person or a numbnut. Both come in all sorts of tasty political flavours.

Fair enough again. No one political group, creed, race or any other group holds a monopoly on general jerkedness.

(Whee! Neologisms!)

[Nan]

Except maybe Nazis.

And hopefully people will remember that flame wars are better declared on OTHER fora.

[Chancellor Valium]

I wasn't trying to start a flame war, nor was I saying that these people are bad purely for being left-wing - but look at their policies from britain's pov.....this country has been unified since approx. 870.....now look at what Blair is doing and tell me it wouldn't worry you and make you want to do something to him...Oh and these people are left-OF-CENTRE - they're in it primarily for money, and to do that they must satisfy their parties. which are mostly made up of rabidly pseudo-communists. I generalise, naturally.