Purple USA

Found this on the web. When Bush thinks he's received a mandate, maybe he should look at this representation of America:



Quite a difference in perspective. Also, another version here: Stars and STRIPES

Also, for those scared about the future, check out how us kids voted: The Kids Are Alright

Where Kerry Went Wrong

The ideas were right. The policy was right.

But the campaign was wrong.

When you've got people... excuse me.. goblins like Karl Rove willing to do anything to win, you can't help them out. You can't be on defense. Maybe that's where Bush's terrorism policy is most useful: A strong offense is the best defense.

Kerry didn't lose because he was out of touch with America. He lost because his campaign was too slow to attack. With all of Bush's mistakes, the democrats should have had a field day. But they laid off, until it was already too late. Perhaps they too were caught up with patriotic fervor, the reluctance to criticize the commander-in-chief.

Newsweek has a great, brief breakdown of the Kerry campaign: Kerry Vs. Bush

Kerry had early momentum. He had blasted through the primaries quicker than any democratic candidate in recent history. But that momentum was killed by Kerry's reluctance to take on Bush on the topic of Iraq.

And then there was the flip flop quote, the one that the Bush campaign (and the media) seized upon. I didn't think this had much of a real effect at the time, but speaking to a moron... I mean.. Bush supporter after the election, I realized how huge Kerry's mistake had been. It planted the seed of doubt, and the Republican hate machine was more than willing to water it.

Kerry didn't come out strong against Bush's Iraq policy until very late. Perhaps he was fearful that Iraq would turn around, and he'd come off looking like a pessimist. Whatever the reason, Kerry was not saying the things his supporters wanted to hear so badly. Mainly-- that Bush had fucked up.

Because of this, Kerry allowed Bush to go on offense. Kerry allowed Bush to talk about gay marriage instead of Iraq. You think if Kerry was hammering Bush every day about Iraq that Bush would have been able to say even three words about gay marriage??

Kerry was too often on the defensive. When he went on offense, the tide turned in his favor. Winning those three debates set him in the right direction. And his last month, criticizing Bush's ignorance of the missing explosives, failure to catch Bin Laden, etc., brought Kerry back into the race, made it close. But Kerry was too far behind. He had dug a hole by responding to Rove's spin with long winded explanations-- that made sense, but, appropriately, sounded defensive. He should have deflected those attacks by attacking Bush-- something that he also started to do late in the game, when he turned around Bush's quote about "jumping to conclusions."

I loved it when he did that. And Kerry's last month solidified me behind him.

But the damage had already been done.

I hope the democrats don't take this election as a sign that they have to abandon their stances on social issues and pander to the far right. The truth is, the right isn't gonna fall for us. What can the democrats do?

Stop being (expletive for woman's reproductive opening, starts with p)s !!!!!!!

The democrats need to be strong. Solidify their base and attack the Republicans for their pro big business, anti-labor, excessive spending and war mongering. The democrats have to be on offense the entire time. When Cheney said Kerry threw away his war medals, and made a case out of it, Kerry should have responded with, "I don't think a guy with five deferments from the military has the right to question my sacrifice for this country." Instead of attacking the interviewer and accusing him of being a Republican.

Kerry should have gone on Bill O'Reilly. He should have gone on and stuck it to Bush. But he didn't.

(Instead we whined that O'Reilly was a republican hack. So? Your point?)

Kerry should have called Bush on his WMD jokes and that infamous golf swing-- but get this.. HE WAS TOO AFRAID OF WHAT THE REPUBLICANS WOULD SAY!!!!

He was afraid the republicans would paint him in bed with Michael Moore. (Not a pretty picture.) But the truth is, so what? Michael Moore, for all the 300 pounds of asshole that he is, WAS RIGHT!!!

My point is, the dems lost not because they weren't right. Not because they're out of touch. Not even because the racists got to the polls this year. They lost because they were a bunch of sweaty, unshaven (expletive for a woman's reproductive opening starting with a p)s.

It's time to stop being those, and start being just as big dicks as the republicans.

Caused if we don't, we're gonna get fucked.

Finally, The Explanation!



The Answer::CLICK HERE!!!!

P.S. (Nov. 7th) This seems like a more accurate assessment, from a more credible source: Morgan Quinto Education Rankings Note: Still 8 of the top 10- Kerry supporters. And who knew Californians were that stupid? (Actually, they DID vote for Ahhhrnold)

Spinning Heads

So the Republicans won.

Bush energized his base. 93% of them voted for him. Meanwhile, Only 88% of Democrats voted for Kerry. That cost Kerry the election.

Who are these democrats that voted for Bush?

Well. A lot of them are old and senile and forget what Bush has done the last four years. Some of them just moved in from the Carribbean. A few are Jews that think Kerry slept with Yasser Arafat.

And some, shockingly, are people like you and me-- except they bought the Republican spin.

And its these people-- the ones that continue to say "Well, I didn't like Bush, but I didn't trust Kerry," that really are the ones to blame for our future. Which, if you haven't been paying attention, looks like this:

A gay man walks down the street. He is beaten by a gang of thugs. The police catch the thugs, ask them why they beat the gay man. The thugs respond-- "Well, he's different. He's not like us." "Who told you that?" The police respond. "Your parents?"

"No," the thugs respond, "Our President."

A 14-year old girl is raped. She goes to the doctor. The doctor tells her she's pregnant.

"What can I do Doc?"

"Build a nursery," the doctor responds.

Coathanger sales go up.

A woman puts an American flag on her front lawn.

"What's that?" A passing child asks.

"Oh, this is what the symbol of our country was before they changed it to the cross."

Two soldiers huddle in a bunker. The sound of gunfire echoes outside.

"When we going home, Phil? When are we going home?"

"Whenever they stop 'supporting' us, Ted."

Two congressmen walk into the capitol building.

"Remember before this place was called the Halliburton Building?"

"Yeah, and when the Carlyle House used to be called the White House."

"You wanna do lunch at that cafe by the Marlboro Monument?"

"Sure, right after we confirm this racist judge."

This is the future you get when you place people in power who have made it abundantly clear they favor the bigoted and the arrogant. This is what you get when you elect people who have flaunted their involvement with special interests and violent war mongers.

I spoke with some people who voted for Bush. They said these things, which I will disprove via a new method of incorporating facts.

Myth:
"Kerry is a flip-flopper."

Reality:
Kerry voted for the 87 million when the bill had pages saying how the bill would be funded. In other words, he voted for the bill when it made sense.

Then the Republicans took out those pages. And clipped on some pages declaring Teresa Heinz Kerry a ripe bitch. (note: I'm paraphrasing)

So he voted against it.

This happens all the time, with democrats and republicans. Bush voted against creating the 9/11 commission when he thought he would actually have to answer their questions ALONE! The nerve of that 9/11 commission, putting him on the spot like that. He flip-flopped after enormous public pressure, as long as he could have Cheney by his side, answering for him.

Myth:
By voting for Bush, I'm supporting our troops.

Reality:
While many of our troops are staunch republicans (they like their guns), this doesn't mean voting for a democrat doesn't support our troops.

It's the Republican leadership that is responsible for sending them to Iraq without body armor and adequate equipment. Its the ineptness of Donald Rumsfeld that put our troops in harms way without any plan to get them out.

By re-electing Bush, you're saying that every decision he made is right, from going to war, to allowing the massive looting and chaos after the fall of Baghdad that caused the Iraqis to hate us, to denying that the US had to follow the Geneva Conventions (there was a prison scandal about this) to failing to secure dangerous explosive depots, to his failure to destroy the insurgency.

It's not the troops you supported with your vote, instead, you supported the guy who is getting them killed with his incompetence.

Myth: Kerry Looks like Frankenstein

Reality: I think he looks more like the tree guy from Lord of the Rings.

Myth: Kerry's immoral

Reality: When Kerry saw atrocities being committed by US troops against Vietnamese civilians, he committed political suicide to expose it. This is after he saved the lives of his crewmates. Kerry helped bring down organized crime as a prosecutor in Massachusettes. Meanwhile, Bush did coke and used his Dad to get out of going to war. Bush was "born again" only after he nearly drank himself to death, and had been arrested for drunken driving. Bush hasn't acknowledged the deaths of any soldiers in Iraq to this day, refusing to attend a funeral, refusing to even visit Arlington National Cemetery. Bush ran a primary campaign against John McCain which accused McCain of fathering a black illegitamate child, in order to destroy the senator's presidential bid. Bush joked about WMD at a fundraising event, while soldiers died looking for them. Maybe we just have different views on morality. Obviously Bush voters think it comes down to whether a gay man can live like a human being or not.

"Moral Values" as defined by Bush, are putting abortion doctors and poor teenage mothers in the chair, restricting stem cell research, and declaring, by constitutional amendment, that "all men are created equal... except when they like men."

That's some pretty great morality there.

Myth: Kerry is weak on terrorism.

He was a war hero in Vietnam. He brought down organized crime. He is a sane individual.

Does anybody in their right mind think that Kerry doesn't take terrorism seriously?

90% of the containers entering our ports go unchecked. The cargo holds of planes go unchecked. Bush took thousands of police officers off the streets. Bush put ASSAULT weapons (the name the NRA gave them, not the liberals) back on the streets. Bush is giving New Yorkers and Washington D.C. residents less terrorism defense money per person than Alaska.

Bush has helped aid AL Queda recruiting. Terrorism attacks have gone UP in the last four years, not down.

Bin Laden is still free because Bush decided to send warlords instead of special forces to get him.

Is anybody paying attention?

No. If you're a Bush voter, it means you heard "flip-flopper," "weak," and "global test" and you ate it: hook, line and sinker. You decided that "flip flopper" sounded bad, and you decided to trust a president who insists that Clear Skies need more pollution, Healthy Forests need to be cut down, and Shock and Awe is more important than Smart and Well Planned. My head is spinning.

Get a clue!

Yeah yeah. Now is time to heal as a nation, blah blah blah. Enjoy the next four years. I know Osama will.

Black Tuesday

Today will be a day that millions of people will regret for the rest of their lives.

Four years from now, the election will not matter.

Freedom, decency, tolerance, peace died today.

Bigotry, Arrogance, Greed and Violence are our new gods.

Today Bush supporters celebrate, dancing in the streets. In four years, lets see if their sons and daughters are still alive, or off fighting in Korea.

I wish I could imagine things getting better. I wish I could believe it didn't really matter, that whoever our president is, we'll still retain the ability to live our lives in peace.

But given what I've seen, I can't have that faith.

Religious people voted for a man who has willingly sent their kids to die for oil. Moral values outweighed our security, the war in iraq, the deficit that will drive us to bankruptcy, Russian-style.

Religious people voted in a guy who was doing coke while Kerry was saving lives in Vietnam.

Religious people voted in a guy who has destoryed God's green earth more than any President in the modern era.

All because the guy said God and Jesus a couple times on the stump, and appealed to their hatred for gay people, gay people that most of them had never met.

In the end, the swing voters swung and missed. They listened to lies over reason. Strong wrongs over smart rights. And we will all suffer.

Evangelical Christians. Didn't they use to call these guys the Klu Klux Klan? Isn't calling them evangelicals worse than calling the Nazis the Socialist Party?

And old people. Congrats. You won't be alive to see how this election destroyed our lives. Good job voting for a guy who cut veteran's benefits, resists cheaper prescription drugs from canada, and favors big HMOs over patients.

Nov. 2nd 2004 will destroy this country. Rome wasn't built in a day, but it fell pretty damn fast.

Today we fell, because people confused God and goodness with the pandering lies of George Bush.

They confused strength with wisdom.

God Bless the swing states. They'll need it.

We all will.

Election Day!


People outside my old dorm. Someone bring the Republicans Hayden Caf Food!

Appeal From A Blue State

Dear Swing Voters, Republicans, Disenfranchised Democrats,

This is it. The Last day. The 11th hour. Tomorrow the polls will open and the future of the nation will lie in the balance. By now, chances are your decision has been made, and very little can convince you otherwise. But if you'll allow me a final appeal, I just have one more thing to say.

The top issue in this election, as defined by the voters, is homeland security. Who can we trust to keep us safe? Who will be the best man to have in the White House when the terrorists try and strike again? Who can help us avoid another 9/11?

Perhaps there are only two groups of people that can truly answer that question with any authority. The people from the two places hit hardest on that morning. The people of New York and Washington D.C.

On September 10th, I went to bed late. It was the first week of college, and my roommates and I still hadn't gotten the summer out of our systems. I went to bed feeling nothing but some lightheadedness. I didn’t have class until 12 that next day.

I woke up to see my roommate standing next to my bed. He had just turned on the television. I opened my eyes slowly, blinking them from the light filtering in through the window. “What’s going on?”

“A plane hit the twin towers.”

At the time, none of us really knew what had happened. The newscaster was saying it was most likely an accident. I closed my eyes, disturbed, but not unsettled. Then the phone rang. It was my mother.

“Don’t use this as an excuse not to go to class,” she said.

I hung up, and looked at the tower, looking like a chimney on the television screen. I was watching when the plane cut through the second tower.

My mom called again. “Don’t go to class,” she said.

When we left our dorm, at 14th street, the sun was bright, it was warm but with a cool breeze. We left through the glass doors, out into Union Square.

I’ll never forget it.

Everyone. Everyone in the entire square was frozen. They were all staring downtown. As we stepped off the sidewalk and into the street, we saw it come into view.

The towers were on fire.

If there ever was a vision of the end of the world, chances are it couldn’t have been anywhere close to as real as that moment. Dead silence in New York City, home to taxicab horns, headset cell phones and shouting solicitors.

Silence. Only faces. Staring at the same thing.

We went inside a couple minutes later. We couldn’t say a word to one another. What could we say. All that came out was silence, some bits of denial, a feeling that we weren’t yet awake.

We were back in the apartment and watching the TV when the towers folded in on themselves.

When we went outside again, they were gone. Nothing but the largest, thickest cloud of smoke I’d ever seen and never hope to see again.

Everybody stunned. A hundred faces in Union Square, all looking at the same thing. All incapable of any thought. It surged through your body, something collapsed inside. It caused some people to crumple where they stood, as others standing nearby when over, strangers putting their arms around strangers, not strangers anymore.

When they started to come, a few at first, gray dust obscuring their faces, we stood and stared, no sure what to do. Not sure what to say. The flow picked up and soon there was a flood, businessmen without briefcases, some of their pants tattered. Everyone dulled that same shade of gray. An ambulance passed by, screaming. Shaking off that same sick gray.

You know this. You know what you saw on TV, what you’ve read. What you’ve heard from friends and relatives. Even if you’re lucky enough to have never smelled that iron laced air, you felt the loss of innocence we all felt. How could you not? This wasn’t an attack against America. This was an attack against America’s people. This was an attack against you.

But here’s what you didn’t see. People stopping together on street corners to applaud the passing fire engines. Thousands of people in the park, holding candles, crying on the shoulders of total strangers. The scene as you walked in Union Square, fences painted with the faces of the missing, people curled up in the streets and passerby curling up next to them. College kids putting 20’s in Red Cross jars, clearing the shelves of Duane Reade to send supplies to Ground Zero.

We felt angry, sure. But even more we felt together. Our sadness became our link. We suddenly had respect for one another. New York City, for almost 300 years has been a place of fierce ethnic lines, tension between police and public, and rude cabbies, cutting off traffic. In the aftermath, you couldn’t hear a car horn. You didn’t hear a fight. You saw a cop and you thanked him. In the aftermath, we were united. We talked about rebuilding. We talked about how lucky we were to be alive, how stupid we had been to care about all the insignificant little nothings that occupied our thoughts, before. We didn’t feel strong, we felt weak. And from that weakness came the need to find solace in one another, to embrace our neighbors, to appreciate our differences.

We supported the war in Afghanistan. We talked about rebuilding the towers in Kabul. We cheered George W. Bush in Yankee stadium. We cried during God Bless America. Still do.

But then. Then Bush said we had to go to Iraq. And more than a couple of us wondered why. We had just lost nearly 3,000 of our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, friends, cousins, neighbors. We didn’t feel arrogant. We felt sad. We wanted Bin Laden to pay. But Saddam? He was bad but, what did he do to us? We were confused.

And as the reports come now, worse and worse each day from the battlefront, we mourn the loss of our soldiers in a very different way from the loss of our heroes on 9/11. We mourn our soldiers with angry grief, because we know we could have stopped it. We know their deaths were not inevitable. We mourn with confusion, we mourn with protest. We lost our hearts on 9/11. Now we’re losing our minds.

Over 1,000 soldiers dead because of what? Because our President decided to use 9/11, and our grief, our loss as justification for a broader war? Meanwhile, our soldier’s sacrifice, and the sacrifice of the men and women who died on 9/11 is in vain. The murderer walks free, and gets free air time.

On November 2nd, New York and Washington D.C. will vote for John Kerry. The two places that got hit hardest by terrorism will be voting for a man our president calls “weak on terror.” The two places that learned the most about themselves, the most about each other, the most about terrorism and how it can change the course of a life, will have their citizens step into voting booths tomorrow and select a flip-flopper for Commander-in-Chief. The results will not be close. And this is from a state with a Republican governor, a city with a republican mayor, and a city where George Bush has lived for the past four years. On November 2nd, we will vote Bush out of office because we believe he has not made us safer. Not with the pitiful funds he’s given us. Not with this war that he’s given us. Not with the lies and policies that he’s given us, which have severed our bonds of unity and thrown them to the dogs of the religious right.

On November 2nd, New York and Washington D.C. will be blue.

We know what we’re doing.

Bin Laden Speaks

Replacing Conan on the Late Late Show: Osama Bin Laden!!!!!

Yes, he was once the world's most feared terrorist leader, but ever since Bush said "I'm not really worried about him," his approval rating has gone up uP UP!!!!

Yeah, he should have been killed by U.S. forces year ago, but luckily he escaped, due to the fact the armies surrounding him at Tora Bora were... you guessed it: Al queda sympathizers!

This guy has staying power... and he looks GREAT!! Did you hear some of his zingers on Bush, the evil monarch!? Classic.

Yes, we at NBC feel he is sort of a controversial figure. But so is Bill O'Reilly! He had a huge sexual harrassment scandal, and his ratings went through the roof!!!!!

In all seriousness... people think this video helps Bush?

Shouldn't it remind everyone of Bush's collassal failure???

In case you need reminding, before Iraq and Flipper: The Attack of the Republican Clones, there was this thing called 9/11.

It happened while the president was at a photo op. A photo op he stayed at for seven minutes.

It happened after the "president" spent the bulk of his first year hanging around his texas ranch, chopping wood. Sometime during his stay at his ranch, he received a report saying "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S." Misunderstanding the title, Bush assumed Bin Laden was going to walk off his job and picket the loss of health benefits at his grocery store. He then went to bed, even though it was only 3:00 p.m., an hour after he had been rudely awakened by a fly buzzing by the window.

Read chapter 8 of the 9/11 report, a book that, if you haven't read, you shouldn't be voting. The summer of 2001, the system was "blinking red." There were so much intelligence on threats pouring in that Richard Clarke cancelled vacation for his entire staff.

Meanwhile, Bush chopped some wood.

The 9/11 report is very concilliatory, allowing that the attack probably couldn't have been prevented. But it's less concilliatory than the republican line would have you believe. While Bush and Cheney continue to say the 9/11 report found links between Osama and Saddam, the truth is, the report disparages any such links.

Whatever you believe about the attacks inevitability-- don't you find it the least bit disturbing that with all these threats, we issued NO ALERT!?!?!

Of course, no one lower on the totem pole had the initiative. And Bush was too busy watching the tumbleweeds blow by.

But ok, lets say it couldn't have been stopped. So what could Bush do? Oh yeah. REVENGE!

Get the guy who did this. Get the guy who killed innocent Americans, some of the best and brightest.

Of course, there was a problem with Afghanistan. Not a lot of oil. And while Bin Laden had killed a bunch of Americans, he didn't, as Bush said "try and kill my daddy."

So we had Bin Laden surrounded, but Bush was busy pulling U.S. troops out of afghanistan to fight the real terrorist. Saddam, not the guy he "wasn't too concerned about."

So Osama escaped.

And the soldiers left in Afghanistan are less than the number of police officers in New York City.

So lets assume that makes sense, and we'll move on.

So Saddam is the new Laden. The only problem is, Saddam hasn't killed an American since 1992. So how do we justify this war?

Hmm. What scares people? Human rights violations? Nah. Angry rhetoric against Israel? That only scares the Jews. No, no, I got it... WMD!!!!!

So we say Bin Laden's got the bomb... I mean Saddam... damn, theyre so interchangable! They're both foreign!!!

So Saddam's got the bomb. But no one believes us. Because the weapons inspectors have been there, havent seen anything. Because the only proof we have is Bush's drawing of a bomb, which looks something like a potato, which he's paperclipped to a photo of saddam.

But yeah, the UN hates Saddam. They're not fans of him. They're willing to go along. "Just wait a sec," they tell us. "Lets see if we can get him to let our inspectors back in to check stuff out. Let's avoid the deaths of our soldiers and innocent iraqis and the wrath of the muslim world if we can."

Bush: "No way! Cheney's runnin dry! We need some OIL! I mean... WMD!!!!!"

So we go in alone. Oh yeah, and England. Oh... and don't forget Poland. And those three guys from Guam. "Fuck the world, we America! America Bad Ass!!!!"

Baghdad falls in days. Bush dresses in a flight uniform, lands on an aircraft carrier, and under a banner saying "Mission Accomplished," says the fighting is over, and WMD are almost found.

Meanwhile, congress passes a law changing French Fries to Freedom Fries.

One problem. Those pesky soldiers. They just keep dying. And the media! The damn media keeps wanting to show those coffins!

Another problem. "Eh, those WMDs... well. We kinda.. well... we exaggerated a bit. Well. Alot."

But its all good. Bush can laugh about it. He bends over, looks under his desk. "No WMDs here!" What a riot!!!!

Some explosives go missing, the Green Zone becomes the red zone, we find out the statue of saddam was torn down by American soldiers, not Iraqi civilians, and guess what... those damn Iraqis have some sort of problem with their houses and wedding parties being bombed and being subject to random house to house searches.

Free elections in January!!!! (Except 80% of Iraq might vote for the second coming of hitler)

Ok. So these are facts. They're not propoganda. They're not liberal lies, although my take on them may be colored with some liberal cynicism. These are facts.

So after some political commercials, a gay-marriage bill designed to divide the country further, and a debate including the question: What have you learned from your wife? BIN LADEN COMES BACK ON THE SCENE.

Remember him?

How is this guy still alive? How is he still the head of an organization which never had its largest membership in Iraq, but in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, and the UAE? How?

Read above.

This Bin Laden video helping Bush? The very fact that Bin Laden is alive to make a tape should be the death knell for a Bush second term.

Should be. But people are stupid (sorry, I mean "swing voters"). They worry that Bin Laden is a Kerry backer.

Which is odd, because it's not Kerry who's responsible for higher recruitment, higher prestige, and higher motivation in Al Queda.

It's not Kerry who let Bin Laden live to see another day.

It's Bush.

A vote for Bush applauds Bin Laden's freedom.
A vote for Bush supports terror.

Hmm, you know what?

I guess Bin Laden did mean for his tape to help Bush.

I stand corrected.