Kerry has officially conceded. I’m glad, since (a) it seemed extremely unlikely that Ohio would go for him, (b) the margin in Ohio was larger than that in Pennsylvania, which would have been the cue for Dueling Lawyers. Dragging things out longer under these circumstances would have merely been petulant, and made those who voted for Bush happier about having done so.
So Bush has a second term. I suspect, just given the lessons of history, that this will be neither the Apocalypse nor the Second Coming that some of his detractors and supporters, respectively, expect. But, as has been pointed out, it’s now all him. The decisions made on Iraq, the economy, on social issues, have been, in a very general but decisive sense, given the nod by a majority of the American people. Where we go from here on each of those is no longer bound up in electoral politics, but on the merits. The debate about what we should have done is effectively over, except for the historians of a generation hence. It’s about what is being done now that counts.
Well that sucks…
At least he could have waited the 11 days for all the votes to be counted.
Oh well.
Actually he’ll continue to do what he has done in the past four years. Everything that goes wrong will some how be the Democrats and Clinton’s fault.
Eleven days would not win him the election. Conceding now doesn’t necessarily change any of the contests.
Actually he’ll continue to do what he has done in the past four years. Everything that goes wrong will some how be the Democrats and Clinton’s fault.
I don’t think that dog will hunt, so to speak. I think folks have been willing to give him something of a pass in some areas regarding the previous administration and the events of 9-11. But I think that extended honeymoon is officially over.
I return to my prediction of a few weeks back: unless things improve dramatically in both the economy and internationally, expect to see much of that GOP increase in Congress (if not all of it or more) go away at the mid-terms, and, barring some major gaffe of a candidate selection, a Democratic win of the White House in 2008.
The closest analog of this election was the election of 1896. Note the similarity of the map with 2004. In fact, Carl Rove used the election for his strategy. The results in 1896:
McKinley (R) 51.0%
Bryan (D) 46.7%
Other 2.3%
Would that Kerry had been half the orator that Bryan was.
Rich
And since the Republican economic, social model is to roll back ever freedom, and advancement from TR onward, McKinley is very fitting ideal for them.
Dave
Since “Morals” and “security”, and not the economy and international relations are what matter for the folks that voted for Bush, He can keep trotting that little chestnut out and people will keep buying it. They’ve not blamed him for anything else that has gone wrong, or all the lies he and his people have told over the past 4 years, so I don’t see that changing at all. The press in this country has been significatly cowed to the point that any time the report antthing that might reflect badly on the Dear leader, The mighty wurlitzer and the echo chamber come out to beat it back into submission. The press will keep unquestioningly reporting everything he says as fact and not even fact checking it.
The man has yet to veto anything the republican controlled congress has ever passed. He has threatened to veto things that the democrats have tried to do, but never the GOP. The GOP will keep spending like drunken sailors and it’ll be blamed on the Dems. He’ll continue to nominate racists and Neanderthals for Judicial positions and scream blood murder when the Dems try their best to block them (except for the racists and Neanderthals that get elected coughCoburncough). He’ll continue to misstate historical facts and the bobbleheads on TV will go “yup, yup, yup…” He’ll continue to say one thing and do the exact opposite and make all sorts of claims afterwards about how he was really or/against it all along.
Maybe we can all look forward to HUAC 2.