* See this very interesting map at C-SPAN. As far as I can tell, it’s the best one out there.
* As I write this, there’s good reasons to believe that Ohio really is still too close to call, despite the fact that all the media outlets (including NPR!) are making it sound like it’s over. I just saw some reporter on CNN talking about how there were ballots in Ohio coming in from individual voting precincts as late as 4 am. And yet, there are lots of media outlets other than Fox talking about how Bush has it won. Rowe and Card want to declare victory, and thankfully, Kerry’s people are saying “not yet, pal.” Remember Florida my friends, remember Florida….
* If Kerry wins, it would mean he would win with less than a majority of the popular vote, which, if we were writing a Greek tragedy, would be completely appropriate. Obviously, I am a fan of Greek tragedy.
* If Bush wins, I think it means some pretty scary shit is going to hit the fan in the next few years. I heard some commentators last night talking about how Bush will have to make some concessions to the Democrats, that he will govern in the next four years from the middle, that he will appoint some Democrats to cabinet positions. Don’t bet on it, especially with the dem losses in congress. I think a more likely scenerio is an increase presence of the police state, more tax cuts for the wealthy, more sanctioned displays of Christianity, a stacked Supreme Court set to overturn things like Roe v. Wade, more war, more war, and more war.
Like I said a few days ago, my only hope is that things get so bad that there’s a swing the other way in 2008.
* The Democrats are stupid. I didn’t want to see them lose as much as they did in congress, but frankly, I’m glad Dashell lost. Stupid idiot. His “leadership” of the Senate in 2002 is what set up the Bushies in the war and for Republican gains that year. He set this whole thing up.
And what happens next, assuming Kerry loses or even if Kerry wins? The Dems are lacking for a leader, and my guess is that their initial reactions are to become more like Republicans, which I am completely convinced would be stupid stupid stupid. Making the party look like “Republican light” isn’t going to win votes; making the party look like something different, maybe even re-invoking the “L” word, would represent a choice. And look: if the party is going to go down in flames, I’d personally rather see it go down for the right causes.
* Americans are stupid. Supposedly, people voted for Bush because of the “war” on terror, because of Iraq, because of his morality. We are prosecuting the “war” on terror by holding people without representation in Cuba, by snooping into what they check out of the public library, by forgetting about Osma. We’ve gotten into a war in Iraq based on bald-faced lies– lies, I want to point out, that not one Democrat (including Kerry) was willing to actually call “lies.” We’re in a war that is looking more unwinnable, that has already killed around 10,000 Iraqis (never mind the Americans killed and injured that we already know about), and that has pissed off the rest of the world.
And Bush is seen as the “moral” candidate. Here’s a guy who has made more people poor, who sees the rich as his “base,” who made the world more unsafe, who has lied to the world in a variety of different ways, who supports the death penalty, who believes he is infallible, and who carries around a Bible. It has never been more clear to me that “morality” and “religion” are two entirely different things, and here we are, a country at war against “terror” (which seems to basically mean “Islam”), a country that is the only true super-power, here we are, supposedly the “land of the free” and all of that, and we as a people are more or less voting for a theocracy.
* Oh yeah, in Michigan (and everywhere else where it was on the ballot) gay marriage and/or civil unions are a big no-no. Great, just great…
* Maybe we can move to Canada and commute to Ypsilanti from there….
* Something else I just thought about: I was just looking at the map, the one I linked to at the top of this page, and it reminds me of something: the Civil War. Seriously, look at it. It really is damn close in terms of “borders” between the way things were in the middle of the 19th century. Are we a country moving to another “war” between the states? Probably not war in the sense of shooting at each other, but perhaps an internal “cold” war of sorts?