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Yaaaawn.
No, I am not exhausted because I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning
on November 2 glaring into a fuzzy TV set watching the polls roll in; I am
just bored. John Kerry phoned George Bush the morning after the election to
concede the race and later in the afternoon gave his concession speech.
There will be no fight over the Ohio electorate after all, where the vote
split is greater than 136,000.
Bush not only kicked Kerry's butt in Ohio, he slapped it around in Florida
too, where the vote margin for Bush was well over 376,000 votes. Luckily the
spread was such that Ralph Nader's measly 32,000 votes in the Sunshine State
cannot be to blame for Kerry's brow beating.
In fact, it is becoming clear that Nader's presence this year was not much
of a factor at all in aiding Bush's victory. Looks like all the time and
millions of dollars spent to keep Ralph off the ballot by Democrats and
their liberal cohorts, was a wasted effort. Not to mention a dumb idea.
Instead they should have used their money and energy to register Democratic
voters in Florida and Ohio. Or better yet, allocate those funds to make the
case for voting Democrat as opposed to Republican.
Another big loss for the Democrats on Tuesday was veteran Democratic Senator
Tom Daschle of South Dakota who went down in flames to his handsome younger
challenger, John Thume. The Republicans, with the help of Tom Delay's
redistricting in Texas, also extended their 12-year reign of control in the
House of Representatives.
One of the few major victories of the night for the Democrats, which came as
no surprise, was Barack Obama's landslide in Illinois. Look for a
center-left fight within the Party in the months to come. Howard Dean isn't
dead yet. In fact, Dean's progressive funds helped elect Democratic
Governor-elect Brian Schweitzer (who ran with a Republican as his Lieutenant
Governor) in the state of Montana, which is solid Republican country.
Anyway, back to Bush. It is safe to say that hatred for an incumbent is not
enough to elect a challenger. Bush is hated, no doubt. But many that
supported John Kerry were not excited about his mundane campaign. For he
failed to distinguish himself from his Republican opponent on a range of
issues -- from war to the economy, to trade and civil liberties. It was
textbook "lesser-evilism", and like Al Gore in 2000, it was a sure loser.
Let us hope that the left and those that fell victim to the pathetic Anybody
But Bush epidemic this year abandon such doctrine in elections to come. Not
only was it poor reasoning, it in fact helped re-elect George W. Bush.
Sadly, Kerry was only accountable to the Party bigwigs, and not those voters
and citizens on the ground. Had he been, the popular vote spread would not
be 3.5 million votes. At least this time around Bush's victory is not
illegitimate. He won by knockout. Kerry and his supporters should be
ashamed.
Joshua Frank is
a
contributor to CounterPunch's new election book,
A Dime's Worth of
Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils,
and is author of the forthcoming book,
Left Out! How Liberals Did Bush's Work for Him, to be published by
Common Courage Press. He welcomes comments at
frank_joshua@hotmail.com.
Other Recent Articles by Josh Frank
*
For Kerry,
It’s Not Easy Pretending to be Green
* Shooting From
the Hip: Kerry Out-Guns Bush
* The Democrats’
Own Weapons of Mass Deception
* David Cobb,
the Greens and the Sinking of the Left
* Interview with
Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb
* Fear
Mongering 101: Progressives Hit the Road for Kerry
*
Swing-Along-With-Ralph: Nader in the Battleground States
* Bombs Ahoy:
Iraq, From Clinton to Bush
* Too Many
Cameras and Not Enough Truth: John Kerry Dodges the Press
* The Green
Party Unravels From Within
* The Florida
of the Northwest: Oregon Democrats Sabotage Nader...Again
* Partisan
Protests: Not All of New York Rises Up
*
Greens at the
Crossroads: Party Fights for its Future
*
Ralph Nader as
David Duke? The ADL Wants You to Think So
*
Monkeywrench
Hope: An Interview with Jeffrey St. Clair
*
Why the 2004
Election Pretty Much Sucks
* The Outsider:
A Short Interview with Ralph Nader
* The Greens &
the Politics of Mendacity, Part II
* Greens Endorse
Kerry: The Politics of Mendacity
* Logging is Not
Restoration: Forest Battles Escalate in Oregon
* Donkeys
Buck Antiwar Support: Unity a Futile Effort
* Kerry to
Edwards: “Let's Lose!”
* No Time for
Democracy: This is an Emergency!
* The Fall:
Beltway Democrats Sink Dean
* My
America
* Ralph's
Revolt
* Forging
Alliances
* The Anybody
But Bush Offensive: Don't Back Down
* Homes
Destroyed, Death Toll Mounts: Where's Kerry?
* The Lost
Sierra Club
* Who Would
Jesus Occupy? 10 Reasons to Oppose the US Occupation of Iraq
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