Thanks for all your comments (see previous posts). A few things I have garnered since the result came out, and to think about. And worry about. Some for us outside the US and some for those who live there, whether they voted for the puppet monkey or not.
Bush has control of the House of Representatives and of Senate. He has about as much control over the US, its policies and its laws as any man has had in about 50 years. Virtually anything he wants to put through as law is likely to be passed. These things can be set to last for long beyond his term of office, and be unrepealable by any later government.
This includes, but is not limited to, banning gay marriages, banning stem sell research, banning abortion. Note the fact that all of these would please the bible-bashers who voted for him. Despite living in very poor states in the middle of the country, people voted Bush. Why? He’s “patriotic” because he’s taken the fight elsewhere. He’s a god-botherer like them. He’s a good-old redneck country-boy, like them.
In other words, they’ve voted for him because they see him as one of their own, not because they believe in his policies. What they’ve failed to do is to look at themselves first. In their poor homes. Unemployed. Unable to afford medical care. All things that Kerry promised he’d help with.
For the sake of their hardline religious views, their view that everyone else should be restricted for their beliefs… they’re prepared to live in squalor. OK, it’s all very christian but it’s also all very ******* stupid.
Looking across the bands of who voted for which candidate (there’s a great breakdown here at CNN) the lines are obvious. The more money you earn, the more likely you are to vote for Bush. The less white you are, the more likely you are to vote for Kerry. Youngsters and first-time voters tended to vote for Kerry which may bode well in the next election.
An interesting one is education. Those with virtually no education (and likely therefore from a poor background) would be more likely to go Kerry. Similarly, those at the top-end of the brain-scale with post-grad qualifications would also vote for him. Everyone in the middle… Bush.
Religion. Protestants and Catholics – Bush. All other deniminations and those who have seen common sense – Kerry. Another near-straight line graph as with income is church attendance. The more often you attend church, the more likely you’ll vote for Bush. Well, you’ll need to seek repentance for voting the little **** in. Get down to confession now!
Gays hate Bush (play with that phrase all you like) while gun-lovers won’t let you prise their Bush vote from their cold, dead fingers. Funnily enough, people who were most concerned about education, Iraq, the economy and education voted for Kerry. Those more concerned about taxes, terrorism and moral values went Bush’s way, as did those who are wealthier since Bush took office. In other words, those who are rich and would lose most on tax increases (greedy), the paranoid gun-nuts (rednecks) and bible-bashing jesus-freaks who want to impose their narrow-minded views on other people wanted Bush back in office. Anyone bothered about matters which would affect the country as a whole went with Kerry. I think this is the most telling statistic of all.
The main issue, though is Iraq. Did people want to keep the current president so he’d deal with it? In some ways, that makes sense. Keep the same person in charge of the troops. But when the war was illegal? Unecessary? I heard one guy (loud redneck) on the news going on about how the US was right to be in Iraq as we had to take the fight to them and protect the West from the evil Saddam.
Erm… Saddam wasn’t a threat though, was he? To his own people, yes. To us over here, no. Remember the complete lack of WMDs?
The next stage, though, is what next? Will he withdraw from Iraq? Or will he move on to Iran? North Korea? China? OK, China would be a push as they might actually fight back but hey – they’re all commies and they’re a threat to the west.
If Bush pushes on, his already thin resources will be spread further. They’ve already kept draftees on for longer than their initial contract and refused to allow soldiers to return home. What next? Well, where do you get soldiers from in times of war when numbers are short?
You stage a draft.
Lock up your sons, America. Bush will be coming for them.

“Gays hate Bush” — apparently, according to a CNN report, 33% or something of gay people voted for Bush. 45% for Kerry.
can we have a none of the above option? I think thats would be a good way of showing the willing…but believe all these wooden politicians are about as good as a chocolate tea pot.
I believe the only things being opened up for referendum are giving the north it’s own regional parliament and (possibly) taking on the Euro as a currency.
I appreciate the cost etc of putting things to the vote like that, but surely that would be the sign of a true democracy? Something that will affect many, many people should be decided by them. While our representatives are voted in, there’s no guarantee that they will act in our interests for everything. Hence the need.
Not that it’ll ever happen. Hey ho.
I have done. Ours are **** as well.
Labour suck.
Tories are Labour under a different name. They only exist to shout at each other.
LibDem are too pro-Europe
Green Party are too pro-drugs
BNP are a bunch of thugs
All IMHO, of course. But I’d rather not vote for any of them.
I know the Tory’s were more in support of Kerry. Which I suppose my help to explain why he lost…
I was flicking through a paper this morning (can’t remember which one) and it was going on about a poll released “yesterday” which gave all the details I posted originally. The poll… by CNN.
Funny. The CNN poll I read came out on Tuesday/Wednesday. Which is older than Thursday which was yesterday. I think what they mean to say is “one of our reporters stumbled up on this on the internet yesterday”.
And I can’t run for parliament. I live in Bradford. I’m neither Asian nor a Nazi. I wouldn’t have a chance.
I would like to point out that the tac breaks were a great way to keep people happy… until you look at the overall effect they’ve had on your country’s economy. Frankly – it’s ******. The US hasn’t been in a worse state for *decades*.
The dollar is at the lowest I’ve ever seen it, trading at around $1.80 upwards to the pound. It’s very believable that it’ll be $2 to the pound soon.
This, in turn weakens the US’ ability to economicaly receive imports, which in turn is shafting the European economy.
So… Erin’s nice little tax break is affecting me adversely. And I’m not happy!
I’ve suggested that in the past. I’ve never voted in a general electon because I just don’t like *any* of the options. I won’t vote for the 75% of a party’s policies I do like if I disagree with 25%.
i *would* vote for a party that decreed that every major policy decision would be open to a referendum.
Interesting. I live in Texas. I may be the only American here.:) My hubby voted for Bush as some of my friends. None of them are Christian (they are pagan). But they are in the minority. I voted for Kerry. My hubby and I fought visiously over the election. He voted for Bush because of the tax breaks we received while he was in office. Personally, I don’t think it was Bush. But, that is another story. I also heard that about 40-something % of Texans voted for Kerry. That says something, coming from Bush’s home state.:)
It won’t just be there sons this time though… Hmmm, or will he keep the girls out of it to protect his daughters???
Ohhh, but then again, why kill his own when theres a country being lead by another muppet who may be willing to sacrifice their own! Or are we really going to let Blair lead us all up Bush’s arse… Election looming here too next year!
Its worrying really, cause Bush is the Conservative in America!
But then again, looking at the state of the Tory party, do we want them instead of Labour… maybe you can look into British politics with as much vigour as you have the Americans?
now I like that idea, on a lot of things I think why can’t we just vote on it, fox hunting is one of my more recent ones.
The whole point of voting for someone in your area is so they will represent you in parliment on those sorts of issues… if you really aren’t that happy, stand yourself. You will never agree with 100% of a partys policies because you are too opinionated on a very broad range of topics.
And lets not bring Fox Hunting into this again 🙂