As for Senator John Kerry, I fully expected him to lose this election and have expected him to lose for months now. Anyone that has been a faithful reader of "The Vortex" knows that I hold a high level of disdain for him and his campaign managers. So his loss, no matter how close, comes as no surprise to me. He flat out sucked!
My mind keeps going back to the Primary's and the Caucuses-one of which I voted in- and hearing that so many people were going to vote for John Kerry. I asked many of my friends why they were voting for him. The most of them couldn't respond with a politically based answer. Each of them only noted that they had heard that "he can beat Bush."
Well, I was all for beating Bush, but since we had an array of viable candidates to choose from at the time, I questioned why we didn't back someone that actually had clear-cut views and would promote the change that my friends and I desired. To me, Kerry was not that guy then, and we find that what many of my friends heard was wrong now.
One of the biggest flaws with Kerry's campaign (and there were many) was that he came off as a guy that would say anything for political gain. This is the same reason why I was turned off by Al Gore in the 2000 election, in light of the Elian Gonzalez situation. Neither candidate came across as men with strong conviction. Bush, on the other hand, comes off as someone with unrivaled resolve, so much so that people even back him when he is unmistakeably wrong. People are enchanted by someone who is steadfast. This is certainly one of the reasons that both Gore in 2000, and Kerry in 2004, have come off as weak candidates.
Then there's Kerry's sorry campaign effort. This man didn't become a legitimate Presidential candidate until after the 1st debate. Before that he had no direction and his public image was that of a man who had no goals and couldn't make up his mind. I was appauled at the things he wasn't saying and couldn't believe that Bush was getting away with saying nothing. I honestly feel like Kerry's campaign strategists didn't want him to win this election (he changed managers just prior to the debates). I feel like they wanted him to lose so that another Democrat, probably Hilary Clinton, can run in 2008.
All of the left-leaning news anchors and talk show hosts could tell Kerry what he needed to say, I could rationalize what was wrong with this nation and Bush, and my 12-year-old cousin could give a run down of everything that anyone ever needed to know in order to beat Bush. Still, you mean to tell me that his campaign strategists, who get paid to do this as their career, couldn't direct Kerry as to how to beat Bush??? PLEASE!!!
I was so angry that I often found myself yelling and balling my fist at the tv in disgust as I watched Kerry get bashed by Bush, and as he missed opportunity after opportunity to address Bush's multitudinous flaws. For real, Kerry sucked from day one, and he only continued to suck as the season progressed. He finally became the candidate that Democrats thought they were nominating in the Spring after the debates, when he could have raised the same issues he raised in the debates months and months before.
I can only hope that in the future, the Democrats produce a candidate that has the credibility and the conviction that is necessary to win. Gore didn't have it, and Kerry was far worse than Gore. Maybe a Howard Dean (who was adamantly opposed to the War) or a Dick Gephardt (who had a strong Senate record with a lowly upbringing) should be the prototype for the kind of candidate we nominate next time. And next time, I hope we can have a good reason for nominating the candidate that we nominate and not some silly hear-say basis.
But hats off to the Bush Campaign. I have never seen a better campaign put together in my life, and I don't think I will ever again see such a great show put on by someone who had so little to work with. Consider this:
- Health Care cost are up more than 30% and 5 Million have lost Health Care under Bush's watch
- He is the 1st President in 75 years to lose jobs under his watch
- Numerous civil right's, such as abortion and affirmative action, have been challenged at his request
- We have far less friends and many more enemies abroad because of his policies
- The national debt is at an all-time high and climbing fast
- The Public Schools systems are underfunded and struggling to meet the demands of his NCLB bill at the expense of many after school and liberal arts programs
- Over 1,100 US service men have been killed in a war that we didn't have to wage, all while there is no end in sight to the quagmire of conflict in Iraq
- The number 1 terror suspect, whom Bush vowed to hunt down, is still at large and was largely overlooked by his administration because of the unnecessary Iraq War
And still, he was re-elected! Now he was certainly aided by Kerry's pathetic run, but that's a Beast. Bush couldn't make a legitimate political case for anything, in my opinion, here or overseas.
So he didn't!
Bush's platform was basically "let's pray," "no gays," "no Roe v. Wade," "I say what I'm gonna do and I do it (no matter if I'm right)," and "a vote against me is a vote against God." And to aid him in his lack of a message, Kerry's sad showing gave Bush the opportunity to go around the nation repeating the same three sound bytes: "my opponent is a flip-flopper," "you may not agree with me but you know where I stand," and "you can't lead if you keep sending mixed messages."
Great platform, huh?
Well like it or not, it won him re-election. His victory is due not only to Kerry's slackness, but also to the silly Christian Convervative Right, that seems to believe that Bush is some sort of Messiah and that we live in a Theocratic Government. As a Christian myself, I'd really like to know what it is that people think is so "Christ-like" about Bush that he should be the leader of the Free World when he clearly has some un-Christ-like views and certainly a pathetic Presidential record. This is a Democracy people, not a Theocracy. Therefore we need a President that can Democratically lead this country, not someone who isn't capable of even listening to any form of opposition. And if you want a Christian to be President, I can list a litany of Christians that hold political office who are certainly more qualified politically, socially and economically than Bush.
In closing, I must admit, I am petrified for this nation. We have virtually no friends in this world, and the ones that we do have are diminishing and becoming weak (trust me, Tony Blair won't be joining Bush in the re-elected column in the UK when his term's up). We are so far in debt here that the future is bleak, either for us later in life, or our children; someone's gonna have to pay this money back at some time. We need some serious help on the social front. We have never been so hateful towards one another or divided in recent years as a country.
Plainly put, for the United States of America in these coming years, I am scared!
-Maelstrom
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