Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004
Home sick, heartsick, posted at 10:34 a.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I left work early today, for the first time ever. I've been getting a cold lately. I thought I had fended it off, but today it came back with a vengeance, and I've been hacking all morning. I think my mental state isn't helping manners any in my getting healthy, though, either. Even though I feel like shit, I probably will head to the gym to feel a little bit healthy.I've been sick twice in three years, not counting the emergency eye surgeries last year. This is three times, I guess.
I'm still in shock about the election. I really did think Kerry was going to win. What's especially shocking is that the #1 issue for voters wasn't terrorism, it wasn't taxes, it wasn't Iraq. It was strong morals. I'm living in a religious state right now. I cannot begin to understand that, nor do I really understand how anyone would think Bush to be superior morally to Kerry. I guess it's the wedge issues.
More disappointing news from last night included Jim Diment's election in SC. The man said that single women and gay people shouldn't be allowed to be teachers. Crazy Jim Bunning, who used to be a Detroit Tiger, was also elected even though he's done a host of crazy things during his re-election bid that make it unclear if he's even fit to serve. In Oklahoma, Jim Coburn, who is incredibly anti-gay as well as a proponent of making all abortion illegal even in the case of rape, was elected. I don't understand how hatred like that can be tolerated.
And don't get me started on the gay marriage question. Eleven states, and all eleven voted to ban it. That's fine. What I don't understand is how this is even a ballot question. Why are people voting on an issue that is such a personal issue, something that has nothing to do with them, something that is clearly clouded by bigotry? I'm glad we didn't hold statewide elections to give women suffrage, or for civil rights.
My little sister voted against the gay proposal in Michigan, and I hung up on her rather than getting in an argument with her. She even used the, "Well, if we let them get married, what's to stop a man from marrying a monkey?" bullshit. That's what happens when you call my dad for advice on the proposals, I guess. That's what she did, unfortunately.
I do wonder where this leaves the Democrats. They have clearly been unable to find a candidate since Clinton who captures the imagination of the south. I'm not sure what it is about Kerry that didn't grab a hold of anyone other than already blue states. I think he's a good speaker and a smart man, someone who clearly won the debates. I'm not sure what the south wants out of their candidates. Is it religion? Kerry had it. I can only guess it's those wedge issues like abortion and gay marriage, since voters said it wasn't taxes, Iraq or terrorism that were the most major factors for them. It was moral issues. I just don't get it. I guess Bush was right on when he transparently brought gay marriage to the forefront by proposing an amendment to the constitution about it. That sort of "moral leadership" is what won him the election. Using gay marriage as a divisive tool brought anti-gay forces to the party in droves and droves, even while moderate Republicans (recognizing Bush's big government tactics as anti-Republican) were leaving the party.
My one hope is that the next term of Bush's will be one that is more in line with the centrist strategies he held in Texas. Without the Karl Rovian tactics to appeal to the religious right for his re-election bid, maybe he can be less of a divider over these social issues, and more of a uniter.
Then again, he might consider the clear majority of popular vote win as a permission slip to be as wacko right wing as he wants to be, and we'll have that Anti-Gay marriage amendment passed in no time as he gets Pat Robertson and Roy Moore to replace Rehnquist and John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court.
I hope not. George W. Bush, please do us proud.