November 4, 2004

The BuzzFlash Mailbag

The opinions expressed in the Mailbag are not necessarily those of BuzzFlash. Read the BuzzFlash FAQ for info on submitting to the Mailbag.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: in no mood to reconcile

I used to believe that reconciliation and cooperation were noble goals, both individually and socially. I felt an imperative to accommodate the beliefs of those that I did not agree with. I felt that this was humane and practical.

No more.

Today's decision to hand Bush the crown destroyed my willingness to act in a conciliatory fashion. His regime has made no effort to work with anyone except the the theocratic totalitarians who illegitimately placed him in power. Despite his hollow words, I truly believe that Mr. Bush will do nothing to reach out to the rest of the electorate. I believe that now he will be fully unleashed, unconstrained by the reins of re-election.

No. I will not compromise anymore. I will fight tooth and nail for those causes which are humane, practical and democratic. This is a disagreeable idea to me, but I feel now that it is imperative to heed Mr. Kerry's words that the hard work has only started.

And while I'm fighting for those causes, I will not attempt to negotiate with anyone who lives in 'the other America'--the false one, where indoctrination replaces education, where dissent is stifled, where intellect is scorned, where analysis is deemed evil. It's not the US I grew up in, and I want it back.

Very truly yours,

Sally Helmerich
Sylmar, CA

Subject: post election

Buzz-

I know that the shock of four more years is still with us but we can replace our Kerry bumper stickers with upside down American flags. The symbol of distress. Keep them on until we again take bake the country from the theo-fascists!!!

Paul
Euclid

Subject: No time to quit

Dear BuzzFlash,

There is not doubt that it is a sad day, not only for America, but for the world itself. How this country could re-elect(?) a government so bent on secrecy, environmental destruction, and destruction of the working class, as well as sociopathic militarism is beyond my comprehension. It was my hope that Bush's record would speak for itself. A record not only of incompetence, but of going to extreme lengths to cover up their incompetence.

Where do I start? Whatever happened to the Enron scandal, and along with that, Cheney's refusal to hand over documents pertaining to energy policy? A request made only to find out who was at the meetings, NOT what was being discussed. The administration's ability to snooker legal attempts to hold it accountable is frightening. Where is the follow up from the "liberal" media? Imagine a liberal president sending soldiers on dangerous missions with plywood armor for their humvees. I could go on and on.

The only positive aspect of the election is that I now look forward to visiting anti-Bush web sites with drooling expectation. It is my hope that liberals will take note of the conservative strategy of the past forty years and do three things: 1.Attack 2.Attack and 3.Attack and don't look back.

Hopefully liberals will institutionalize their attacks. In other words, now is the time for liberal media, think tanks and public speakers. Liberals also need to learn how to use language to keep the right always on the defensive. Yep, it's time to start spinning things our way. The right can no longer blame the liberal media for running their president out of office (not that they won't try), BuzzFlash has been a staple to help me get through the last few years, which is why I have purchased DVDs through your site. Keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Bush may not last his term...

Here's what may happen. Things will get worse. The economy will tank. Lawsuits against Halliburton, the missing explosives, the Valerie Plame affair, not catching the anthrax killer, not catching bin Laden, increasing slaughter, more beheadings and chaos in Iraq, Bush's
increasing mental confusion...efforts toward impeachment... revolution in the streets.

Maybe it has to get worse before it gets better. Maybe then, those who voted for him will wake up. Maybe only then--after the country is completely fascist and democracy totally
gone, will we succeed in actually taking back the country.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Typical Kerry Grace at Faneuil Hall

Dear Buzz and Buzzers-

I cancelled surgery I was to undergo today 11/3...am in too much shock. Election day was so elated...so sure we'd win...everything pointed to it. Thought the world would be able to exhale...and our four-year nightmare was about to end.

The grace, dignity and decency in Senator Kerry's speech at Faneuil Hall sent me into a crying jag. He brought to mind Stephen Spender's "The Truly Great" and brought home all that we could have had and what will be sorely missed.

I know. We fought the good fight and we need to fight on. It's true. But for the moment there's so much goodness lost to everything ugly that it feels like a very low blow to our collective soul.

Suzanne
San Francisco

Subject: Palast on Randi Rhodes

Palast was canceled by NPR when he started talking about Kerry's victories in OH and NM;
Interview in process on Air America Radio now. [Wednesday]

Ann S.

[BuzzFlash Note: Our Palast links...
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/kerry_won_.php; http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=389&row=0; http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/03/1520249; http://www.gregpalast.com/]

Subject: I Joke to Bring a Smile

The republican party is now saying that this Bush win proves that God is on his side, and to prove it they showed a film of Bush walking on water.

They later pulled the film when scientists proved that it was not miracle at all, it's just that oil and water don't mix.

Thanks,

David C.

Subject: Help!

I'm one of the 49%. Now that Bush has been reelected, how do I go about getting my Christian Card if I want to remain a US citizen? Are the questions hard on the required test? I do have a bible I can study beforehand. Do I have to be baptized before the exam? I think I should pass as I am not gay and never had an abortion. Do I have to carry the
card with me at all times in case I get pulled over? Is the card valid indefinitely or do I have to get it renewed every time a Republican is elected president? Should I even tell the folks at the front desk that I reside in a blue state?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: BuzzFlash only news for me

Dear BuzzFlash:

I am so-----mad about the election and frustrated. I have decided that I am no longer watching the mainstream media which includes, CNN, MSNBC and CNBC let alone FOX. I am done--toast!

From now on my source of world events and news is the internet! I have told all my relatives and friends that BuzzFlash and CSPAN are in, everything else is out. The heck with the far right nut case news media. Conservative lies and spin are not for me!

I propose that we in the intelligent community boycott the mainstream and cable news stations and send a message. They replayed and replayed Howard Dean's rah rah to his supporters and left out the smirk after smirk of George Bush. That's it, I'm done! No more cable news channels.

Ya think they would get the message? Ya think it might cost them some advertising dollars--ya think?

Stephanie Rahija

Subject: Buzz

Give Bush's brain credit. Karl Rove marched his army of religious zealots and racists out of their modest homes and apartments to the polls. He skillfully employed the basest emotions of fear and hate and he won with them.

One of my great disappointments with the Kerry campaign, along with its support of the Iraq war, was the failure to call Bush on the racist nature of his campaign. The resemblance between Bush-Cheney campaign rallies and a gathering of the Aryan Nations was stark and apparent. Invariably Bush was looking out over a sea of cheering white faces when he read Rove's stump speeches. African-Americans clearly understood the nature of the Bush campaign and repudiated it with their votes. It's such a shame that white people, blinded by our relative material privilege in this sick society, are not ready for the unity that will carry all Americans to our liberation.

So here we stand now. More divided than at any time since the Civil War, closer to slipping into totalitarian rule than ever, isolated and rightfully despised by a world certain that America has taken leave of its senses.

Paul Moore
Miami, FL

[BuzzFlash Note: ...can the KKK be far behind? We're sick about this, too; perhaps you saw some of the other letters on racism yesterday?]

Subject: What is Wrong With the Democrats . . .

BuzzFlash,

Kerry, calling for healing . . . healing my ass.

I will never believe in our election process until we can prove every vote. Why, after only one day, does Kerry give the hell up?

I am so sick right now and I am really sick of the DLC. And, I never got over 2000, 2002, and now another goddamn election stolen and we are supposed to heal. We are supposed to overlook everything that has been done to stop people from voting without punishment? I will never heal. Never. To me, this Country and the lives that will be spent in the future, oh and not counting all of those deaths caused by Bush already and we are supposed to lay down and heal. After all isn't that what our Congress did for the last four years? Lay down and heel oh, I mean heal.

Mad as hell and I intend to stay that way.

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Subject: Speechless . . .

BuzzFlash,

I thought of Gore while listening to Kerry. Neither one of them wanted to end up in the courts, and hearing Kerry talk about how we should come together . . . when will we get a Democrat who cares enough about the dead in Iraq and the war started because of lies? There is no way in Hell I could ever back Bush or any of his Republicans and many of the Democrats of today.

I feel every vote is important enough to, yes, end up in court. The reason we have so much crime in our government . . . and it is out in the open . . . is because the Democrats want to role over and be nice. I am so sick of this niceness. Lives, to me, are important enough to go to court for. America is important enough to go to court for.

I will say here that I will never support another DLC candidate. This is the last time for me to support anyone from the goddamn DLC. Anyone who can stand up and do the nice thing, doesn't have what it takes. We are losing our Country here people. Losing it. I thought I read that Kerry was a fighter. We need new blood in this party and we don't need the DLC Country Club boys.

I heard many people say they didn't see that much difference between Kerry and Bush. Someone explain this to me. I don't feel like we lost an election today. I feel like we lost a Country today. I wish I lived somewhere else right now. The only time I will ever support Bush will be when he is in front of a judge and sentenced to jail for war crimes. But, since we Democrats have to be so "nice," that will never happen.

Thanks BuzzFlash,

Shirley Smith

Subject: Thank you

Just found you for the first time.

Thanks for being there and speaking some truth. You're in Chicago? My home town, although now I live in Oregon.

It was great to finally find an article about Diebold stealing this election for Bush. The whole Florida count was way too tidy. They had all the press releases ready to go about "smooth sailing" before it was even over. Duped again.

Take care and keep up the fight.

Paul

[BuzzFlash Note: Glad you found us and wrote...Did you also visit BlackBox Voting?]

Subject: Re: Now what?

What happened to Kerry is the same thing that happened to Carter. When you go around telling the American People that the sky is falling and we had better prepare for tough times by conserving energy, well they did what they did to Carter, vote for the man who says, hey you can have your cake with all the trimmings and eat it, too. That's what Reagan Promised and that is what Bush promises.

Instead of paying the piper, we go deeper in debt. Let the future generations worry about it. Let those poor suckers who are mot part of the elect. [sic] After all, the good god fearing Republicans are going to be taken in the Rapture. Only sinners, Papists, non church going democrats, and worse are going to be here to pay the devil his due. Reagan believed in that as does Bush, Jr. At least 25% of the adult citizenry believe that too. These are the people who gave Bush the election. They don't give a rat's ass for what happens here, because not a one of them believes that Jesus would let his people suffer. Only the bad will suffer and the stupid plants and animals who haven't been born again.

If you find that hard to swallow, well, take a good whiff of what's blowing in the wind, and if I am not too far off, what you will smell, besides the cattle feedlots, auto exhaust, belching smokestacks from across the border and swill dumped into the waterways, is the sickening smell of good pious Christians working up a sweat singing at the altar of the local tabernacle. They won the election by rallying the Christian Right and they will do it again for the mid terms until the rest of us have found a way to disabuse people of this.

Gary Rumor

Dear BuzzFlash,

Topplebush.com has been tirelessly involved in the online effort to defeat Bush for over 1-1/2 years. As part of this community we are extremely disheartened by this election. We aren't able to say Bush won because we are certain he didn't win fairly or even legally. We still consider Bush to be an illegitimate president. While we are leaning strongly toward
resisting and keeping the fight alive to restore integrity, honesty and decency back into government, we aren't convinced the majority of the American people want it or deserve it for these reasons:

Despite the overwhelming monetary support from people and groups working to defeat Bush, allowing Kerry to compete with all of the money he needed against an overpowering GOP money machine, despite Nader having 0% of the vote total this election compared to 2.7% in 2000, despite most all of the progressive and Democratic groups working together as one this time, including many of the Greens, the other candidates who healed their  disagreements to unite behind Kerry, Clinton who was able to campaign for a while and sent many of his staff to help Kerry, the support of many other politicians, high ranking military personnel, the work of the many 527's who raised 100's of millions of dollars to beat Bush, the money of George Soros and other wealthy individuals dedicated to beating Bush, the groundwork of many good union members, the TV and radio ads of many various anti-Bush groups, the huge presence of internet anti-Bush web sites and blogs probably numbering well into the thousands, the dedication of people like Michael Moore, Bruce Springsteen and the Vote for Change Tour, and other musicians who made their own special statements, the work of many Hollywood celebrities who went out on their own time to work for Kerry and change, one of the highest grossing movies of 2004, Fahrenheit 9/11, depicting Bush in an extremely negative light, literally hundreds of anti-Bush books, DVDs, CDs that were often best-sellers and exposed the corruption in the Bush Administration, a more anti-Bush media than what Gore had to deal with in 2000, Howard Stern and Don Imus and their millions of regular listeners, Air America and the efforts of Al Franken and Randi Rhodes, et. al. and other good liberal talk radio stations and personalities, all of the intense prolonged grassroots efforts at registering new voters and mobilizing voters, the tapping of the internet to pass along information and to keep
groups active and involved and sending money to help, thousands of lawyers and others watching the polls, some lessons learned from 2000, and lastly but most importantly, the extremely sad, sorry, and inept record of the Bush Administration [which we can't in any way do justice to in this brief email].

- the sad truth is this: WE STILL LOST THIS ELECTION AND EVEN WORSE THAN IN 2000!!!

Here are four possible conclusions that can be made:

1. The election was stolen again and hopefully we will learn the full truth as to how, even if too late to prevent Bush from taking office in January 2005.

2. The negative and false attacks on Kerry, including the debunked swift boat attacks and Kerry being labeled early as a "flip-flopper" worked for most voters as did the dirty tricks to divide people and prevent many from voting.

3. The majority of people in the U.S. are too misinformed, under educated, and willing to accept beliefs over facts that it will almost be impossible now to win another election without pandering to these voters in some way as to thus diminish the higher standards most of us who read BuzzFlash aspire to maintain.

4. All of the above.

Keep up the great work and we will continue to support your site,

R. J. Crane
Topple Bush
http://www.topplebush.com

Subject: Just curious

Bush Wins Second Term, Pledges to Heal Divisions

President appeals to Kerry voters and calls reelection "a new opportunity to reach out to the whole nation." (Washington Post)

So just out of curiosity...why didn't Bush want to reach out to the whole nation in his first four years?

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: Hope Survives

It seems like a nightmare. Lies have beat truth. Hatred has beat tolerance. Fear has triumphed over reason. Slightly over half of America has chosen a path for the future that the rest of us consider insane.

But we still have hope.

America has survived depressions and wars and terrorists. We have survived Nixon and Reagan and worse. We will survive four more years of Bush. This is not the end, merely a set back. One battle lost in the never-ending struggle to make sure this nation lives up to its potential. The choice before us is clear: resist or serve.

Let us fill the next four years with a revolution made of a million little victories. Let us fight them on the airwaves and in the courts and on the editorial pages and the Internet. We have to. Otherwise all we will have is the grim satisfaction of standing in the wreckage and shouting "I told you so." 

Every person we help, every patch of nature we save, every lie we expose will serve as a beacon of light in the darkness of republican America. And in the end we will prevail. Every positive change in our history has started with the efforts of a progressive few who looked at the world and said, "This is not how things should be." It has never been easy, and it is never quick, but in the end the world is made a better place.

Once upon a time a majority of Americans thought slavery was right and natural.

Once upon a time a majority of Americans thought that women shouldn't have the right to vote. 

Once upon a time a majority of Americans chose the road to Empire.

Someday this too shall pass.

We must fight as those before us have. We cannot surrender. Eventually the ideals of the liberal few become the values of the many. America may falter from time to time but it keeps moving forward. 

Hope survives. Faith manages. And there is always another chance.

Keep the dream alive. Keep fighting for America. Keep hoping. Don't ever give up.

I would rather be an optimist and wrong than a pessimist and right. -- Albert Einstein

Jesse Hendrix

Subject: Thanks Kerry, but you gave in too soon!

John Kerry should be commended for fighting the good fight. This time last year, he wasn't given a snowball's chance in hell of winning. After listening to election results, I believe that he still won! The Dems just won't check into those damn Diebold machines. Even Bush and his Dad thought that he had lost. But thanks to Karl Rove and Halliburton's millions,
the Republicans pulled it out.

Butttttttt..... I don't know if I care to vote for another Democrat for president!! The last two candidates, Gore and Kerry, gave in too easily to the repugnant Republicans after the votes were cast. Kerry let all of us down by not waiting until all of the votes were counted. He owed it to his supporters.

Dee Turner

Subject: Depressed

I am completely depressed about the loss of the election...just had to write and ask what can we do to take back our democracy. When Bush gets through with us we will be dog meat. Please write a column and tell us what we can do. We need to get started right now...there is no time to waste. please help with some plans and ideas.

Barb & Don

Subject: States

I think the states that voted for Kerry should get Kerry as President, and the states that voted for Bush can have him. Then we can see who does better.

Judy

Subject: I just heard Bush's acceptance speech on NPR.

Humble? George W. Bush has never had a humble day in his entire 58 years, 121 days. He will never be the president of this entire country and he is the most arrogant president we have ever had.

I just saw where Japan says withdrawal is the only honorable way out of Iraq. Poland is pulling out and so is Hungary. I can't imagine the Australians or the English allowing their kids to be pawns in Bush's life or death chess match.

He said he won't betray our trust in him, as if any of the people I know ever trusted him. He didn't have a mandate last time and look what he did. He is in office because his people hate gays and I mean really hate gays.

He detests anyone who disagrees with him, which is why he had to appeal to Democrats by proxy. He walks arrogant and looks arrogant. Only an arrogant person thinks that you win respect by taking it.

Karen Webb
Moore, Ok.

Subject: Voting instructions!

I had the privilege to be asked to serve as a clerk in a precinct in our fair city for the General Election November 2nd.

Of course, each of us had to attend training by our county Elections Director (a Republican). During this training, she emphatically stressed to tell anyone voting the new Provisional Ballot that "IF THEY VOTED BY PROVISIONAL BALLOT THAT IT WOULD NOT BE COUNTED!" Several of us took exception with this and during voting, none of us in our precinct stated this to what few provisionals we had. The voter is to be contacted within 10 days if their vote was accepted or denied and the reason. We'll cover that bridge when it happens.

We did have a huge problem with one precinct that would not check on a person's registration but would just tell them that they had to go to our precinct. Our judge spent almost the whole voting period checking via phone on eligibility and almost two-thirds were actually to vote in the precinct that sent them to us. We feel this was just one attempt to intimidate voters. A formal complaint is being filed.

So you see, even in a heavily Democratic area, the Republicans are playing dirty.

Jerry, Rio Grande Valley

Subject: Letter of thanks and notes

Dear Buzz,

New York went for Kerry, and in a big way. Even in heavily Republican counties, the vote for Kerry was quite high. I am proud to say I was part of getting out the vote and helping to deliver our great state for John Kerry.

The concerns here were economic, terror methodology, and war related.

Unlike many others, I think Kerry did the right thing today, even in the face of what seems to be a high degree of very questionable actions on election day. In conceding, Kerry has not become the sore loserman and Bush monkey that several letters to you seem to want him to be. I wonder if those letters are really from Kerry supporters and Democrats or not. To howl like that and scream for recount and harp that you will never support another Democrat, and we don't stand for anything is the tactic I have seen used to tie up more liberal posters over at townhall.com. We must assume that the freepers are everywhere, including here at BuzzFlash.com, and greet such letters with reasonable suspicion. Senator Kerry stood for a better America, an inclusive America, an America of multi-lateralism, not the coming multi-polarization that we seem doomed to.

As for the polls. We frankly were bamboozled, and played for fools. In the future, the party should do independent polling, and literally shut out the poll organizations. They have betrayed the public trust, and our trust.

As for the media, we here saw what looked like a "tomahawking" of Kerry from the onset of the vote counting. I think all of us were aghast at the crescendo of loud slime and slander that was leveled at the Senator, impugning his honor, his integrity, his wife, his service to the people of Massachusetts, and his Senate Record, in the week leading up to the election by the Fox and Clear Channels hacks. Much of this might be typical except for the decibel rate and length of time spent on the basest slander. The media must be viewed as a hostile, biased entity and treated as such. This "independent" media spread every lie about Kerry with ill concealed gusto and enthusiasm, and sought still more and in Hannity's case literally invented claims out of whole cloth.

We over-estimated the power of the net. In four years the net will be reinvented with emerging technology anyway as servers of profound power get smaller and less expensive by the year it seems. To prevent the squelching of dissident voices, the moving of servers to foreign countries would seem advisable. I hate to sound paranoid, but if you listened carefully to Bush's speech yesterday, Bush wants "to earn our respect." Odd that he should worry about that now. "Our respect?" How about "our confidence?" Bush talked about 1 constitution for all of us. Why the sudden concern about that? I plan to continue to blog and disagree with Chimpy on a wide range of issues, but a Bush lie has proven far more deadly than a Clinton lie, I shall not hesitate to speak against Bush's blundering and foolishness….However, I would remind everyone that there is a thing called "samizdat" and that we may have to go that route if Ashcroft thinks "respect" means shutting down blogspot, Kos, and even BuzzFlash because you seem "disrespectful." Hence the call to offshore our servers and bandwidth providers if we use a site like home.rr.com or blogspot.com.

So, don't give up, get mad. We have a Congress to retake, and only 2 years to do the job! Let's stop crying in our beer, and get back to work.

Thanks for being there for us BuzzFlash!

Steve in Syracuse

Subject: Turn them off!

If every one of the 55.4 million people who voted for Kerry would, en masse, simply turn off their TVs for a week maybe the media whores would take a hit big enough to shake them up. It's a thought. I turned mine off last night and it has not been on today and I don't intend to turn it back on anytime soon. I will rely on BuzzFlash and other excellent internet sites for my news at least until they come after the internet.

Another thought is that we must not become enervated by depression and despair over our loss. That is exactly what the Republicans want. You know, kick 'em while they're down. Well, I'm not down and I'm not going to be kicked around by any Republican. I'm angry and wary and I will not shut up. Bush can run that right up his flagpole and salute it!

Although many dire predictions have been cast about what is down the road I say that we don't really know until we get there. And if we get there united and strong we can face it down and defeat it. Remember Nixon getting reelected only to be forced to resign? No one could have predicted such sweet justice.

Keep the faith. It's not over unless we give up.

Steve in Reno

Subject: election, of course.....

I work in a small, bible belt town and with a bunch of basically good folks that don't have a clue about who they voted for when they voted for the idiot-in-chief. One 21 year old that has never left the small town announced that she voted for the creep. I asked her why, and she said, "He's better than that Heinz guy." I just shook my head and walked away. I thought to tell her that she wouldn't look good in Army green, but I am just going
to sit back and watch the show from this point on. Next stop....Iran. All aboard!

BuzzFlash, don't give up. NOBODY give up. I will never believe this was a fair election. Also, at least half of the U.S. is sane. That's SOMETHING to hold on to.

Danielle in the Panhandle

Subject: Healing & Reaching Out?

This is the evidence I am receiving of "healing" and "reaching out":

Today, as I sat at my computer (in tears) I received the following emails:

1. Boo Hoo

2. Derogatory "happy" faces

3. Suggestion of moving to Canada

The three senders have the following in common:

All are male, Republican, profess to being "Christians," are obviously mean-spirited & not gracious in victory, and I've known them all for 20 to 30 years.

I have blocked them on my spaminator, and erased them from my email address list.

Add to this, neighbors on either side of me, who I like & get along with. But who believe I am a "fallen" person because I don't believe as they do. One of them believes I must be "born again" and evangelical in my personal beliefs in order to be "saved." The other believes good deeds are not good enough to "save" me. I must develop a personal relationship with his definition of God. Both neighbors have a different definition of God, but both believe their definition is the ONLY TRUTH. (Which should I choose?)

I happen to believe in evolution, both of them believe in the literal interpretation of the biblical creation story. Which is all fine and good, except that both think the government "should" pass laws to make me, you, education, health care, courts, etc., conform to their personal religious beliefs. Separation of Church & State is against their morals and values. Never mind the framers of our Constitution. Both households are "Christian" Republicans.

I'm very sad. I truly feel like today I may have witnessed the "beginning of the end" of the most successful & tolerant pluralistic democracy the world has ever known.

Karen Gruber

Subject: Election

I can't believe that half this country thinks that invading a country that did not pose a threat to us is something that should be rewarded. That starting a war and expanding government while creating record deficits is good policy. They can't be that ignorant, just misinformed.

The first order of business has to be getting these voting machines fixed so that they leave a paper trail that can be reviewed. With a fair election we can get progressives, liberals, democrats elected in just 2 years time.

The most important thing we have to do is to continue to organize to end this illegal war. We don't have time for sadness. All the things liberals hold dear are still possible. We just have to get mad, and get busy.

Glen Perry
Alpine, Texas

Subject: A proposed Democratic strategy for the future

My friends, we will win this in the end. There is no need to fret. There is no benefit to it.

Crafting a "new message" is unnecessary, at the moment. For the time being, it is enough to be the party that is the opposite of the GOP. Let the GOP run hog wild. Allow them to gut Social Security and appoint judges to the Supreme Court who will overturn Roe v. Wade. It's time to take a scorched Earth approach to politics. Let the GOP work its will.

Then, let them inherit the consequences.

For decades, the Republicans have thrived on proposing policies that sounded good, but that we all knew were disastrous. They made political mileage out of those policies and ideas, precisely because very few, if any of them, would ever be implemented.

Democrats would always oppose them. Whether it be Social Security privatization, completely cutting off the social safety net, bans on abortion or curtailment of civil liberties. By and large, Democrats were always there to oppose those things. And we won those battles, but have now lost the war.

So, we should play jujitsu. Use the weight of the GOP victory against them.

George W. Bush wants an "ownership society?" Well, he's got it. The GOP now owns all of our problems, and it is their burden to fix them.

They want to create private savings accounts for Social Security? More power to 'em. The Democrats should just point out that the transition costs will necessitate a massive increase in the deficit, higher taxes on everybody, or a cut in benefits to current retirees.

Let the Republicans take their own poison.

No senior whose benefits are cut will blame the Democrats. No citizen whose taxes go through the roof to pay for this, will blame the Democrats. No conservative who hates massive deficits will blame the Democrats. Likewise for Abortion rights.

We could, simply, try and filibuster any proposed Supreme Court Justices. But that will eventually cause the GOP Senate to bust the rules, and eliminate filibusters for Judicial appointments.

So, let them win. They will anyway.

And when the right is torn, from women across America, they will not blame the Democrats.

A Constitutional amendment to ban Gay Marriage? So be it. If it manages to get ratified (which is doubtful anyway), the consequences of it will be profound. It will turn out that private contracts for domestic partner benefits offered by many companies, will be ruled "unconstitutional." It will harm US competitiveness in our creative industries.

That's fine. Let the decline happen.

Let our economy choke under the weight of GOP/Bush deficits and increasing interest rates, high oil prices and outsourcing.

No one will blame the Democrats.

We will be the Cassandras warning everyone about these problems, of course. And when the American people are sick and tired of unrestrained Bushism, they will act accordingly.

We will be back with a vengeance. And, we will be proven right.

Just some thoughts.

Hesiod

Subject: Only Technically An American

Today I feel I am an American only in a technical sense. I was born in the United States. But the current regime, which unfortunately now has a mantle of legitimacy it lacked in its first term, and its propaganda ministers of the mainstream media, have placed liberals, of which I am one, on the same level as demons. I cannot and do not feel that this is any longer my country. I feel alienated, disenfranchised, and reviled.

Dennis McCann

Subject: A.P. reports Ohio will continue counting provisionals...

Hi Buzz,

I just noticed this story a few minutes ago on the provisional ballot count continuing in Ohio; it looks like the number of ballots may be somewhat higher than earlier reports today[Wednesday]: Ohio to Keep Counting Provisional Ballots (AP/Yahoo)

This quote from the story sums up the republican attitude on how to deal with provisional ballots:

Mark Weaver, a lawyer for Ohio Republicans, predicted that election officials would throw out most of the ballots after determining the people who cast them were not eligible to vote.

I'm not holding my breath, however if the Red Sox had given up as quickly as John Kerry, they would never have won the Series! I say, "Bring on the lawyers!"

Sincerely,

David Williams
Moscow, Idaho

Subject: The vote count

The Bush mob is telling us that George Bush is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ because he got more votes than even Reagan. Here are the popular vote counts.

Reagan:
1984 - 54,455,000
1988 - 47.946,000

Bush:
2004 - 59,095,872

Kerry:
2004 - 55,532,080

Read it again. True, Bush got more votes than Reagan. So did Kerry -- one million more votes than Reagan.

JS

Subject: From the Florida Dept of State web page...look at Broward County!!!

Dear Buzz,

No time for crying, let's get to work...there are over 1 million absentee ballots to count in FL!

But look what I just called off the Florida Dept. of State web page:

http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/

Jeff Spakowski
Ferndale, MI

Subject: C-SPAN

Today, I cried. I had new empathy for Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, and others who gave up on humanity. But while I am feeling sorry for myself, I have only to remember real human beings- Iraq, American, British, all- are dying, suffering, and being tortured as I write this. Somebody's child is the sacrifice for these greedy, power-hungry, apparently soulless individuals. It hurts so bad I can hardly type these words.

My daughter told me that on one of the MSM channels- someone was making fun of C-SPAN. We had talked about the possibility of another Bush term (We know Bush did not win in 2000 and I have serious doubts about this election because of the electronic voting machines) and our concerns for the internet movements, C-SPAN and our libraries as some of the last best sources for information and free speech. But I didn't expect them to start right out of the chute. Much to my credit -and most of the rest of us- I constantly underestimate this "gang" as they cleverly continue to cloak their "colors" from us.

And so...No time to rest. Must be vigilant. Remember to keep my own candle lit. I am going to meet today with my daughter and beloved granddaughter to bask in their love and give them mine- and then set about being a hero. Haven't had a lot of practice but damn sure not going to be a victim.

Mary McGinnis
Frightened but still standing in Idaho

Subject: Time to realize you have lost a battle but not the War

Time to purchase a copy of Sun Tse and the Art of War. Know your enemy know yourself...Basic teaching. Mao Took China Chiang Kai Shek Vietnam by practicing the principals in Sun Tze.

The American GOP is like the battered house wife...he/she just keeps going back for more, believing the lies and believing the GOP cares about them.

It takes many times to leave a bad marriage so let us focus on the real culprits... Karl Rove...The Jesus Jihads and Christian Reich.....keep the info coming.

http://www.cultnews.com/archives/000230.html

http://www.sullivan-county.com/bush/mythes.htm

http://www.internetparodies.org/indexoriginal2.html

Regards
EddyAbby

Subject: Election fixed - Diebold, remember that name

The fix was in on the election. In August the head of Diebold, maker of the touch screen voter system used in Ohio and Florida, among many other states, said at a GOP meeting that he "would deliver the electoral votes needed" to win Ohio.

What is incredibly shocking is how bad these voting machines are. First, there is no paper trail. Second, they are incredibly easy to hack, some even saying the vote totals were in a generic Excel spreadsheet file, which has zero protection. Third, the resulting vote totals are not identified in any form with individual voters, or even individual voting places. They are just lumped into one easy-to-mess-with total, which can probably be altered at the
Diebold company, which is tied in via the internet to the servers. Fourth, if there is any hint of corruption, there is no way to go back and check. It is a system the mafia would love to have for laundering money!

I think the fix was in. What is most alarming is that exit polls and Zogby polls both before and during the voting, were consistently different in the states that were using this system. The republicans targeted all the battleground states, except for Pennsylvania, which they probably could not corrupt.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a way to find out that this happened. There is absolutely no paper trail.

Bush and his cronies have no respect for the rules of current society, which means they have absolutely no qualms with breaking these rules. I think they did this on election day on such a massive scale that the democrats are shocked and nobody will ever be able to track the corruption because there is no paper trail.

You might as well forget about Social Security. Baby boomers are going to be screwed big time on Social Security. You might as well forget about fixing health care costs, Bush only supports the drug and medical companies, not the average consumers.

Bush is going to take this false "mandate" of winning the popular vote and ram home all of his nasty agenda, which is turning America into a third world country.

Mike Reinholz
Seattle, WA

Subject: Gay Marriage Issue

On behalf of all my fellow citizens of the Great State of Ohio, I must strenuously object to the mailbag letter which discusses "fear mongering to the south regarding gays." We in Ohio overwhelmingly passed an amendment to the state constitution prohibiting gay marriage; but unlike those namby-pamby states that stopped there, we also limited the rights of cohabiting heterosexuals: "Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intend to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage."

Yessiree, there'll be no further hanky-panky in Ohio. And our Secretary of State Ken Blackwell took time out from his busy schedule to personally campaign in behalf of this amendment (and you thought all he could do was suppress votes).

So, I demand an apology for leaving Ohio out of this section of your discussion. As you can see, we take a backseat to no one when it comes to bigotry, ignorance and religious intolerance.

A BuzzFlash Reader

Subject: message from georgia

Dear BuzzFlash,

I've been reading you for a couple of years but haven't contributed (shame on me! --although we did buy a couple of the videos you had on sale). My husband and I are British and we lived in New York for 7 years until we moved to Georgia 3 months ago. We've been following this election closely. I'm heartbroken -- one of my closest friends is African-American -- she and her 19-year-old daughter stood in line yesterday from 6.00 am. They were optimistic -- they said the young black people were out voting. What went wrong?
I haven't been politically active here because I have to wait for a green card which isn't going to come anytime soon. I'm saying all this stuff (my husband is going to kill me!!). I've spent all day calling American friends all over the place (Europe, New Jersey, New York).

We're all resolved that we're going to fight. And please say hello to Shirley from St. Louis --- she must be totally upset now but we're all with her - it's total disbelief but we have to deal with it and we'll do just that.

Rose K.

Subject: Okay, They Stole it Again

We KNOW what happened.

We KNOW HOW it happened.

WHAT are we going to do about it?

A BuzzFlash Reader

CLICK HERE FOR PART 2 OF THE NOVEMBER 4, 2004 BUZZFLASH MAILBAG.