Procrastinet: 51%

November 03, 2004

51% - Part II

It was a long-held fear of mine, in this election, that a Kerry win would, long-term, be problematic for the Left. Kerry, if he had won in a squeaker, would have run the risk of quick Carterization, leaving us hugely vulnerable to a quick return to revivified Bushism in 2008.

That didn't outweigh my fears of the damage that a second Bush administration will do to this country. But it does provide a handy sourgrapesification of yesterday's results.

To wit: several destructive and dangerous forms of right wing extremism have had their day in America, most especially McCarthyism and Nixon's abuses of executive power. Both festered, grew, caused great damage, ran their course, and were eventually soundly rejected by the American people because they had time to expose themselves as the abominations that they were.

Clearly, 51% of the electorate does not consider the Bush administration, and with it "Bushism" (since it's not really Republicanism and it's not really conservativism), to be exposed as failures. 48% does.

I believe that this administration is doing great harm to the country and the world. I believe that they are perverting the system and, in many cases, breaking the law. Nixon was brought down by an arrogant conviction of the force of his own rightness. I believe they risk the same fate. I do not believe that they have adequately covered their tracks in all of their shady dealings - they're too damned cocky for that.

Someone has left a blue dress somewhere.

In a while, when the "Bush Triumphant" story has become boring, the press will be looking for a new feeding frenzy. Bereft of the crucial question of "will John Kerry overcome his pussy frenchman liberal reputation?!" they will be casting about desperately for something else over which to drum up some drama.

The Bushists have no one to hide behind, nobody else to throw to the lions when the public gets hungry again for red meat. This infection will run its course.

Posted by rjt at November 3, 2004 04:33 PM

Comments

Just a reminder, RJ, that your *first* election was the one that brought Nixon back into office in spite of the Watergate break-in having been discovered and the ensuing early fuss that led some people (your mother and father among them) to conclude that a second Nixon administration was a supremely bad idea (an even worse idea than the first). You rode to the polls that November in a backpack, being only 6 months old.

By the time you were walking Nixon had resigned.

What will come of this we will learn; we don't know now.

Posted by: SST at November 4, 2004 08:21 AM

This is my thought exactly. With the office of the VP exposed to the nastiest of the probes right now (Plame, Halliburton) I'm wondering if we'll see a repeat of the Agnew/Ford switch - and end up, some time this term, with a President that nobody every cast a vote for.

At the moment, though, the "New Conservative Dawn in America" movement is sweeping all before it. Then again, it's only been two days, and the electorate has a very, very short attention span.

Posted by: rjt at November 4, 2004 10:05 AM