Wow. Well spoken.

Nicely said

Amen.

I kinda burned out with this post:
Politics Today.

Great post. How bout them dem people who are in a lather over the slaughter in Darfur but think it would be worse if the US intervened and stopped it?

(Hi. Since you've vetting stuff anyway, could you put up the version below, rather than the previous one, which at one point omitted a key word, reversing my meaning? Thank you.)

I fundamentally disagree. At least based on my own experience.

In the last Australian election (among other things we settled) we ratified or repudiated everything we did since 11 September, 2001. Do we stand by what we did? Or are we really Spain, and everything the government did since the first plane hit the building was without the will of the people and basically illegitimate? Because have no doubt, if the government had lost, that's how it would have played out, in academia, in the local and world press, and with the new government, all the way to being written into school text books.

We won. We stand with our friends and what we did. So we're still Australia, we still believe in mateship and a fair go and all the things we always did. We send some troops to every war, and some athletes to every Olympics; we do our little bit, and we don't worry too much about the outcome because frankly we're not big enough to shape the world.

That settled it for me. I don't care what comes next. We could elect Mark Latham, our own would-be Zapatero, next time, and I'd just shrug. Fortunes of war or politics. We already settled who we are.

Settle who you are. Are you the children of your ancestors, or isn't it like that any more? Do you still believe you have the right to fight, or have you gone beyond such primitive notions as standing up for yourself without UN permission? Aznar or Zapatero, which is you?

Was what George W. Bush did ever since 11 September, 2001 America at war, or was it all the rogue actions of a cheat who was never elected in the first place? Because that's exactly the version of history you're going to have to live with and resign yourself to if George W. Bush loses this election.

You're either Michael Moore's America, temporarily hijacked by Halliburton but about to be brought back to your senses by Fahrenheit 9/11 and the ballot, or you're the America that did elect George W, Bush and stood by liberating Afghanistan and Iraq at least once, whatever followed.

This is the only shot the domestic bad guys will ever have to take your history since 11 September, 2001 away from you. Once they can try it, and never again. Next election will be too late for them.

After you've decided which history is right and who you're looking at when you look in your national mirror, relax and let everything go. The fight without honour or humanity will continue whatever happens, because that's the modern Democratic Party, half your nation or more. But if George W. Bush wins big enough so that the cheats and the lawyers can't steal it and it's clear to all you elected this man at least once, then you can relax regardless of the continuing wars of the political class.

Or if you lose, who cares? Just get used to living your own life, maybe get rid of that "Liberty, Freedom, Victory" stuff that won't accurately reflect how you feel about your country any more, and get over it. Life goes on.

Anyway, that's how I felt about our once-for-all-time election, in the Kingdom of Far, Far Away. Your mileage obviously varies.

Also, I believe once you firmly ratify the Bush Doctrine, if you do, America is going to chug. Once the Americans firmly decide on something, the American machine is hard to stop. This side of getting nuked, I think you're going to keep on keeping on, and the bad guys are eventually going to find it hard to keep up. America kept its side of the Cold War going (with little help from some of its supposed allies) longer than the demographic super-supremacy that's fuelling the global jihad will remain at full flood, if they can even hold out that long.

You will win. Which means we all win. I want that passionately.

On the other hand, if you reject the Bush Doctrine, with nothing but the Kerry Equivocation to put in its place, that's not so good. That's going to get messy. And it can cost you the initiative. And there'll probably be a bloody price to pay for that.

I know it would be more relaxing if this one election wasn't so all-fired important. But it is.

There's only one critical election after this: Blair. Again, that's about ratification. And it should be easy. Blair is eloquent, and a political professional's professional except for an occasional willingness to put his head fight in the lion's mouth if he thinks the British national interest requires it - as we have seen, to his eternal credit.

Japan is very important too. But less important than the United Kingdom, and again, I'm fairly confident.

After that, it's going to be about what Winston Churchill called "the proper application of overwhelming force."

V for Victory!

My music for election day:
* The Sum of all Fears: track 6: If We Get Through This
* Kill Bill: Volume 1: track 9: Battle Without Honor or Humanity; a tribute to the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
Path one:
* Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: track 14: Hope Fails.
Path two:
* Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: the whole thing but especially track 15: The Black Gate Opens. Let the lord of the fake "plans" come forth! Let justice be done upon him!
* Kill Bill: Volume 2: all, but especially track 14, Malaguena Salerosa (many times), and track 15, Urami Bushi.

Tell me how you really feel about this Frank. Tell me your music.

I'm dreading the various accusations of "vote fraud" that will probably pop um on Nov 3. Maybe we should give up on the secret ballot and go to a roll-call vote. Put everybody's SSN and vote up on a website so you can check if your vote's been properly recorded, and everybody else can check if you exist.

“I've watched as two former mayors of New York City ,One Jewish, One Italian, a Democrat stage actor and liberal activist, and a old school deep south Democrat all give their support to a White bread Republican President from Texas.”

This is why Frank! This is Why!...... All that other stuff you mentioned is just people “mix’n it up”.

Breath in, breath out, real slowly Frank. Breath in, breath out.

All that stuff you mentioned?…..Yup! But look, it’d be no fun at all, if we all drove white Chevy II’s and ate flat bread. You know? C’mon, you’re just a little tired. C’mon over and look at these pictures of old air planes and have a glass of lemonade and let somebody else talk for a while.

You know why you do this. This country is important to you, you love this country. You want your kids to be able to vote Republican or (god forbid) Democrat.

But it’s that right that we have (and they have) to be able to say what is on our mind without fear of losing it from the neck up.

Yeah, you have a little problem with a hacker/jammer here and there, and prolly the words hurt sometimes from the “sticks and stones” folk, but we don’t have to sleep in a tent tonight, like some Sudan folk we know, just ‘cause they said their leader was a jerk.

The one reason we should value the other guys blathering, we get to do it too!

That may be a reverse engineered argument, but the fact is--FREEDOM!

Don’t ya just love it when a plan comes together?

Now—it is our duty, to bring our side to the table, so’s the MSM doesn’t run a muck! Hang in there Frank, you’re do’n a good job.

Keep think’n ‘bout the kids Frank!

Im still voting, Im still positive, and I still hold a conservative outlook on things. I'm just tired of drinking from the firehose, thats all.

I'm tired as well, Frank, and for some of the same reasons you are. You didn't mention your pursuit of the American dream. When I do appear on IM, I pretty much see your name up there day and night, solving a problem for an ungrateful client ;) storing up the goodwill and billable hours that result in the projection office, TIVO, and retirement plan & legacy that are NOT dependent on Congress. The hours are interminable and to add insult to injury, during all those waking hours we do have to honestly worry now about what path we will take as a nation, and as a society.

If Neville F. Kerry can stand up in January and prevaricate through an oath of office (yes, strong sentiment, but do you REALLY think he truly has "protect, defend, and common good" in mind?) then we stand an overwhelming chance of "Peace in our time" belied by increasing terrorist violence, capitulation, and danegeld.

If W reaffirms his oath, we will continue the realization that we're in a war, and that we will use the full resources of the mightiest nation in history to turn back a plague. It is a marathon as opposed to a sprint, both to the election and through some decades of defending ourselves from the worst of a truly foreign culture while recreating that culture in tandem.

I'm the risk manager who worries. I see an unimited number of ways that we can fail in this next twelve days, from voter fraud to W's mis-speaking to the outright lies promulgated those who'll sacrifice even our nation just to be back in power.

This marathon has run too long for us to have much energy left. It is too important for us to have relegated the least of our energies and attention to it. The firehose awaits for a bit longer. Mornings will begin with perusals of realclearpolitics and vodkapundit and rantburg and even varifrank. It will be a relief for November 3 to roll around (though the risk manager fears a margin of litigation!) The firehose will continue, but I'll be satisfied to let it pour from Begala & Carville, et al, assuming that W is in place to steer us steadily forward.

There's every reason to be fatigued, but every reason to slog on. Speak from the spleen sometimes; it's natural. And human. How many of the national pundits get to show that fatigue?

But even at the expense of fatigue it is important, even if the baying continues, to slog on. We have those on the other side of the aisle who are principled believers in a liberal agenda; they are needed. We have those who believe that the power to be reacquired is worth any means though. We can hope for a respite, but can't guarantee it.

Let's hope to realize the scenario in which the Left fractures and can no longer hold together multiple coalitions through pandering!

BTW, I already voted. Now I hope that the absentee ballot gets counted...

Thanks for the bandwidth. declare function RemoveSoapbox();

Thank you for the great post. I really helped to hear someone state, more eloquently than I ever could, the frustrations I feel when I see John Kerry spouting disingenuous and anti-American poison with the sole purpose of self-promotion. What is just as painful is that nearly half of the population and most of the MSM cannot see through it or see the damage it causes or just don’t give a damn.

I love your blog. You say many of the things I think about but am unable to put into words. I'm not a proficient writer by a long shot.

I had similar feelings about America during the late 60's when there were everyday street riots, assassinations, bombings, campus violence, racial clashes, etc. I wondered if our society would come through it in one piece. Everything seemed to deflate in 73 when the war ended. That provided an excuse to change gears and get back to business.

I don't know if America is as weary this time around. Vitriol and contempt from a large part of the population may signify a degradation of our standards, but its not yet to where it was back then. I'm afraid that I would agree that it will get worse before it gets better.

However the damage done by this level of negativity will reach much higher levels due to the influence of the biased MSM and the internet. The entire world can join in second guessing and backbiting. It will affect our ability to apply tough foreign policy decisions. We are already seen by much of the world as a threat to peace. I think that we are really just a threat to the world status quo. As we all know, people don't like change. Status quo means peace to some I suppose.

9/11 did divide most Americans. Liberals saw their power diminishing with the unknowns caused by proactive change implemented by the Bush administration. Conservatives demanded changes to the world to provide a more secure future.

To me there is nothing to lose but Future Assured Destruction (FAD).

Oh yeah, I sympathise with that.

But have faith in the indifference of your fellow citizens.

True, if this election gets tied up with lawyers, your suffering has not even begun. And if you lose, there'll be a Democrat gloating rampage while Republicans suck on lemons. But if George W. Bush scores a clear win, while the moonbats will still want to go berserk, a lot of Americans, not just conservatives, will not encourage that with their reactions. They won't react, because they too are burned out, or burning out. And raging at people with the political equivalent of a thousand-yard stare is non-rewarding.

It can be over, Frank. It can be over. Soon. Just hold onto that thought a few days more.

I wish that Nov. 3 would let us put all of the carping behind us. Only if Kerry wins, I suppose. But then we'll really have problems.



I'll take the carping & "bizarro world" that we have today over a Kerry presidency. Let the insane left spout their hatred, as long as no one parks any more aircraft in skyscrapers, or sponsors rape & torture in the desert.



p.s. could you point us to a larger version of Sargent's painting?

Heres a couple more shots of Singers painting.

http://www.english.emory.edu/LostPoets/Sargent.html

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARTsargent.htm

I'm still upbeat and positive, Im just tired. Drinking from the firehose of politics gets to be a little much. I can no longer be "spun". I watched Lanny Davis on Hannity the other day and had to turn the channel I just couldn't listen to anyone lie and full speed anymore.

Politics has always been a contact sport.

Look at what happens to the losing alpha male in a band of monkeys.

Politics is an effort to civilize the monkeys. Some times it even works.

OK, so I did read this, and I do agree to some degree with a lot that you've said. It appears though, judging by the comments of your conservative readership, that they didn't really get the point. There has been a lot of hand-wringing over what's going to happen on November 3rd, and I too am burnt out from worrying about it. But my concerns haven't been put at ease yet, considering what the RNC has thus far engaged in. Given the potential questionability of this election's results, as well 2000's, I found this comment a bit strange:

Part of the responsibility of citizens in a Democracy is to have the maturity to accept the result, even when it goes against your side.

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Republicans defeated the recount in 2000 because they were afraid of what the actual result might have been. Obviously, it's unreasonable to expect civility from either side if the results are contested. But all I would say is, considering what the RNC has done in the past to suppress, defraud, and corrupt the electoral process, that the deployment of 10,000 lawyers is a totally reasonable pre-emption.

Unless the popular vote swings decisively either way, we're going to be continually plagued with rancourous division for a long time to come. Kerry's going to have a tough time as President if Congress remains under the control of Republicans. Tom DeLay's scorched earth policies will ensure that no Democrat-proposed legislation makes its way through the House, and if the constituency of the Senate remains unchanged there will be little that Kerry can do to influence actual legislation. Whatever happens, I fear people of my persuasion will be left (no pun intended) out in the cold while our elected officials are forced to make concessions to the ruling party in order to get anything done. I am disgusted by the dirty tricks that both parties play in order to get their pet projects signed into law and have their hand-picked justices placed in our courts. I agree: what we need, above all, is civil discourse.

Partisans on both sides are to blame for general rancour, but I would argue that Republicans are uniquely responsible for this country's current divisiveness. Branding both citizens and elected officials as "anti-American" doesn't encourage unity. Saying "you're either with us or you're against us" in the GWT, dismissing the UN out of hand, and allowing your Secretary of Defense to refer to long-time allies as "old Europe" because they don't agree with your policies doesn't foster international co-operation. Both parties have a history of bitter partisanship, but what this country really needs now is some cameraderie. We had it after 9/11, but this President squandered the world's compassion. If for none of the other reasons that I've stated on your other post, this is the reason that Bush and the Republican leadership don't deserve another 4 years.

My point here was that a majority of the American people know what's going on, and your prediction of the final electoral vote count is way off. Flawed predctions aside you appear to be a rational person, and my hope is that, as your post suggests, civil discourse will remedy our national disunity. Just remember that you, too, may have to concede victory once all is said and done.

Shawn,

Democracy isnt about winning, its about being asked. If my candidate doesnt win tommorow, it doesnt mean I lost. I still got asked, I was polled and my vote was cast, those in charge will still rule by concensus of the governed no matter what side wins. I dont need to get my way to feel victorious, I just need to feel that Im a person and not property.

If Kerry wins, he will be my president and I will support him in the defense of this country because thats the kind of guy I am. I may not hope for his re-election or send him money, but I will hope for him as I have Bush because to do so is to support my country. I think thats as important if not more so than my own self-interest.

Despite what has been said, this is not the most important election ever, its just another election, they are always important. We have another in 24 months, and in another 48,we get to do it again all over again. Dont get too cozy,
No matter who wins, the other side isnt going away on November 3rd.

You can have this level of public interraction or you can have voter apathy, which do you prefer?

Thanks for being clear headed. Come back anytime.

Frank,

You're right, democracy isn't about winning. That's why I have such a hard time understanding why totally reasonable people (such as yourself) support the Bush administration. They've made it about winning, be it the Global War on Terror, the war in Iraq, or any number of domestic wedge issues that will play a part in deciding this election. They've put everything in terms of black and white, right and wrong—and you and I both know that things aren't that simple.

If one thing is clear, it's that George Bush is incapable of recognizing the subtleties, nuances, and important details that one must understand to make effective foreign and domestic policy. The war in Iraq is the perfect example of a policy developed and executed with such haste and ignorance that it's really no wonder things are so bad there right now. And for what it's worth, Donald Rumsfeld's predictions of a "long, hard slog" actually referred to our efforts in both Iraq and Afghanistan; it's hard to disagree that that he was right on at least one count. (Man, I can't believe I just said something in defense of Rumsfeld!)

Of course we should support the President (whoever it is) in defense of our country. But that's not to say that we should always agree with his methods, misguided as they may be. Every President makes mistakes, but George Bush can't even admit a single one. That's the kind of arrogance we can do without in the highest office in our nation.