Looking at the content of this morning's post, I feel sure that if there was some sort of cataclysmic opening of the Earth's crust in the garden outside our house, I would somehow find the time and inclination to blog about the state of my toenails.
Sometimes I wonder.
It's been bloody Election fever here in the US for ages. I cannot vote through the virtue of falling into one of the above categories, sadly enough, and even though I haven't been privy to as much of the build-up as the rest of the country, I feel more on edge about this election than any election I was involved in in the UK (apart from the university one where I managed a friend's presidential campaign, and only then because he'd promised me a pint if he won).
I'll stake this out so that people can see it; I don't want Bush in charge of the country I live in.
Way back when the man was just two weeks in office I had already decided I didn't like him. It may have been prejudice but I haven't changed that initial view.
Tonight I will be watching nervily for the results to roll in. I don't know, in today's climate, that the socio-economic differences due to a Democrat in the White House will be all that drastic. I just think that whatever changes in that direction can be made, should be made. I feel that maybe the contention caused by the American presence in Iraq could be lessened, but I feel it would be wrong for the US to instantly withdraw support. Maybe the US could pay the Swiss to drop in and oversee matters. No one has anything against them - they've steered clear of sticking their international political heads over the Alps for over seventy years...another voice of vagaries and confusion is added.
Sorry.
Anyway. The election results will be coming in tonight, at least, we all hope so.
I can't help but feel nervous.
Good call Stu. I'm doing an all nighter here in sleepy Shropshire hoping that my American cousins will make the right choice and we'll find out tonight but I don't think we will.
What a time for you to be here! I emigrated to the U.S. when it was Daddy Bush vs. Dukakis and that was mighty lame. You get the Red Sox the most INSANE election I have ever followed since I first got addicted to following elections at the mature age of eight years old.
I certainly hope you are enjoying it. Even if Kerry doesn't win, I'm so proud to see Americans all riled up and exercising their right to vote. We dissenters won't be ignored, President Bush.
Congratulations to you and Krissa! Welcome to the colonies!
Looking bad this morning - 249 to Bush, 225 to Kerry, 6 states left to declare...
Looks like Bush has got away with it. Iraq was his Sudetenland... Watch out for new legislation enabling him to have a third term, and more sweeping "Department of Homeland Security" powers. Is it just me, or does the name "security", as in "Main Department of Reich Security", send a shudder down your spine too?
How did it come to this? America used to be a nation to look up to. It's slowly becoming a nation to fear. Never mind "God Help America" - God help us all now.
Looks like we won't know for 11 days, thanks to the state I live in :(
I hate that it's so close in Ohio. I hate how Republican we've become.
I can't imagine 4 more years with Bush :(
hmm... even though the final result still hasn't been announced (there's always the provisional ballots to count) It is looking as though Ohio will be won by Mr 'Dubya'... and therefore the presidency aswell..
There will of course be calls of corruption and miss counts coming to light months after the final annoucement, but if the current figures are anything to go by it looks like he has won the popular vote too!!
I realise that the elections are not just as simple as BUSH OR KERRY and that there is voting for the Senate and House of Representatives... and of course there are a lot more important issues for Americans to consider (economy / employment / education etc etc..) that outsiders such as myself easily forget about. We tend to just look at things such as international policy and viewpoints on scientific research, gay marriages, abortion etc... Issues that we can relate more closely to in our own countries.
but even so, I was reading about polls conducted round the world a week or so ago (in 23 different countries).. 22 of which voted for Kerry by an absolute landslide of a margin. Poland being the only one to vote for Bush (and that was a very very narrow vistory).
I realise that as non-US citizens its kinda not our business (we would hate it if America started telling us who to vote for in our own elections).. However, surely the fact that the external opinion is SOOO one sided suggests that if the Bush administration does get re-elected they have some serious thinking to do about changing the way America (or more so their administration) is perceived from abroad.
Ultimately it seems like those people who voted for Bush did so because they loved him, whereas a lot of the people who voted for Kerry did so not because they liked Kerry but because they did not like Bush.
My take on that is: Ok good, so there are a lot of people wanting change, but maybe the Democrats need to think about putting forward a slightly more charismatic candidate with some slightly more charismatic policies. You can't expect people to vote someone into office they don't really want for their own merits!!
Bring back Bill Clinton!
Some pudits last night recon that if Kerry lost Hillary Clinton would run next time.
That would be great to see.
errrr, I meant Pundits.
Yes. I think she's certainly going to be thinking about it, but she promised that she wouldn't run this time a while back.
The Metro (free commuter newspaper on the buses and trains in Britain) was reporting today that Hillary Clinton would now almost certainly be standing in 2008 and that she is already the favorite to WIN according to the bookies!
Unfortunately, Adam, the bookies only have one vote each like other people...
;-)