McFreedom

The magnitude of this loss for the Democrats cannot be overstated. The pundits have been busy talking about whether or not Kerry has the grace to concede - turns out he does - and not about the ramifications of this race.

They lost the Presidency, obviously. But they also lost at least two Senate seats (net) and at least two House seats (net). All together this is a loss as stunning as the 1994 "Contract with America" loss, in which the Democratic leadership completely misjudged the mood of the country and got blindsided as a result. I'd had some sense for a while that this result was coming - that Democrats had completely insulated themselves from reality, and they were going to be very surprised when it came down on them like a ton of bricks. I'd been expecting to spend this morning reading "how we were all so surprised" stories, but I guess Kerry's late concession pushes those off 'til tomorrow. No matter.

Most of the die-hard Democrats I know (or read) concluded long ago that Bush is an idiot, and anyone who votes for him is an idiot, too. Since they know that the average person isn't an idiot, they figured they had this locked up. Crucial to their party (and our country) is that they look themselves in the mirror this morning and ask what went wrong. If their answer is that the American people were too stupid to see the brilliance of their candidate, they're going to cement themselves in the minority for a long time. Most of the Republicans I know (or read) conceded that while Bush isn't their ideal candidate on every issue, security trumped all of that this year. Kerry was a candidate who was fundamentally unserious on security, and the 51% of us that consider that the top issue this year had no option of voting for him. As long as we're in a war and the Democrats refuse to admit we're in a war, they're going to lose. Trying to educate the rest of us that we're not in a war is a losing strategy.

In short, I'm tired of the Democrats telling me I'm idiot because of my concerns. My concerns are shared with 51% of the electorate. If the Democrats want their popular vote to ever rise above 49%, they need to stop telling us we're stupid and start telling us what they're going to do about our concerns.

Finally, now that this campaign is over, and despite the constant smearing he's received in the press, Bush received 51% of the popular vote, it would be nice to see the Democrats acting like they're on the same side as our country. Stop writing Osama's press releases for him, guys, and try to remember that, as stupid and evil President Bush is, he's still your President, too, and he deserves your respect. Or at least to have an opposition that remembers they're Americans first and Democrats second.