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Straight Up | Jan Herman

Arts, Media & Culture News with 'tude

OF MORONS AND MORAL VALUES

November 5, 2004 by cmackie

The dust from the election of the chief ignoramus has not settled. May it never. Others are
saying that, too. Straight Upper Joan Daniels, a regular reader, writes:



I have come to the conclusion that the “majority” of Americans are simply
morons and nothing now will ever convince me otherwise. I’m amazed by the people in the streets
cheering for Bush — people who will be unemployed and disinfranchised over the next 4 years
because they’ve reelected him.


There’s now nothing holding back the “regime.” They’re free to do whatever they wish and
they wish to do a lot and it’s all very bad. And I don’t want to hear any talk of “binding wounds”
and “reuniting Americans” either.


The people who voted for him perhaps deserve to have him as their president, but I didn’t do
anything to deserve him and I’m not endorsing him. How could people vote for him?


And what’s with all this hypocritical talk about moral values? Is what we are doing (and will
continue to do!) in Iraq moral? What is the rest of the world going to think of Americans now that
we’ve reelected those monsters???


I commented to a friend before the election that I’d like to tell myself, if Bush won, it wouldn’t
be the end of the world. But the fact of the matter is, I fear it may be exactly that. This country
may never recover, ever, from 8 years of George W. Bush, God’s chosen President.


It shouldn’t have been a close election, it should’ve been a landslide for John Kerry. The
American people have spoken and informed the world they are complete
idiots.



Her comments jibe with these and these and these, all by Kyle
(“No Time to Retreat”) Gann, who said early and well what had to be said, and these by Jane (“The unteachable ignorance of the red
states”) Smiley, who sounds remarkably like someone separated at birth from Gann.


And now comes sorry news that our far-seeing standard-bearer of bad tidings, Paul (“No
Surrender”) Krugman, is taking a leave from his column until sometime in January to complete an
economic textbook. His departing words bring further warning of nasty times ahead:



I don’t hope for more and worse scandals and failures during Mr. Bush’s
second term, but I do expect them. The resurgence of Al Qaeda, the debacle in Iraq, the explosion
of the budget deficit and the failure to create jobs weren’t things that just happened to occur on
Mr. Bush’s watch. They were the consequences of bad policies made by people who let ideology
trump reality. Those people still have Mr. Bush’s ear, and his election victory will only give them
the confidence to make even bigger mistakes.


If the dust does settle, it’s likely to be our own.

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Jan Herman

When not listening to Bach or Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes, or dancing to salsa, I like to play jazz piano -- but only in the privacy of my own mind.
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