Bush Unbridled

Okay, we take full responsibility for Kerry’s
defeat. Turns out these Karmic calculations are more complicated than
they appear at first glance. John Kerry gave it a good run, looked less
like an overmatched non-starter than poor Al Gore, but in the end lacked
the kind of vicious political blood lust that Karl Rove and the rest
of the Bush Posse have raised to a fine art.

Despite the stealth edge, the cell-phoned first time voters, the record-setting
turnout and the exasperating series of gaffes on the part of the incumbent,
the smart money was on the President all along, and never wavered. Smart
bettors always play the odds, unless of course they have inside information,
in which case all bets are off, except theirs. The odds were on the King,
as they usually are, until and unless the challenger proves to be more
than a fluke.

Oh, sure, once in a while they let a long shot win, and a few lucky fools
made small fortunes betting the Red Sox when they were down 0-3 to the
Yankees. But these were just the high profile, fantasyland payoffs that
keep the cookie jar money flowing in and funding professional gambling
in the United States. Great marketing for the sucker bets, nothing more.

The smart money was with the Yankees, and will be again next year and every
year until the Red Sox establish a consistent record of success to counterbalance
that of the Evil Empire. Same goes for the poor Democrats.

Unfortunately for Kerry, not only the smart money was riding on Bush, but
a lot of the dumb money as well. The sheer weight and power of the economic
interests backing Bush proved impossible for the Democrats to overcome.
One of the lessons of this election is that the Old Economy power centers
– the Oil Industry, Pharmaceutical Industry and Insurance Industry (to
mention only three prime examples) are still inherently more powerful and
entrenched
than the New Money of the Media Conglomerates, the Technology Industry
and the Entertainment Industry.

The Republicans used all of that money and power to create a completely
new and better America. Unfortunately for us, it exists only in their imaginations,
and for the purpose of enticing easily amused and impressionable Americans
into their camp.

It all seemed transparently fanciful and hypocritically unbelievable to
us, ensconced in our own effete Eastern Academic fantasyland, but millions
of just plain folks out in the heartland bought into it hook, line and
stinker.

So not all of us are mourning this New Morning in America. There are plenty
of people and groups of people who are happy as clams, and planning for
a bright new future this morning. Among them are:

Hillary Clinton is the most obvious and immediate beneficiary. Had Kerry
won, she would have been sitting in her hands on the sidelines until at
least 2012, by which point she will have gotten rid of Bill one way or
the other, and will probably look more like Ruth Bader Ginsburg than Martha
Stewart. Hillary figures that by ’08 this country is going to be so sick
of the Bush family and Republican wars that they would vote for Triumph
the Insult Joke Dog if he were nominated by the convention.

However, as one of my colleagues pointed out, the first female President
of the United States is much more likely to be a Republican than a Democrat.
No Republican is going to vote for a candidate who is a Woman and a Democrat,
too. On the other hand, a good female Republican candidate would get most
of the Republicans for her political affiliation, and millions of Democratic
votes on general principle. Condolezza Rice?

Another winner in this election is John McCain. Rarely have we seen such
a deft campaign of electoral fence-sitting as McCain has put on over the
past year, ingratiating himself to both parties and candidates in such
a brilliant way that he seemed destined for a cabinet position whoever
won. Would Kerry have won if McCain had agreed to be his VP? The thinking
here is that an immeasurably ambitious man like John McCain would not have
turned Kerry down unless he felt he had a much better chance of ascending
to the top job down the road. Is he underestimating the potential for underhanded
betrayal by the Bush Brothers? Only time will tell.

Many people who have worked and dreamed of authentic change to the Democratic
System in this county will be pleased, once the dust settles and they get
over the debacle wrought by a deeply flawed candidate and a misdirected
campaign organization. After all, how much real deep-seated change can
be had from swapping one millionaire Alpha Male Yalie for another? Maybe
electing Kerry would have been like putting a band aid on a malignant tumor
– it may cover it up for a little while, but the only real effect is delaying
any effective treatment of the problem. As mentioned above, after four
more years of this the population will be ready for some serious change,
it they survive.

You should also rejoice today if you own an oil company, or work for an
oil company, or have stock in an oil company. This election served as a
referendum on one of the biggest economic redistribution plans in the history
of the country. With energy prices at record highs, and the administration
and its lackeys trying to prepare us for three dollar a gallon gas by repeating
that "Europeans have been paying these prices for years" and "As
a percentage of income we were paying more in the 70’s", money is flowing up the econimic food chain as fast as the greedy bastards can bank it.

The truth is that the tripling of energy costs (was it just 5 years ago
that gas was floating around 89 CENTS a gallon) is a de facto blanket tax
on every individual and business in the country and is siphoning HUNDREDS
OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS out of OUR pockets and directly into the bank accounts of Middle Eastern
sheiks and multi-national oil companies, which are busily banking record profits. It’s
good work if you can get it, and will go down in the economics history
books as one of the slickest scams every successfully run on a supposedly "free" people.

The War Bloggers are sure to be happy this morning. Bush’s reelections
insures a continual chain of wars over the next four years, or more, and
a muscular reassertion of American willpower and military might guaranteed
to make us unpopular and unwelcome in every benighted and neglected corner
of the planet.

Because don’t even think that George has learned his lesson, and is going
to extricate us eventually from his morass in Iraq. He has bigger and better
things in mind. He’s like a kid who has gotten away with some old sleazy
trick, and is dying to try it again, only bigger. There is no telling what
he is capable of now, crazed with success and no longer burdened by the need to seek reelection. He
won’t rest until he makes the world safe for his friends in the Energy,
Drug and Insurance industries, even if he has to work Saturdays.

Now that the election is safely in the bag, they can let Chief Justice
Renquist down off of that terrible Zombie Juice that has been keeping him
upright in his chair, and let him go gently into that night. With any luck,
Bush will have three or four vacancies to fill, ensuring us a legacy of
Compassionate Fascism lasting long into the 21st century.

So suck it up, boys and girls, there’s no crying in Politics – just ask
Ed Muskie. Whining won’t get you very far either.