Why Kerry / Edwards Lost

Quite simply, Kerry / Edwards received less votes than Bush / Cheney.

But why?

Was it the catastrophic success in Iraq:

1,000 dead American citizens in Iraq.

100,000 dead Iraqi citizens.

$200 billion

instability, chaos, breeding ground for terrorists

giving a no-bid contract to halliburton ?

Was it because Bush reached out to all Americans:

• attempted the first constitutional amendment that would take away rights from a class of citizens, banning any future laws allowing gays to marry
• gave tax cuts to companies who outsource overseas ?

I could go on and on, but the fact is, it wasn't any of those reasons. The only reason is: too many people in red states are idiots. I volunteered handing out sample ballots at my polling place for the Kerry campaign. We were not trying to change anyone's mind; we were simply helping people understand how to vote.

A man came up to us and asked: are you with the Kerry campaign? I hadn't been up until an hour ago when I started handing out sample ballots, but I answered yes. My friend Katie was with me and answered yes as well. Ready to answer any questions he might have had, he said in a Clint Eastwood voice, "I'm here to tell you why I'm not voting for Kerry."

Perfect! Enlighten us!

He continued (accurately paraphrased):

I'm not voting for Kerry because this country is going to Hell in
a handbasket. You all should be ashamed of yourselves for associating with
homosexuals. It's disgusting. With all the problems we have, how am I supposed
to face my God and tell him that I voted for a man who associates with
homosexuals? You're just demons working for the devil.

There were many clever things I thought to say, but I didn't. I didn't want to have my beautiful face punched in--I don't think Clinique makes a product for that. I also didn't want to risk that he might be legally carrying a concealed weapon. So I said nothing. Katie was smart and said, "We're all God's children." I hear on the news tonight that the main issue for those who voted for Bush was "moral values." I guess I know what that means up close and personal now.

Bush directed the murder of about 400 Americans as governor of Texas under the guise of the death penalty. That doesn't meet my definition of moral behavior. Bush's father pulled rank and got his son into the National Guard to avoid the savage battle in Vietnamn that Kerry volunteered himself for. Bush couldn't even manage to show up for National Guard duty. Kerry received four Purple Hearts, yet those with moral values somehow managed to show that Kerry was the one without principle. So, Red America, I don't get you.

I do understand conservative principles. I have tried to open myself to hear them: small government, strong defense, keep government off your back. But, you didn't vote with those principles.

SMALL GOVERNMENT: You voted for a president who turned a $500 billion surplus into a $500 billion budget gap (a deficit that you pay interest on through your taxes). The federal debt has increased by over $2.5 trillion dollars (also money you pay interest on). This is a high rolling president.

STRONG DEFENSE: Al Qaeda attacked the US on 9/11. 17 of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, Bush's old oil stomping grounds where he has many friends. The US did start to go after the Saudi Arabian based terrorist Osama Bin Laden, but prematurely evacuated the region he was in for a more pressing matter: Saddam Hussein, whose great claim to fame was once having
talked about assinating Bush's daddy. The US military is way too spread out, and the guards are being used as backup instead of for their intended purposes. Kerry wanted more troops on the ground; Bush thinks everything is OK.

KEEP GOVERNMENT OFF YOUR BACK: Bush doesn't want the government off your back. He wants church in your life. He wants public aid to be funneled through churches, and he has succeeded in doing that. He doesn't want gay people to make whoopy. He upheld Texas laws which were only in the '90s used to put people in jail for consensual sex. He tried to pass an amendment that would have taken away states' rights to decide marriage laws. I don't blame Bush. I blame all of those who were had. I have a few conservative friends who are all excited about this war in Iraq. They're macho. They think I am a pussy for not supporting it. They think I'm a fag. I think they need a reality check. I feel so much guilt knowing that if I were in a lower socio-economic range I might be dead or injured from having served in Iraq. I feel sick that my generation serving in Iraq didn't make enough money to be eligible for Bush's tax cuts. I feel sick knowing they are over there without direction and supplies to keep them safe. And I feel sick knowing they are there on the whim of some quixotic cowboy who has never known
what those young men and women will know.