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It's difficult to find a place to begin. There is so much post-election fluff floating around. It's a bit overwhelming. If there's one thing for which we all can be thankful, it's the fact that our president was clearly re-elected. On that point I stand corrected in my past predictions. For the most part, the Democratic party is conceding a clear win to Bush. Perhaps God saw fit to diminish our self-induced abilities at sending the country into utter confusion, and instead allowed this election to be determined more decisively this time around. Only a few days after the election have passed, so no one can be certain that aspects of the electoral process won't be challenged by Bush opposition. I trust the battle for Ohio won't die anytime soon. The knuckleheads may try to drag this thing out. Remember, it's not about unity. It never was and it never will be.

If it hasn't been said enough, I'll say it again: it's simply time to move on. For those who "lost" this election (and those who voted Bush back in with reservations), moving on doesn't necessarily mean abandoning your ideals or even your criticisms of this administration. However, those who want to continue unproductive whining and complaining and other peanut gallery whimpers about their issues with our president, the demise of democracy, and other unpatriotic blabber, will do so at the expense of the same unity they are preaching that this nation needs to embrace.

Suck it up. Press onward.

I find it interesting that we have put on this facade of being desirous of a unified nation yet, we have a political system and process that diametrically opposes that reality. Two major candidates of two political parties that historically take different sides on major issues, spend nearly a 12-month period duking it out, convincing the masses that the other is evil, attempting to uncover all matters of "bad press" and "fallacies", while simultaneously going through the other's dishonorable past with a mega-sieve, a magnifying glass and a hatchet. When the battle is finally "over", after we've all successfully decimated one another, everyone wants to start preaching "unity". Sorry folks, ain't gonna happen.

Conservatives and Liberals alike are calling for "togetherness", yet within minutes after Kerry admitted defeat, the Democrats were re-organizing and talking about a take-over in 2008 while Republicans started making plans on how to further oust the Liberal constituency. (As a brief interjection, I'd like to go on record as saying that in four years, this nation won't be open to electing a female president so they should just give up the Hillary bid now.)

Furthermore, the far left of this country didn't even wait 24 hours before they started projecting insipid bile across the underground media floor. The concept of gracefully taking a defeat is apparently an antiquated concept to many. One would think that people would take heed and follow suite of the graciousness of their candidate/leader, but we must be honest with ourselves. By and large, people don't care about unity; they care about their agendas. And as far as the East is from the West, so are the philosophies of how American citizens believe this country should be conducted.

Still, the phrase "the country is deeply divided" will continue to be heard throughout the months leading up to the inauguration. As if President Bush didn't have enough past baggage to schlep, he has the nearly impossible task of uniting the country before him. I don't covet his position in the least.

Inevitably, it is going to take our nation a bit of time before we can exit the pressure chamber of an intense year of presidential campaigning. Election time serves as a parallel universe whereby people intentionally polarize themselves and we excuse hatred, animosity, and bigotry on the grounds of "disagreement" and "political gain". The re-election of President Bush was representative of far more than a bunch of citizens haphazardly deciding that they'd like a guy with an accent in the White House. Bush supporters were just as reasoned in their selection as the Kerry base.

So much for predicting who would tip this election. In a few of the swing states especially, it wasn't the blacks or the youth or the security moms or the social security crowd that did it. It was the evangelical Christian base. How's that for a statement?

The issues of "morality" and "values" are paramount. Don't let anyone tell you different. Many will try to trample over these realities like they don't exist by scaring people into believing that putting Bush back into office will mean that we're all going to be unemployed and then die in a gruesome battle against terrorists while all the first born males are killed off Pharoh-style as a result of a war and public schools around the country will be forced to study the Bible.

I suspect that many politicians are apprehensive about the fact that a good percentage of Americans polled said their "moral values" played a large role in how they cast their votes. Morals? What are those? What do those have to do with voting? I thought this was a dualistic society!

This notion of "morality" and "values" is one that even the media throughout this election has carefully steered us away from. Why? Because the more we're forced to discuss "values" and "morality", the more we must acknowledge a definitive right and a wrong and the notion that perhaps, potentially, perchance, maybe a little bit, conceivably, our nation just might need some "standards" beyond "que sera sera". But of course that doesn't include the type of standards that remain true in spite of opposition's attempts to rake you across the coals because you have a lesbian daughter (who happens to be a legal adult). That would be unheard of.

So what is the definition of morality? What is good and what is bad? Who decides? All questions that have been craftily avoided by those who preach moral relativism. I guarantee that much political commentary from the Left will seek to redefine this idea of "values". By "redefine" I mean "water down", "neutralize" and make relative.

In the meantime, people are talking out of the sides of their necks.

The vapid claims of the disgruntled citizens that declared, "I'm leaving the country" as a result of this election are almost laughable. Americans across the map know good and well they have it made in this country and their spoiled Americanized behinds aren't going anywhere anytime soon. Poppycock. That's what those claims are. Purely childish rubbish.

And did you know that "America hates gay people"? That's right folks. According to many in the Democratic constituency, the fact that 11 states voted to approve bans on same-sex marriages means that America must really hate gay people. What, no talk of the "Religious Right" hating gay people? Now it's all of America eh? This is of course the same America that Democrats say they represent. This is the same America that supposedly wasn't properly reflected in this election.

The characterization of "Right" versus "Left" politics is hurting us. It's not the "one side versus the other" ideology per se, but it's the improper characterization of the sensible on both sides that is fueling unnecessary contempt. I don't for one minute believe that every Democrat thinks the same way about the future of this country. I don't believe every Republican does either. But to hear each side tell it, the opposition has no redeeming qualities.

I've both read and heard it said that Democrats are realizing that in order to gain any type of foothold in this country, their policy needs reform. If it takes a presidential defeat for them to realize this, then so be it. Let's just hope they write it down and take picture so as not to be hit with a bad case of selective amnesia next election. The Bush administration could stand to do the same.

People can attempt to trivialize the very values that swayed many voters in this country. They can act like it's some new "Fundamentalist Christian Revival" or Jesusland vs. America, but I beg to differ. America is not the America many thought it was. At the core, there are some moral issues on which many Americans disagree. This isn't going to just go away and people won't be manipulated out of thinking this way. With that reality at hand, I can't help but think all this "unity" talk is a bit far off.

Whoever said "hindsight is 20/20" didn't live in America in 2004.

 

I have much to say on the flop of the youth vote, but I just churned out an article on the topic so I'm not really in the mood. Maybe next week. Since its inception, I've been saying that the "youth voter registration cattle call" was missing a credible (or tangible) message. To perfectly illustrate my point, I direct you to "Punk Voter", a site which sought to use the influence of "punk culture" to rally youth to vote against Bush. Given the election no-shows of the younger generation, I'd say the title "Punk Voter" is entirely appropriate.

To drive home my accusations of emptiness, check out their "platform page". A few highlights:

Protecting Our Personal Freedoms

Punkvoter is working to fight to defend our personal freedoms and inalienable rights. We will be the loud, clear voice for the many minorities in our society. Our government was created to protect us not harass us. We want to make sure our government continues to guarantee all of our reproductive freedoms, and all of our rights to our own personal privacies. We believe equal rights under one set of laws should be paramount in any modern society.

I believe in order to get their point across, they would have been better off writing, "SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK SQUAWK!" What are rights to personal privacies? What are equal rights under one set of laws?

And then there's this lovely little ditty:

Overhauling our Justice Department

We want to send a very clear message to Washington, DC. It is time to modernize our society to match the rest of the free world. We must ban government sponsored executions and stop long-term imprisonment of non-violent criminals. It is time to repeal the Patriot Act and restore our first Amendment rights, repeal the Rave Act and restore our Freedom to Assemble, and rewrite our countries archaic and in- humane drug laws.

In-humane drug laws? That's code for marijuana legalization. Not a credible demand coming from the punk crowd. In fact, they were probably high when they wrote it.

God Bless America.

(By way of Janna)

 

This one's from my editor at Seaspot. I'm horrible on my moving deadlines for articles. You should see the email exchanges we have about the content of my articles. They're hilarious. I'll post them more. I received this email early this morning:

From: "Keith"
Date: Thu, November 4, 2004 1:03 am
To: "Ambra Nykol"
Subject: So, I might be rethinking my belief that God doesn't care...

Drudge is reporting that ashcroft will hand in his resignation within days. Between that and the sure knowledge that when I wake up there will be a column in my mailbox, I'm going to sleep like a baby on bourbon tonight.

Keith

He knows I like Mr. Ashcroft.

 

Thought I'd share these interesting pre-election thoughts from frump-boy. I especially like his admonition to black people:

"To African Americans:

First of all, let’s just acknowledge what you already know: America is a country which still has a race problem, to put it nicely. Al Gore would be president today had thousands of African Americans not had their right to vote stolen from them in Florida in 2000.

Here is my commitment: I will do everything I can to make sure that this will not happen again. And I’m not the only one making this pledge. Thousands of volunteer lawyers are flying to Florida to act as poll watchers and intervene should there be any attempts to deny anyone their right to vote. They will NOT be messing around.

For my part, I have organized an army of 1,200 professional and amateur filmmakers who will be armed with video cameras throughout the states of Florida and Ohio. At the first sign of criminality, we will dispatch a camera crew to where the vote fraud is taking place and record what is going on. We will put a big public spotlight on any wrongdoing by Republican officials in those two states. They will not get away with this as they did in 2000.

In Ohio, the Republicans are sending almost 2,000 paid “poll challengers” into the black precincts of Cleveland in an attempt to stop African Americans from voting. This action is beyond despicable. Do not let this stop you from voting. I, and thousand of others, will be there to fight for you and protect you."

My favorite line? "At the first sign of criminality, we will dispatch a camera crew to where the vote fraud is taking place and record what is going on"...(subtext: I will do this so that I can turn the footage into a crockumentary and make lots of money by exploiting you). Oh but wait. It's the conservatives who are the capitalists right?

You know we're in a different era when at the first sign of "criminal behavior" people threaten to "dispatch cameras" as a weapon. For Mr. Moore's sake, let's pray that gathering his footage didn't involve any running.

 

Many other bloggers that I highly respect are saying what I've been saying for quite some time: the big issues in this election were not terrorism and national security. Not at all.

Joe at the Evangelical Oupost notes:

"It was embryo destruction, not the economy. It was partial-birth abortion, not terrorism. It was same-sex marriage, and not the war in Iraq. If you want to see what killed the Democrats chances of regaining the White House just look at the issues we’ve been discussing on this blog for the past year. Exit polls show that in many states, “moral values” was a bigger issue than either the economy or terrorism. One in five voters throughout the Midwest was an evangelical. In Ohio, the state that will put the President over the top, that number was 25%, with Bush taking 75% of the evangelical vote.

The mainstream media, of course, will be shocked by this outcome. They shouldn't be."

Joshua Claybourn noted the same thing:

"In my estimation, there is a stronger undercurrent driving this election; something more than terrorism or the economy. That undercurrent is a culture war pitting traditional values against more progressive ones. In 11 states voters approved constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, making it a clean sweep for advocates of marriage's traditional definition. Churches and value-driven voters came out in droves, and when they did they voted overwhelmingly for the president. Karl Rove has always said that nearly 4 million evangelical voters didn't vote for Bush in the 2000 election and they had every intention of changing that."

I think the word for the day (and the next four years) is "unity". President Bush has a tough job ahead of him.

(Update 8:16 PST) NBC just reported that John Kerry called President Bush to concede.

 

Me and my credentialed self are calling it a win. Take that for whatever it's worth. When it's official, I have some emails to shoot to a few commenters who've contended with me for 8 months that Kerry would win. I'm pretty good at gloating when it turns out that I'm right.

So it seems the youth did not vote. They only made up 17% of voters which is the same number as last year. But that's according to the pollers who talk to the drunken college students. Yep, the reasons for this apathy will be my column topic next week.

I did however, have a chance to put together what I feel are some of the best pictures of November 2nd > >

Bush and family sit back and watch the results. Gotta respect a man who can cross his legs without looking feminine.

Improper use of the American flag. This man may be helping with ballots, but he's certainly not helping the cause of patriotism with that vest. Go straight to jail.

You gotta admit, this is beautiful. Obama deserved this win way more than Keyes with his carpetbagger, pro/anti-reparations floppy self.

At this point, they may be holding up their hands for the number of drinks they've had.

Senate majority leader Bill Frist does the hokey pokey.

Is that supposed to be a donkey? (The balloon not the guy)

At this point, I'd be asking people like this NOT to vote for me.

No dog deserves this.

And no dog deserves this either.

I am convinced I may have attended high school with these individuals.

And yes, everyone voted.

Perhaps the prayers worked.

Completely unnecessary.

This is how I felt all day.

 

As lifted from a comment someone left on Dooce.com

"Have any of you actually been polled before? Exit polls? or Polls the months before the election? Where are these people who get polled? I don’t know of anyone who has ever been polled. Anyone? Anyone?"

Last month I asserted that the people being polled are drunken college students. Please. Somebody prove me wrong.

 

Okay, I totally lied about my lack of voting day excitement. Seriously, this has been the most amusing day on the job that I've had all year, hands down. I generally make it a point not to speak on political issues in my place of work. Usually I find it unprofessional. That is, I won't bring up the subject voluntarily. But if you however, decide to start talking about who you voted for and why, and just commence to making stuff up, talking out of the side of your neck, don't think I won't have something to say.

In two separate meetings today, mini-debates broke out. These were not political meetings; these were business meetings. These were regular, everyday official gatherings typically marked by "Hi how's it goin'?" and "Can you believe the weather?" and "I'm so glad the Red Sox won!" and "How's that sore shoulder?" type of surface and superficial talk. Apparently, people take off their politically correct skin on election day. Throw out all inhibitions! Say what ever you want! Suddenly, everyone's a pundit and a scholar. Even little miss silent Nellie over there in the corner had something to say. In passing, people declared who they believed would be the winner. Others gave me their unsolicited opinion that President Bush should be shut down because, "The entire world hates America."

Umm, okay. Got the facts to back that one up?

"I mean like, I get totally bothered because like, I like have friends in France and they tell me most people in their country can't stand Americans."

(pause)

Since when does anyone care what the French have to say? Now if your friend was British, the claim might have some credibility. In which case, we'd just retort by insulting their cooking.

Yeah, no more workplace conversations about politics, that's for sure.

The news crews are outside doing something suspicious. Cannot confirm. I got an email from a newspaper reporter asking me for an interview, wondering if I felt the election would be predicted via weblogs. Forgive me in advance for lying and suggesting that Nykola.com just might be place to come for all the latest-breaking news. For the record folks, this is as close as I'll ever come to live-blogging (that is, sharing my random tidbits and streams of consciousness).

I feel left out as I voted absentee and have no harrowing tale of pushing my way through the crowds with my fist in the air to cast my vote. Perhaps I'll go down to the polls anyway just to hang with the crowd. Maybe do a few songs, tell a few jokes, sell movie-style concessions for inflated prices. Or perhaps I could run a special "Fashion Faux-Pas Election Day Special" where my camera captures the world's worst get-ups donned by Ralph Nader supporters. I did read somewhere that someone overheard the following spoken while in line to vote in Washington D.C.:

"I think all the ones with the white headphones are voting for Kerry."

Heh.

 

As illustrated by my not so favorite sold-out Democrat blogger Markos Moulitsas at the "Daily Kos" who recently noted his polling experience:

"I voted for a bunch of Democrats and against a bunch of ballot initiatives (with a handful of exeptions). I still hate ballot initiatives.

I also hate non-partisan offices. How the heck am I supposed to know the best choice for the the local community college or public transportation citizen boards? Give me a party ID, and at least I feel like my vote is grounded in some sort of rationality.

Oh I dunno Kos. Maybe use your brain. Analyze the issues? Think? Yeesh. Political party thinking rears its pretty little head.

 

Okie dokie. Time to get serious. After my much needed attitude check, I think I'm ready to acknowledge what is a very important day in the history of this country. And if I had forgotten, the lovely plastic "The NAACP Says Vote" signs scattered about the city were there to remind me. While some of my outside roles don't really allow me to publicly endorse a candidate, I've already stated my thoughts on what I feel is important to consider in this election. Then there's always that not-so-subtle donning of a particular pink t-shirt last month on a day that shall officially go down in history as "the day I was disowned by my family". But at least you know I have some style.

The only thing that separates today from every other day of this blessed campaign is that the whiners and complainers must finally align their actions with their words and be doers. And for sanity's sake, let us all pray that the aligning of the actions with the words is a peaceful (and legal) endeavor. And personally, I think that anyone who hasn't exercised their voting privileges today should keep their mouth shut as it relates to politics for the next four years.

To political staffers, lobbyists, and correspondents everywhere, the first Tuesday of November must be the equivalent to April 15th for a tax accountant. Reporters must eat their spinach and Wheaties leading up to this day. I'll bet Red Bull sales go up. I'll bet narcotic sales go up too. Can you feel the rush? I don't. My "rush" came and went about six weeks ago when I watched the paint-drying marathon known as the "Presidential Debates". And I might as well put the truth on out there. As of right now, I'm feeling a bit conflicted that election results will be showing simultaneously with the "Cosby Show marathon" on Nickelodeon. Last I checked, this thing was never decided by the end of election day, so I think the the Huxtables might win me over. Besides, that's why we have the internet. Multi-taskers unite!

To be honest, it's really the local elections that interest me more at this point. Thanks to a sloth of a Democratic candidate, it's looking like Washington may in fact be getting their first Republican Governor in quite some time. We are desperately in need of a change in leadership and even the black community here recognizes that. I am excited at this prospect. But you probably don't care, because most of you reading this don't live here. Washington isn't a swing-state. It's blue. Very blue and thus federal elections are not entirely exciting as most of us know that John Kerry has the state on lock. But if it makes me earn cool points, I will say that I do have family in Pennsylvania (and a couple friends in Florida).

Something has occurred to me over the last eight or so months. People hate President George W. Bush. No I mean they really hate him like with a passion, like want to inflict harm on him, like would rather see Marion Berry in office than hear four more years of Bush's Texan accent. And while I have some series gripes with one particular past president of the era of "the definition of 'is'" and other verbs that shall go unmentioned, it's fairly safe to say that nowhere in my mortal body could I ever bring myself to even think thoughts of a hatred towards a president or his family. This hatred thing towards Bush and all connected to him is rather telling. I'm becoming more and more convinced it's not just hatred of the President, it's hatred of what he represents. And what does he represent? Well, that's debatable among many, but I believe our nation is headed towards some major changes in the moral climate of government and dare I say, I believe that whether knowingly or unknowingly, President Bush may be at the helm of that ship.

Here's a clue: this thing is bigger than a man with the last name Bush. The atmosphere is tense. The future of prevailing governmental philosophies and ideologies are at stake here and both ends of the political spectrum know it. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this election isn't purely about the debate on the necessity of the war in Iraq and our country's safety against terrorists, the credibility of military records or a CBS scandal. And for crying out loud, do people really think the draft is going to be reinstituted? That is an enormous smokescreen if you ask me.

Under pressure, the truth comes out. That is, the truth of how far people are willing to go as a result of their hatred. I must say, I am disappointed with behavior of both Liberals and Conservatives who've bought into the mud-slinging and diminished this election to how a candidate catches a football, talks, or picks out ties. Discussions on which candidate has the "hottest" daughters are trivial and belittle what's at stake in this election and the privilege we have as Americans to even have a say-so. Ripping up signs, smashing windows and making threats reduces citizens of this country to the barbaric nature that we accuse our international enemies of displaying. Let's grow up.

I make no predictions as to who I think will win, but I do pray God's will prevails. There are really only few things I can be sure of in this election. Among them are the following:

1. There will be a winner.
   
2. Ralph Nader will not be he.
   
3. If/when George W. Bush leads in the polls, somewhere, somehow, there will be charges of unfair voting practices. Bet on that.
   
4. If President Bush is re-elected, Democrats will pull out all stops to make it look fraudulent.
   
5. Probably vice versa.
   
6. When it's over, life will go on.
   
7. If John Kerry is elected...well, then he'd be the President.

CNN is breaking down each state's live voting status