I don't really have anything to say that a zillion other bloggers aren't already saying, but I feel like I should comment for the sake of posterity. It is a bewildering feeling. Support for Kerry is all around us here. Among my family, friends and aquaintances, Bush supporters are a very very small minority. I just can't believe that so many people voted for Bush. I feel like I must live in a reality that is completely different from most Americans. Except almost everyone I know feels this way too. It doesn't make any sense.

I had nightmares Wednesday morning that Bush had won. I hadn't been totally confident about Kerry's victory, but I was still shocked. Maybe because of the mid-day exit poll reports.

Now I'm hearing that Diebold machines were used in Ohio. I can't believe that those machines were allowed to be used ANYWHERE.

I heard a presidential scholar on the radio yesterday saying that second terms are typically challenging. He cited Iran Contra with Reagan and Monica Lewinsky with Clinton. There are things that could bring Bush down if only someone had the initiative to pursue them. Election fraud, Enron, war crimes - to name a few.

What's really getting my goat is how the Democrats are all conciliatory and "we'll work together". I want to hear fighting words - I want to hear them say that they won't give up.

Another thing that I don't understand is the blame for this on abortion and gay marriage. Gay marriage is a pretty recent issue, but abortion has, at least in my lifetime, always been one of those things that the Republicans rant and rave about, but that they know will never fly because polls always indicate that a majority of Americans support a woman's right to choose. So I just don't accept that abortion was a critical issue here. And I can't believe that anyone who disagreed with Bush's actions in Iraq, would sacrifice change in that arena to the bogeymonster of gay marriage. War...marriage...war...marriage... it's a no-brainer.

And the last thing that is bugging the hell out of me is all this talk about how Kerry should have kept it simple. Oh my god how fucking sad is that? Maybe if he hadn't been so intelligent and thoughtful and articulate... maybe then he would have gotten the vote.