Bush Steals it Again

For someone who claimed to want to unite the country, Bush has been an incredibly divisive president, as the election result predictions today clearly show. The most interesting demographic to date is that had the women been in charge we'd now be talking about President Kerry's first term, but the men preferred Bush by a significant majority.

As I write it looks like Bush will squeak in unless there are major surprises in the absentee and uncounted ballots. I just hope that all the poor male Bush voters hoping to get rich will remember the next four years. There is little doubt in my mind that Bush's second term will, to misquote former Chancellor of the Exchequer Denis Healey, "squeeze the poor until the pips squeak". The American dream is about to become the American nightmare, since clearly Bush feels no necessity to act moderately despite the slimness of his majority.

This is feeling like a bad day for America and a bad day for the world. I just can't believe that anything but voter self-interest has given the Prez the support he needs to get re-elected, nor how people can delude themselves into thinking that Bush cares the hell about them. The best description I've heard from anyone was Ralph Nader's "He's a corporation disguised as a man". The next four years will be good for corporate profits and exceptionally bad for anyone without a high net worth.The American right, ably assisted by a media completely dominated by big business has long ago persuaded much of the world that "socialism" is a dirty world, and "liberal" is also teetering on the brink. It seems that The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists still has plenty to teach the world.