I dont fecking believe it.......... my life is ruined. how can they vote that idiot back in???
Hardly a surprise result, sadly.
Certainly makes me fear for the safety of the planet for the next few years.
Mind you, I'll bet that barmy blair gets another term, too.
Surely the world will end.
Not really bothered. I dont think they were diametrically opposed on any major issues (broadly I think Kerry voted for military action )
2 candidates to vote for every few years....yep thats democracy and`ll keep em quiet.
US democracy is a sham - no debate about health care or
the economy, just a non-stop slanging match about how
the other guy makes America less safe.
I wonder which is the next country after Iraq to feel the brunt of
American imperialism (sorry, 'progressive democracy') ??!
Ash
I'm no lover of Bush, Blair or any other politician but I don't thinks its nearly as simple as which person gets voted in.
Most politicians on a personal level are reasonable individuals (of the ones I've had dealings with).
Politics is more about how things look than how things are so all parties have become more concerned with image than substance.
Then there's the fact that politics attracts a certain sort of person - so we, the voting public, vote for or against individuals and parties.
To my mind the whole weakness in the system both sides of the pond have is that there is no way of voting for no-one and making that vote count, if you see what I mean.
How can we register our displeasure with those on offer? To not vote doesn't work, so the only options left are to vote for the lesser evil or spoil your paper, and neither of those get the message across.
My own view is that we need an official abstention, and the bigger the vote for no-one becomes the more likely that someone will notice that the current state of politics is not sustainable and hopefully change will happen.
But while we continue to vote in smaller and smaller numbers and return unrepresentative governments whose main objective is the gaining and retention of power and not the effective government of the state for the benefit of its people, nothing will change.
Sorry to be pessimistic - but it really is in our hands ultimately.
SA
XXX
Aw. I think you are all being so unfair to Bush and Blair. Just think of the fun the world is going to have for the next few years. Some of the stuff Bush comes away with is hysterical. You couldn't pay to watch a better stand up. And Blair is like that lil snivelling gremlin creature out of Lord of The Rings when he's in the company of bush.
The jokes will be endless. Here's one I just made up.
Q. Why are the Americans looking so happy
A. Cause they just planted that Dope Bush :smoke: in the white hoouse for another four years
The Americans I've spoken to about Bush seem to think he just has a problem with the English language but behind all that he is not an idiot. Would they have us believe that he has lots of profound, philosophical or political thoughts, but is just unable to verbalise them!? I don't believe it for a second. From being fired from a company board for "not contributing anything at boardmeetings" to president of the USA using the Harvard Business School student method of analysis. Really, the Americans have a dumbass for president (again).
Bush is an easy target – his persona isnt particularly appealing and he doesn’t come across as the brightest.
However, compared to Ronald Reagan he comes across as academic with profound philisophical points. Remember what everybody thought of Reagan, how he was lambasted, how he was treat over here in programs like spitting image? Remember how Thatcher was his poodle?
You may also rmember that the world is now a far safer place because of Reagan. It is now a widely held view that he won the cold war, not by fighting but by standing up to the Soviets and making them realise they couldn’t keep up in the cold war and win. He also turned round the US economy.
Its easy to say that most Americans are not known for their intelligence – if that’s the case why is it that the US is the richest most powerful country in the world? If it wasn’t for the US this would be a country subservient to either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.
Sneering at Bush in the UK is often led by snobbery by people who look down on his folksy simplistic manner – and yes it can be irritating. I bet most people would jump at the chance to move to the States and wouldn’t give a stuff whether Bush, Kerry or Arnie were in charge.