100 Things About the Election, Part XII

The continuing series of things I noticed during and after Election Day that I considered important. In no particular order...

93. What's great is, these folks had this site up before the election began. The pre-emptive whining campaign -- yet another proud legacy for the Democratic Party.

94. Sports Ilustrated's Kostya Kennedy has one of the funniest ideas of the year -- nominating John Kerry for Sportsman of the Year. Doesn't this guy read Football Fans for Truth?

95. The last post reminds of the Swift Boat Veterans, and their immeasruable impact on the election. Their story deserved to be told -- what each person thought of it was an individual call. But what's important is that this story was told, dissected, reviewed and discussed. Some of their claims were proven true, while others had doubt cast on them. But the beautiful thing about free speech in a free market is that both sides get to tell their story, and these men deserved to tell their version of events just as much as John Kerry did.

One final word from Admiral Roy Hoffman of the Swift Boat Vets...

We are pleased with the fact that we were able to effectively bring attention to our issues and raise questions regarding Senator Kerry’s character, leadership ability and qualifications as a potential Commander in Chief. As we have stated since we formed, we believed that John Kerry’s actions in Vietnam, coupled with the reprehensible statements he made after he returned were serious and consequently made him unfit for command. The primary purpose of our organization was to provide a voice for the courageous and honorable veterans of Vietnam, more than 280 Swift Boat Vets, Coast Guardsmen and POWs who served their country with honor. Our national grassroots efforts produced donors in every state in the nation as we raised more than $26 million, with more than $7 million in online contributions. In addition, Swift Boat Veterans and former POW's visited dozens of states to take their message directly to the American people. We were the true embodiment of grassroots citizen action, complied fully with federal election law and had every right to participate in the public discussion of John Kerry's qualifications as Commander in Chief.

96. The Jib Jab boys now have their classics on DVD. Thanks for keeping things light, guys.

97. In case you were wondering, here's the Ohio count of provisional votes, as of today. Man, Kerry's losing by even more votes.

98. Hey, can someone get me the results of the CBS MemoGate investigation before the end of the year? CBS did fire a producer, but only for the mortal sin of interrupting a broadcast of CSI: New York.

99. Kerry has decided the real culprit for his loss if Osama bin Laden. Maybe if he gets elected in 2008 and captures him, Kerry can add this to the list of charges when Kerry gets tried.

100. You know, I will miss writing all those John Kerry Posts of the Day.

Truth be told, I have a blast with blogging, and politics is one of the best topics to blog about, because it's so worthy of the passion people inject into it. And Presidential elections have a sports-like feel to them today, because we know so much about them -- about electoral votes, chads, GOTV efforts, 527 organizations, etc. -- and feel like we get a chance to participate, either as fans of one side or another, or possibly as participants fascinated by the machinery of democracy. And for all the people turned off by partisan politics, you're missing the point -- this is a process run by humans, and as such includes all of the pathetic, petty, insane things we will do to win. That doesn't excuse it -- but the counter to people lying, cheating and stealing is telling the truth about them, and fighting their words with yours. So get involved, even if you're on the other side.

And if you are on the other side, good luck in the next election. In the end, we all live in this country together, and I hope your sense of misery lifts. I'll try to limit the gloating to online. If you're actually leaving the country over this... well, that's life. I'm not sorry, because I think my country is better off without people who can't handle a little adversity. But I'm sad that such people think their life is so terrible. Would I be down if my candidate had lost? Sure. Would I threaten to leave the country? Hey, where would I go? Even if the worst happened (Hillary Clinton) waking up in America is better than waking up anywhere else.

As for my fellow passionate Bush supporters -- we owe it to our fellow citizens to make sure the President pursues the best policies for our country, and to support him when he does (and fight him if backs away from them). Okay, let's enjoy the win -- but let's remember that it carries responsibility with it.

Finally, to all our troops, anywhere and everywhere, I hope that for all the screwups our country has, in our leadership, in our election process, in our partisan bickering and in our citizenry -- that we are worthy of you anyway. Thanks for everything, guys.