About 4PM I returned to my office and flipped on my computer…a virus had struck. Not the computer, but me. A nauseous weak feeling, dryness in the mouth and a sense of great discomfort swept me. On the screen Drudge was reporting that the exit polls were boosting spirits in the Kerry camp…he was winning Florida by 8, Pennsylvania by 20, Ohio by 6! Unable to focus, I packed up some papers and headed home. Checking in with the parents in Florida brought even worse news: Redstater’s Mom reporting, “we aren’t even winning in South Carolina!” “What have I missed?” I mused. By the time I reached home, I decided the only thing to do was to ignore the TV and Internet for a while. Forty-five minutes of Nordic Tracking and reading the “Odyssey,” put me in a better frame of mind. After showering I headed to the kitchen, retrieved one of those icy cold beverages I’d love to sit down and quaff with W, and hit “Power” on the clicker.
My nausea quickly subsided as I watched the Confederacy go for W faster than Sherman burned Atlanta. Then the red tide swept up into the Mid and Southwest. Despite Susan Estrich’s bleating that these numbers were wrong because the exit polls had shown her guy would win, the electoral numbers for W were rolling up like the price of a high-octane gasoline. Despite the media’s post-2000 reluctance to call it, Florida was in the Bush camp and Ohio was headed that way fast. Juan Williams looked like he had food poisoning by 2 AM…and kept referring to jfk as “Gore.” The number stuck at 269 electoral votes from about 1 AM till 2:30 and I elected to head to bed. I knew that worst case, it would end up in the House. I also knew we were up at least 3 in the Senate.
If you recall my prediction, the last 10% - a W blowout – was in the making. The end came mercifully swift the next morning when my Blackberry buzzed…”FNC ALERT: KERRY CALLS BUSH TO CONCEDE.” It was the one truly decent thing John Forbes Kerry had done in over a year of campaigning. He was retiring from the fight like a gentleman, not the sobbing whining sniveler (now shouter) that Al Gore was four years ago. Who knows, maybe Teresa said she wasn’t going to pay the legal bills, but the reality is the numbers were stark. Later in the day, JFK gave an excellent speech and bowed out with grace and class. His full-toothed campaign mate babbled again about “working to make one America again…” “Hey, Little Johnny! Take a look at the map below…we are ONE AMERICA!”
At 3PM, George Walker Bush, gave his thanks to his campaign in a beautiful speech at the Ronald Reagan building. It’s worth a read, because it contains the heart of his agenda but also shows the decency of the man. As a Texan by birth and no doubt feeling the effects of the stress that began with the “flu” the day before, my eyes welled up on the following lines:
“Let me close with a word to the people of the state of Texas. We have
known each other the longest, and you started me on this journey. On the open
plains of Texas, I first learned the character of our country: sturdy and
honest, and as hopeful as the break of day. I will always be grateful to the
good people of my state. And whatever the road that lies ahead, that road will
take me home.”
Those lines apply not only to the people of the Lone Star State, but to all decent Americans and that’s the vast, vast majority. This election proved it. An editorial page in the Wall Street Journal this morning made the following observation:
“This is a Democratic Party in which nostalgia for tradition is too oftenIt is this misunderstanding that cost and will continue to cost Democrats elections…and Redstater has no problem saying, “thank God!”
considered racism, opposition to gay marriage is bigotry, misgiving about
abortion is misogyny, Christian fundamentalism is like Islamic fundamentalism,
discussion about gender roles is sexism, and confidence in America's global
purpose is cultural imperialism. To put it mildly, this is not the values system
to which most Americans adhere."
God Bless our nation, our people and our re-elected President! Now, let's all get back to work!