I just realized this country is in mass denial.

Listening to tv-guide channel:

"How long would we have to wait to find out the new president? Just until the next morning, it turned out. No hanging chads, no recounts, just a day for democracy, like it should be."

WTF???????????

I hadn't realized until now, how much this country wants to believe 2000 was a fluke, a one time deal, an anomaly. To believe we live in a country where there is systematic election fraud as a way of life? No thanks...

It's EXACTLY identical to the denial of a battered wife, who wants desperately to believe it won't happen again. Or the battered child who splits off because living with the acceptance/recognition of the abuse they are enduring would be too much to bear, instead, it's "But that is NOT happening, because I don't live in that kind of family/country."

The repukes are just getting better at stealing, if this election proves anything at all, it's that they LEARNED alot from their mistakes last time.

on the Daily Show this week...it was so disturbing because it is so true!

As a woman who was abused by more than one man, I can attest that it does, in fact, feel exactly like this. I think that is one reason I have felt so physically ill these past few days.

I broke free from that life once.

whose last live-in had broken several of her ribs. Just generally beat the $hit out of her from time to time, but usually not to the point of broken bones.

Then, she said, I woke up the next morning and made him breakfast. "I made him breakfast," she repeated slowly for emphasis to underline how sick and in denial she was.

But then, a couple of months later, she told me to take a hike. Too nice a guy. And I am. I fully realize it. She told me I come across the wrong way to women. So I have taken her advice. I am a confirmed bachelor, not gay (not that there's anything wrong with that) but wholly free of the battle between the sexes.

It gets easier all the time. I almost feel like telling people I am for a constitutional amendment prohibiting marriage--all marriage.

And I repeat. The fundies have the right idea. They "own" marriage. No doubt about it. Let's let them have it. Marriage should be relegated to the churches where it originated. All state-licensed relationships should be known as "civil unions."

I'd vote for that.

What you got was an injured person who undoubtedly grew up in an abusive home. People who are not taught that violence is normal will not accept it. As a former LEO I have seen it far to many times. A woman is abused and for many reasons, either he has convinced her over time of her inability to exist without him and she'll never attract anyone else, or as I said before, she grew up in that situationShe returns time after time to the same situation.

Either she goes back to him, or she seeks the same kind of man. That's why she rejected you. She believs that she deserves that treatment.

As for myself, I looked for the right woman for years. Finally found her and it was a second marraige for both of us. Funny thing is that we grew up on the same block, went to the same Jr high school. Our lives where parallel for many years until we met again in our thirties. It's lasted almost thirty years now.

Don't give up. There's someone for everyone. The secret is to get one that isn't injured or broken by the past. None of us men is smart enough to fix a broken person.

One more suggestion from an old man: If you aren't best friends, any idea of marraige is doomed from the start.

"If you aren't best friends, any idea of marriage is doomed from the start."

They think the tingly thrill of the hormones is love. Lots of damaged people out there without a clue.

<<Marriage should be relegated to the churches where it originated. All state-licensed relationships should be known as "civil unions.">>

That would indirectly legalize gay relationships, and separate church and state...why should going before a priest or minister replace going before a justice of the peace??

Why should the government have anything to do with a "sacrament"?

But hey, not all marriages are like that! I don't tolerate people being mean to me, and neither does my h.

Please don't give up on finding a woman who appreciates kindness. There are all kinds of people and not all women are looking for someone to abuse them.
It was just a bad fit.

That America is like a battered wife or the Democrats?

he was imitating bush talking like a batterer. It was creepy. I think he actually creeped himself out a little bit.

except for the exit polls.

it's just not happening.

there is doubt, there is fear that this may be happening.

that means somewhere inside them is the truth.

Denial is an action verb, it's in response to something, so I think it has to be shown people, on a county by county level, that things are amiss.

This country has a natural flow, at least from it's citizens, to progress. Paper ballots/progress need to be merged ideologically, cause who, except for repuke politicians, doesn't want progess?

I keep seeing posts that act like this was just another election. I keep seeing posts about who we're going to run in '08, as if we think there will even be anything resembling a free election in '08. I keep seeing talk of figuring out what went wrong how to do better next time.
Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again.

This is a national catastrophe. This may very well be the death of America as we've always known it. This is not an ordinary bad president, but one with a radical agenda, surrounded with radical Right Wing revolutionaries.

I don't sense that alot of people here really grasp that.

but it's worse than that. It's not that Du'ers are in denial...it's that they have no idea what ELSE to do besides talk about next time.

The sad fact is that with BBV, it doesn't matter how many voters Dems get to the polls, especially if the machines are programmed to simply reverse the votes among the candidates...turning out more and more voters would simply give the other side larger and larger "mandates."

More than the rug has been pulled out from under democracy. The floor, the basement, the entire planet has been pulled out from under democracy.

How will we motivate voters on the same scale as we did this month, if these people think they'll stand in line for hours on end, and then the candidate will renege on his promise to make sure all the votes were counted (not just the provisional ballots, not just the ones that would ensure HIS win, but ALL the votes--win or lose--for the sake of maintaining the integrity of our voting system).

Winning back that trust is going to be just as hard as combating the BBV issue.

IMHO, in terms of BBV and lapdog Dems in Congress, I think the answer is boycott/procott. Tell these people we'll boycott their outside interests if they don't listen to us...and procott them if they work with us. It's worked for the Fundies since the late 1970's, and it can work for us!

so many were first time voters of all ages, and why would they even bother next time.

even voting in elections at all unless they are willing to stand up and fight for the integrity of the electoral system itself. Threatening not to vote for them or work for their campaigns might be the only thing that would shock them into actually doing something.

Whey the Hell wasn't some sort of investigation launched after 2000 while we still had control over the Senate?

It's heartbreaking to see all the "X in 2008!" threads.

Denial is a helluva thing.

Power Conceding Nothing Without Demand As Usual
by Jenny
http://michiganimc.org/feature/display/7637/index.php

The easy smile on Kerry's face as he conceeded to Bush should have made a few things clear. There are reasons why Kerry conceeded so quickly, there are reasons why he never mentioned a single instance of voter fraud or intimidation throughout the day on November 2nd as widespread evidence of disenfranchisement was surfacing (at least through independent media outlets) and there are reasons why he didn't use his concession speech as an opportunity to articulate even mild opposition to Bush policies.

The reasons are rooted in the fact that Kerry has much more allegience to elite power in the U.S. than he has or ever will have to the millions of disenfranchised and unrepresented voters in this country. Speaking out against voter fraud would carry an implicit challenge to the myth of American democracy. Why should Kerry take the risk of challenging the legitimacy of the system? He is a pro-war, neo-liberal imperialist of the millionaire class. He has nothing to lose and much to gain from another 4 years of the Bush administration.

Given this realization, it's critical that everyone, from the Democrats who actually saw kerry as an alternative to the liberals who merely wanted "anyone but Bush" conduct a serious interrogation of how the notion of "electability" dominated political discourse leading up the Democratic primaries. Many people opposed to the Bush administration's policies supported Kerry because of his so-called "electability." At the altar of "electability" many progressive people sacrificed their politics and their
self-respect. November 3rd has arrived and we are left with the
devastating failure of this logic - not only is Bush still President but national political discourse is even more entrenched around a pro-war, neo-liberal imperialism.

more...

are letting their eyes adjust to the dark.

This is a radically evil and unprecedented time in American history.

Agree with you there.

LNFB: Leave no fingerprint behind.

We are going to have to wake them up!