I am in total shock. I'm stunned and saddened that the race was even close, letalone that Bush the Mindless Puppet is likely going to be re-elected to another four years like the last. Who in this country can say we are better off today than we were four years ago? The Democratic ticket needs to find another Clinton. I liked Kerry, but it seemed he didn't have enough charisma, or whatever it is that makes people vote for a person. I just don't understand how every single exit poll had John Kerry leading by 2-3 points, and then all of a sudden, the votes don't add up. I really think something is wrong, that those Diebold voting machines were tampered with. How better to steal votes than to create a machine that has no backup, no verifiable mechanism for checking the integrity of the numbers they produce, and put major Republican contributors in charge of creating and running them. Then all the Republicans have to do is spin the Democratic protests into a "sore loser" vein, and your man is in office for another four years.

I am really concerned about the message that this sends the world. It shows everyone that America really does believe in this idiot, in what he stands for, in war-mongering and swaggering and self-righteousness. I think Bin Laden will be thrilled with a second Bush term, because he can tell his followers that we're all the same, that we stand behind this leader, and that we're all fair game. By electing Kerry we would have shown them that we do NOT support Bush's policies in the world, that we do NOT believe in just taking whatever we think is ours, and that we do NOT think he is a good leader or represents the vast majority of Americans. Unfortunately, the opposite just happened.

I'm glad Kerry isn't conceding right away. He deserves to wait until all the votes are counted before conceding anything. CNN still has Ohio as "too close to call", so that's good too. Watching ABC's coverage of the election last night, every time Peter Jennings called a state for Bush, it was like a death knell sounding. Absolute quiet would fall over the studio, and a profound sense of dread filled the air. Florida was the worst. It is just so unbelievable that Bush could win this year by an even larger amount than last time. HOW CAN THAT HAPPEN????? Gore was a limp dish rag; Kerry is a war hero, with character and personality and the intials JFK for Pete's sake! How much more do the people need??

Oh, Christ. Kerry just called Bush to concede. I'm off to resume weeping.