The internet is ablaze with punditry trying to explain not just Bush's victory, but also why Kerry lost. Let's face it, the economy wasn't booming, the Iraqi war has proven tougher than expected, and the democrats were motivated and very well financed. On paper, Kerry looked like an ideal candidate. He looked presidential, had a heroic military record, and was a great debater. Conventional wisdom even has it that Joe Lieberman, or someone like him, could have won. So what happened?

Was it morals and values? Was it defense and national security? Was it Kerry's liberalism? Was it the economy? Yes to all of them. But that doesn't explain it fully. And it doesn't explain the over two decades long shift rightward in American politics that began with Reagan. Even when democrats controlled the congress in the 80's, Southern democrats voted Republican, giving the Republicans a technical majority. By 1994, those Southern democrats were Republicans, Zel Miller being the last of a now extinct species.

Once upon a time, there was precious little that separated the two parties. In 1960, what really were the differences between Nixon and Kennedy? How much different would a Humphrey presidency have been? But things changed after 1972 and Bush's victory is a direct result of this.

Today, the differences between the two parties are wide, and ever widening. It isn't just the secular versus religious debate. It isn't just the nanny-state versus ownership society debate. It isn't even the pre-emptive, unilateralist, agressive war on terror debate. It is much more than that, but it's simpler too. It is simply who is the party of America.

Look beyond the red/blue state map and look at the county map. Look deeper into thte numbers. Counties Bush won have a population of almost 151 million, while Kerry's counties have 103 million. Bush won over 2.51 million square miles, Kerry just over 511,000.

The election was more than just an election, it was a rejection. It was a rejection of not just liberalism, but of anti-Americanism. Alot more of America voted for Bush. In almost every state Kerry won, he won with a very small part of the state. Compared to 2000, even more of America voted for Bush, with Republicans picking up seats in both the House and Senate.

Not all democrats hate America, but the party is a welcome home to the America-hating crowd. The democrats take their money, attend their movies, go to their fundraisers, and worst of all, do not condemn the even vilest of hatred and vitriol. Jean Kirkpatrick called them the "Blame America first" crowd, but let's call them by their correct name, the anti-American crowd.

They are the Hollywood elite who go to Europe and say they're ashamed to be American. They are the university academics who throw objectivity away and simply try to indoctrinate their students. They are the media who for years have misreported and distorted, whose credibility is gone, who will run stories based on forgeries for the sole purpose of destroying a president. They are the wealthy who live in gated communites, drive BMW's with "no blood for oil" bumper stickers, think that if you believe in God you are a trodglidyte, and are more concerned with saving a whales and owls. And all of them supported Kerry.

Kerry's biggest mistake was focusing on how much the rest of the world disapproved of us. Sure, he never said as much directly, but you hear it when he says he going to go the UN and formally reenter the community of nations. You hear it when he says we pushed aside out "traditional allies". You hear it when he says we need to pass a "global test".

Americans love America like no other people love their nation, and no other people identify with thier nation like we do. We're not an amalgamation of tribes, whose boundaries were crafted by some foreign potentate. We're Americans by choice. Perhaps it is because we are all from somewhere else, and our ancestors came here to escape oppression or seek opportunity. Whatever the reason, one thing is certain about most Americans. We couldn't care less what the rest of the world thinks of us, and in fact, we hope they hate us.

What do Americans know? We know that we're special. We know that we're the envy of the world. We don't conquer, we liberate. We might not always do well, but we never do wrong. When Marines, hardened by four years of the most brutal, intense, and worst fighting ever seen, landed in Japan after the war, they saw starving japanese children and gave them their rations. Why? Because they were Americans, and that's we do. Arab Muslim terrorists commited the worst attack on American soil, we after liberating Iraq and Afghanistan, we send doctors to inoculate the children and contractors to build schools. Why? Because we're Americans, and that's what we do.

When I tell that to my classes, I always have to pause and catch myself, before the tear welling in my eye reveals itself on my cheek. Why should this make me a Republican? It shouldn't. But how could I find a home in the democratic party? Kerry and the democrats never figured this out. They made their party home to the America bashers. Americans instinctively know that when they wrap themselves in the flag, it's contrived.

Once upon a time, democrats could be trusted to defend America. Not just militarily, but philosophically. They would have defended who we are and what we are with every ounce of their being. Who in their party today will carry that mantle? Who in their party will champion America? Or are they all Republicans now?

Kerry said repeatedly he defended America as a young man. No, he fought in a war for America. And for that, we are grateful. But, no, he never defended America. Not against the anti-war protestors who burned the flag, not against the commnuist appeasers who derided America, and worst of all, not against a vile filmmaker who spewed lies and venom against the country. He did not defend America. And for that reason above all else, he lost. And deservedly so.

Yahoo! News has an updated popular vote tally. Now it's 52-47. Let's see, back in March
I wrote:

I've been saying this for a while, but let me put words to paper. Or whatever the web is. The election will be Bush 53% Kerry 46%. I might not be the only one to predict this, but I haven't seen to many, so I guess I'm one of the first.

Why was I so sure? Here's the short story.

1) Kerry is way too liberal
2) people feel safer
3) the economy is strong (330,000+ jobs this month)
4) social issues (hmmm...isn't that the key talking point lately!!)
5) people like Bush
6) anger isn't a winning formula
7) Kerry was an "alternative"
8) we are better off
9) Kerry will explode
10) Kerry should have put Bush away early, and couldn't.

Kerry never demonstrated the ability to move beyond his base. The democrats are simply not the majority party anymore. If they'd have run Joe Lieberman, it would have been very close, and he even possibly could have won. But that still wouldn't have stopped GOP gains in the Senate
and House.

In August, I took a look at the past presidential elections and discovered this:

A look at history will give the answer. Quick, who was the last democratic presidential candidate to get 50% of the vote? Nope, wrong. (You thought Clinton, eh?) It was Jimmy Carter, with a whopping 50.08%. Before that, the last democratic president to get 50% was Johnson at
61.05%. So, in the last 40 years, only 1 democratic presidential candidate has cracked the 50% barrier, and to use a baseball analogy, he "just cleared the fence". By the way, the last "JFK" got 49.72% to Nixon's 49.55% in 1960.
...
I am hardly a political scientist, and I'm not writing a dissertation, but the conclusion should be obvious. Kerry can't get 50% of the vote, and right now, he is polling as high as he can. He cannot poll higher and he has three months until the election and cannot afford to lose any support. Talk about pressure.

Kerry never had a chance. I clearly saw this. I don't recall anyone else seeing this. Barring a total meltdown by Bush, the election was over in March.

Now, do I get any credit?

update:When I originally wrote this, yahoo had it 52-47. Since then, it tightened back to 51-47.

Everything that is wrong with the left today can be summed up by Eric Alterman:

Let’s face it. It’s not Kerry’s fault. It’s not Nader’s fault (this time). It’s not the media’s fault (though they do bear a heavy responsibility for much of what ails our political system). It’s not “our” fault either. The problem is just this: Slightly more than half of the citizens of this country simply do not care about what those of us in the “reality-based community” say or believe about anything.

They don’t care that Iraq is turning into murderous quicksand and a killing field for our children. They don’t care that the Bush presidency has made us less safe by creating more terrorists, inspiring more anti-American hatred and refusing to engage in the hard work that would be necessary to make a meaningful dent in our myriad vulnerabilities at home. They don’t care that he has mortgaged our children’s future to give trillions to the wealthiest among us. They don’t care that the economy continues to hemorrhage well-paying jobs and replace them with Wal-Mart; that the number without health insurance is over forty million and rising. They don’t care that Medicare premiums are rising to fund the coffers of pharmaceutical companies. They don’t care that the air they breathe and the water they drink is being slowly poisoned and though they call themselves conservatives, they even don’t care that the size of the government and its share of our national income has increased by roughly a quarter in just four years. This is not a world of rational debate and issue preference.

A famous propagandist is claimed to have said that if you repeat a lie a thousand times, it becomes the truth. It might be urban legend, but it applies to the left today. Except this time, they are repeating the lie to themselves.

Alterman's diatribe is the ne plus ultra of letist self-delusion. First, most importantly, Bush's reelection is the result of stupid Amertican voters. We are simply too dumb to be trusted to choose the right man. See, we're just not based in "reality". Perhaps we can thank the public school system?

If all I read was the MSM, I'd think too that Iraq was a miasma. However, the "reality" is far from that. The "insurgency" is reduced to several thousand holdouts waiting to die in Fallujah. And die soon they will. Sadr's followers who weren't killed, simply wentHhme. The oft predicted ethnic civil war never materialized.

We're creating so many new terrorists that our elections were interrupted by another attack. Didn't that happen? We created so many new terrorists that Afghanistan was unable to hold elections. No, wait they had an election that went very well. Perhaps Mr. Alterman feels less safe because his incoherent rants are appealing to fewer and fewer people.

Bush gave trillions to the wealthiest among us? Really? According to the CBO, the top 20% pay over 80% of all taxes. That's quite a gift, wouldn't you say. Mortgaging the future, dirty air and dirty water are nothing more than hysterical cries.

Alterman is typical of the left. He is buried in contempt for most Americans nad blinded by hatred for those who disagree with him. He is imbued with the religionof the left. I can only feel pity for him.

I was not ecstatic Tuesday night. As I had predicted, Bush would win rather handily. Though a tad closer than I'd predicted, and barring the momentary lapse of judgement after the early exit polls, I now have a new sense of pride: the world reaction.

The Daily Mirror headline, "How could 59,054,087 people be so dumb?", is why I'm so proud. I know there were millions of Americans who walked into the polling booths, asked themselves, "Who do the French want", and said "They can go to hell, I'm voting for Bush." The rest of the world just doesn't understand America. Until something horrible happens and then there they are, hat in hand, begging for help.

Typhoon kills 100,000? Uncle Sam please help. Earthquake flatten a city? America please help. Evil tin-pot, UN sponsored dictator is killing you? USA!!! USA!!! Millions suffering from starvation? Kansas farmers to the rescue.

19 bearded, unwashed radical Islamic terrorists slam planes into two buildings and kill 3000 Americans? Oh, so sorry, we love to help, but you know, really can't do that, you know. But, we are really, really sorry. But if throw out that evil man in white house, we might consider.

Don't think so. The world criticizes America because it has the luxury to do so. They know we are the happy giant. We are the giant that pulls out of Fallujah because of fears of civilian casualties. They know that without us, the world is a very dark place. Their anger is jealousy. Their hatred their shame.

As Lee Greenwood sang:

I'm proud to be an American
Where at least I know I'm free
And I'm proud of the men who died
who gave that right to me

They also give it the rest of the world.

Amir Teheri writes in todays NY Post:

Bush's re-election is received differently in the Muslim world. Moderate and democratic forces — from Indonesia through Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq to Morocco — will be encouraged by the prospect of four more years the first U.S. administration to threaten a status quo dominated by despotic regimes. Bush's victory, however, is bad news for reactionary despotic regimes, pan-Arabists and Islamo-fascists who had prayed for a Kerry victory.

One thing is certain, they aren't dancing in the streets in Fallujah, Tehran, or Paris. Osama Bin Moore crawled out from some cave to shoot a Linda Richman video (remember Michael Meyers' SNL character, famous for saying "Can we talk") to no avail. Euro-defeatists and America haters, throwing every bone they could to America for a Kerry victory, found no takers.

America vindicated and validated the war on terror. I was right. It was 1864 and 1944. We remembered. God Bless America.

Mr. Blair your next. Britain will stand fast. She always has. Get some rest, work hard, we're with you. God Save the Queen.

Mr. Allawi, America is with you too. You're a very brave man and you're definitely no puppet.

Mr. Sharon, keep building that wall. America is with you too. We face the same enemy.

The war will go on. Thankfully we will still fight it. Our enemies found out about America. This wasn't the first time, though, that America was underestimated by the world. Sadly, it probably won't be the last.

I called this election a long time ago. I predicted 53-46 in March, so it appears I was off by 2 points. I'll credit Kerry's 1st debate performance, the missing explosives story, and biased exit polls for the difference. But, the truth for democrats is this, which I wrote in August.

Kerry can't get 50% of the vote, and right now, he is polling as high as he can. He cannot poll higher and he has three months until the election and cannot afford to lose any support. Talk about pressure.

Kerry can take solace in that democratic candidates have won with less than 50%, and he will probably get close to Gore's 48%.

8 months ago it should have been obvious to anyone with a rudimentary sense poltics and history. Hell, just crack out a calculator. The country has been voting Republican for 2 decades starting with Reagan, Clinton simply the result of a conservative backlash at Bush pere. The country has elected a Republican majority in Congress since 1994. 2002, an off year election gain for the party in power, was no fluke.

The obvious question is why did Republicans win the White House while democrats still keep the House. The answer is simple. They ran as democrats, but voted as Republicans. Tom Dashcle's Janus impersonation could only keep him in office for so long. Now, all those Southern and midwestern democrats are Republicans.

The democrats have become a party of the urban, the young, the civil servant, the single mom, the black, the left, the billionaire, the elite, and the coasts. They have nothing that binds them together except a deeply held belief that the Republicans are evil. That doesn't make them a party, it makes them a mob. They are bereft of ideas and devoid of leadership. This is not good though, as demcorcy functions best with a healthy two party system, the ultimate check and balance. There has to be a credible alternative. Right now, there simply isn't.

"He will probably get close to Gore's 48%." Exactly. And all those expensive talking heads on television had to do was read my blog.

Game, set, match. Me.

My last post was a temporary exit from sanity. After seeing the exit polls, I was thoroughly dejected. I could not believe that the election was going to be a Kerry blowout. It ranked between metaphysically impossible and astronomically improbable. So, around 3:00 PM Pacific it appeared there's be dancing in the streets. Of Fallujah, Damascus, Tehran, and Jenin. Ah, but I never should have lost faith in America.

My bad.

3:00 PM in my classroom about to pack up, go vote, and the thought hits me. Do I really even care? Why should I care that half the country would rather appease the French and kowtow to terrorists. I live in a suburb. I am 1 of almost 300 million. What are the odds I get fried, gassed, or exploded by some jihadi? 1 in 300 million. What are the odds for my kids? 1 in 300 million.

What are the odds my taxes are going to go up? Probably none. Are federal troops going to come in and arrest me? No. Is the earth going to open up and swallow me? No. What significant differences is there between a Kerry and Bush presidency? Considering congress will be Republican, most likely none. In fact, they might just prevent alot of egregious spending. Maybe that's good.

Will we continue to fight the war? Who knows. Will Kerry be emboldened to pull out of Iraq and submit future plans to the UN? Or will he, concerned being percieved as week, get a case of machismo? And either way, will I be affected?

I care only because I care about the country and I have serious reservations about many voting against Bush. I really believe, maybe naively, maybe foolishly, that America is a special place. I believe that we are the last best hope of mankind, the shining city on a hill, the arsenal of democracy. I really believe that we are "a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal...engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure."

I believe that America is not just another nation, but as President Clinton said, the world's "indespensible nation". I believe young men suffered and young men died at Concord, Gettysburg, St. Mihiel, Bastogne, Iwo Jima, Chosin, Khe Sahn, Khandahar, Baghdad and a million points in between because America itself was a gift to the world. And I believe they didn't die in vain. And they didn't do so for glory, gain, or grandiose ambition.

Throughout our history, men dropped their plows or tools and picked up weapons of war. They are the direct descendant of the Athenian hoplite who charged the Persians at Marathon, then turned around, and in full battle gear, marched back to Athens. They carried with them the hopes of the world. The farmboy who got off a tractor and jumped off a Higgins boat or out of an airplane on June 6th, and died before he fired his rifle, is looking down on us today.

In Richard Wheeler's book Iwo, he recounts a story of rifle company at the front lines. Whan a general on shore calls up and asks to speak to the company commander, a sergeant answered. Company commander? Dead. Company Executive officer? Dead. Lieutenants? Dead? Officers? All dead. Senior NCO's? All dead. The rifle company landed with a strength of over 230 men, and was down to less than 50 men. They were fighting as a company with the strength of a platoon. And still they fought. Still they bled. Still they died. Still they succeeded.

You don't grow those men in a dictatorship. You don't get these men to fight and die for an emperor or a fuhrer. They fight and died becasue they cared that the idea of America would prevail.

I care because they cared. Maybe people today don't care about America. Maybe they prefer to believe our best days are behind us, our ideas aren't worth fighting for anymore. And maybe they just don't think that the election will really affect their lives.

I hope they're right.

The polls are telling us that that the election is too close to call. Nonsense. About a week and a half ago, Bush jumped out to a 5-6 point lead in most polls. He was at 50-52% while Kerry stagnated at 46-47%. As I wrote many months ago, Kerry's in trouble and can't get above 46%. In 2002, Republicans got over 52% of the congressional vote, and this time around, Republicans will keep a 20-25 seat majority and probably pick up 1-2 Senate seats. If there was a ground swell of opposition to Republicans, they'd be predicting a change of control in at least one of the two chambers. And they're not. National Security is the number one issue this election, and Bush outpolls Kerry by 20 points.

The polls are showing a tight race because of several factors. Pollsters and polling companies have a heard mentality. None of them want to be an outlier statistically. Plus, they benefit from a close election. The more people paying attention, the more interest is paid to their product.

The real question for pollsters is this: Bush had a 5-6 point lead a week and half ago? Where did it go, and why? What caused the shift? The answers are startling.

It didn't happen. There was no shift, and therefore, nothing caused the shift. There was no OCtober surprise, there were no new developments out of Iraq, and the economic numbers came in very positive for the president. Osama bin Moore's "endorsement" of Kerry only reminds us we are at war. And it reminds the public who thinks terrorism is simply a nuisance.

Partisan wishful thinking? No. Why would a voter who was for Bush a week ago, suddenly change?

Americans will do the right thing. Australian voters already did. America knows what is at stake, and will respond.

Don't look at the polls, watch the candidates. Who is campaigning with confidence, who is throwing bombs? Who tried to scare voters at the last minute about draft fears, social security cuts, and voter disenfracnchisement? Who is campaigning in states he shouldn't have to campaign in?

The outcome of this election was sealed several months ago. Bush should have been relatively easy to defeat. But Kerry and the democrats have proven incapable of even doing that. By being unable to show they can beat Bush, they have proven they won't.

History will record a Bush victory, 52-47. Bush will cary 35 states, and win the electoral college easily. Republicans will win 230+ house seats, gain 1-2 Senate seats.

Americans will not elect a man to make the French happy. They won't elect a man that will cause our enemies to cheer. They will reelect a man who has faults and makes mistakes but has fought a war with diligence, courage, and strength. In another time, another age, Bush would have been a rather unremarkable president, in a rather unremarkable time. But these are remaekable times, and Bush has risen to the cahllenge.

2004 will be similar to 1864 and 1944. A war weary nation, with the president losing popularity at home very, a long and hard campaign, reelected the man who would lead them to victory.

America doesn't like losers. Kerry has spoken of many things, but never victory. And victory will elude him today as well.