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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2004
Our View
Welcome to
post-election
Election 2004 has finally reached the end of the campaign trail. It seems like forever ago that Howard Dean, former governor of a tiny state, hopped onto the Internet to transform himself from “who” to “wow” and scare the living daylights out of both the Democratic and Republican establishments. Can you imagine if this no-name outsider had succeeded? Donkeys and elephants would be in full retreat as the “techno” crowd took control. But like the telecom industry, Gov. Dean hit the wall. Like the industry, politicians learned that the Internet can only carry you so far. There were a bunch of other Dems - seven? eight? 19? who remembers - who also kissed the big brick wall and slid off into oblivion under the persistence of Sen. John Kerry. While Dems duked it out, President Bush acted his part. His party even cooperated and no insider jumped up to challenge him. By the time the nominating conventions came around, even the TV networks begged off. Yawn city. Kerry/Bush Bush/Kerry over and done before the first old pol donned a straw boater. Ralph Nader tried again, but he had as much traction as an ice-covered slope. WeVe ridden along through three debates, endless finger pointing and an amazing number of promises just so we had a clue whom to vote for. Then we voted the way we always do. The good news of all this—to borrow from Francis Scott Key: And the rockets’ red glare, The bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Our nation is still there. And so are we. Osama bin ^.aden and scary TV ads couldn’t keep us away from r exercising our most basic democratic right. Congratulations to all who voted. You stood up for America. Please, take a bow.
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