Winners and Losers

Now that the election is over, here is my take on the winners and losers, in order of importance:

WINNERS

The Iraqi People

• As important as Bush’s re-election is to America, it was vital for the Iraqis. This will give them hope that they will be backed consistently on their march toward democracy and freedom. The enemies of that freedom can now be hunted down like the dogs they are, with no concern of electoral impact.

The Middle East

• This one probably won’t be obvious for several years but then, neither was Reagan’s effort against the Soviet bloc. Freedom and democracy is the long-term answer there, an answer only Bush was brave and visionary enough to undertake.

Freedom of Speech

• The independent blogosphere played a key role after the Imperial News Media went completely over to the Dark Side immediately following the war (see Losers below). The blogs of free thinkers are now known, by much of the public, to be sources of more reliable and timely information than the IMN. Soros’s and Michael Moore’s attempt to bludgeon the campaign with their socialist, elitist millions was met by more cost-effective, impactful efforts by conservative 527s. Whether you agree with the Swift Boat people or not, they proved more effective than the radicals at Moveon.org (whose Web site was not reporting the election as of today). My kudos to the Swiftees; they again served their country honorably (even if I felt they were a bit over-the-top on some things).

The American People

• Consistent leadership in a time of war (and we are in World War III) is essential. I could go on for pages on this, but it has been covered by others better than I can.

The Republican Party (short-term)

• They picked up seats in both houses and crippled the Democrats for the next session by eliminating leaders like Frost and Daschle.

The Democrat Party (long-term)

• I am not kidding on this one. Getting rid of Daschle and Frost clears some of the impediments of them actually coming up with viable left-leaning strategy and tactics for the 21st century. People like Obama and the Queen Bitch junior Senator from New York will need to get past the old labor union and ‘turn-out the minorities, then ignore them’ model that worked in the decades from the 30s to Reagan era. They need to actually come up with some modern, workable ideas (and folks; gay marriage ain't it!); hopefully, somebody will realize this soon among the Democrats. The Republicans are headed for the flabby, status-quo-defending degeneracy any party falls into when the competition is consistently weak; for the good of this country, we need two viable competitors.

LOSERS

Usama Bin Laden and Islamic Terrorism

• Nobody is selling life insurance to them these days, especially in Fallujah. Usama came out almost as a whiner. He’ll be whining a lot more soon (if he’s able).

The Imperial News Media

• The Imperial News Media pulled out all stops trying to swing this election to Kerry. They didn’t event try to maintain a veneer of objectivity, violating their own journalistic code repeatedly in an attempt to get their way. The last straw to me was the release after the election of the full Bin Laden transcript; if that had come out with the rest, Kerry would have been slaughtered. Of course, it did leak out to the blogworld before the election, but not that widespread.
  The most ludicrous was Chris Matthews on MSNBC, who could not be seen for all of the last few months without a backdrop of sign-waving Kerry supporters. CBS was subtle compared to this cartoon character; he should be canned, except I’m certain he was following direction from the higher-ups who totally skewed the network hard-left about four months before the election.

‘Old’ Europe

• Between the election and the Food-for-Oil scandal, they’ve been even further emasculated from where they were. They can’t even hold the EU together; no one looks to them for any kind of leadership.