Spring Break
Republicans will never win in end
Column: Media bias
Steve Markley
Issue date: 11/19/04 Section: OpEd Page
I woke up the morning of Nov. 3 and couldn't quite decide whether to get dressed and go to class or draw a warm bath and toss in the hair dryer. I'm sure quite a few of you felt the same. On the bright side, my column for a Kerry victory wasn't quite as good, so as far as this little article goes, a Bush win is just dynamite. Yes, the politics of idiocy and fear not only won -they wiped the floor.Republicans proved that the American people are far more concerned about dudes copulating with dudes than illegal wars, health care, the environment, poverty and all that other crap that only sissies who don't love America whine about. We were Muhammad Ali getting his ass whupped and his jaw shattered by Ken Norton.There is some consolation. First of all, it has been said that members of campus political parties were tearing signs out of resident yards on election night. I would gloat and say that their future in politics is ruined, but when Bush was our age he was snorting coke and he got to be a two-term president. So there's the lesson kids: "Values" only concern scared 16-year-old pregnant rape victims and two women who want to buy a home together.But I was talking about consolation. You see, I've also come up with a strategy for Iraq, which I plan to submit to Congress and the president post-haste. As far as I can tell, on Nov. 2 roughly 58 million people volunteered to go fight the war in Iraq. I'm right aren't I?That would be silly if you could just use your vote to rubber stamp a botched, inhumane invasion and then sit back and watch other people fight, be maimed, and die. Hot damn, think of the Iraqis we could "free" with a force of 58 million?Here's more consolation: I woke up Nov. 3 after a night of heavy drinking, vomiting, and screaming out my bedroom window at Bush supporters, "Yeah, four more wars! Four more wars!" (I admit this was only slightly more constructive than drinking, driving and tearing out yard signs). I woke that morning feeling like the last survivor of an apocalypse, but on my way to class I came to a conclusion.They'll never win.People like George W. Bush, Osama bin Laden and Ann Coulter will never win. The tactics of isolation, of fear, of fundamentalism, and of bringing out the worst prejudices in people will eventually fail even if it doesn't seem so right now. They can never win because there will always be people like us out there. People like Barack Obama, Bruce Springsteen, and Coretta Scott King. People like Howard Dean, Michael Moore and Sut Jahley. People like me and people like you. That's what I say to them.We'll fight you. We'll fight your amendments to restrict people's freedoms and dignity, we'll fight your lust for war, we'll fight your hand outs to the rich, we'll fight your destruction of our air, land, and water.Contrary to what the polls said this year, we are not a country of thugs and bigots, and there will always be people out there, like us, who can prove it.
