another former bush* voter apologizes

[radfringe]

one of my co-workers was just about agonizing and doing mea culpas for voting for bush* in 2000

he just kept shaking his head and saying "I can't believe he's screwed up this bad....." over and over again.

among other things - his biggest worry is the draft. He already has a niece in Iraq, her husband is in Afghanistan and he has a nephew that is prime drafting age...

His father is sick and is having problems with the V.A. over benefit cuts -- now with Greenspan's Social Security "warning/advice", his mother is worked up in a tither about their SS benefits...

to top things off, it looks like his and his parents local property/school taxes may be raised -- they are all worried about where they will get the money, and if they will have to sell their house or not and where they are going to live if they do have to sell...

I told him that bush* exceeded my expectations too - he's screwing us all far worse than I ever expected

[RobertSeattle]

1. Like Father, Like Son, One Term, You're Done

The Fraud that is George Bush is slowly becoming realized by all.

[seabeyond]

2. another thing

talking to husband the other nite, talking about the cuts, i said, by the way, we have had a tax increase as government has cut so many programs and the terrorist alerts, our property taxes have jumped a significant amount

[madmax]

3. They begin to 'get it' when it hits them home

and in the wallet.

[tom_paine]

7. Yeah. Pretty sad, isn't it?

But I'll take the deafeat of the Amerikan Imperials any way I can get it.

[tom_paine]

4. I thought Bunnypants* would be extraordinarily BAD

and yet he exceeded by several orders of magnitude my worst nightmares.

Of course, all my worst nightmares assumed the machinery of the Old American Republic would remain healthy and strong.

Ooops.

[Zero Gravitas]

10. Yup

in 2000 I though that * would make a terrible President, but I had no conception of how bad it would be. The 2000 "election" debacle should have been a warning sign.

[displacedtexan]

5. Isn't it sad?

Even I had no idea * could fuck up this much so soon.

The world is watching, hoping we'll elect some semblance of a decent human being with a brain.

[derby378]

6. A sympathetic pat on the back to that guy

Hey, I voted almost straight Republican back in 1994, and do I ever feel like a schmuck now. Better late than never...but back in 1994, I never even heard of the Christian Coalition, Christian Reconstructionism, the PNAC, or any of that rot. If I had, I would have definitely voted different.

[namvet73]

8. I was wrong in a different way

Before Bush was "chosen", I thought he would be a disaster if he became president. I told my friends he would be a disaster.

I was wrong. He is a TRAGEDY!

I don't remember all the reasons, but the salient items that tipped me off were:

1) When asked if he had done hard drugs, he simply refused to answer. That told me that he would not hold him self accountable and be up front with the American people. What gets me is that he was not further pressed. Whether he did drugs or not is not the point. The point is, he refused to answer a question that I think we have a right to know about someone who is going to have power. I do not trust people who stonewall or use the "broken record" technique to avoid direct answers to direct questions.

2) I thought of him as an executioner and he said, the justice system didn't make any mistakes. I heard him and saw his lips say it. That's ridiculous. Any system with humans in it can and does make mistakes. It has been proven over and over again that innocent people get thrown in prison, yet he was incapable of being cognizant of this possibility in his own state. ... or he is just stonewalling because he just doesn't care.

3) He is his father's son and I did not want another Bush in office. His father was openly against honest labeling of packaged products. It's like saying, "People, I do not want you easily understand what food companies are selling you, because the corporations making these products may be poisoning you and I don't want you to know that. That is, I don't care about you. I care about profits."

There are far bigger issues than these, but these little hints were enough for me to know that he did not care about people like me.

DUBYA was outright saying, "I am going to screw you if I become president." Yet he became president. (Notice I didn't say "elected")

I almost voted for Nader, but I was already so scared of Dubya that I could not waste a vote. Nader said all the right things, but I knew he could not win.

[northofdenali]

9. Great post, namvet73.

Welcome to DU! You'll find many, many veterans and a bunch of active military folks here, as well. Glad you're with us! :hi:

[KharmaTrain]

11. Someone Showed Me A Tax Hike of $200 per MONTH!

I didn't believe it until she showed me her current tax assessment. Through various referendum and other legal games, the local taxing authorities...state, county and local, all hit her hard when her property was re-assessed (quadrenial).

Yep, there it was...increases for the school district (the biggest chunk) and local services (police, fire, park district)...and all showing large jumps from just 4 years ago. She felt this was originally a mistake and went to appeal it, but then was shown it was no fluke and that many others were being hit as hard, if not worse.

She lives in a heavily a heavily GOOP area and she voted for his assholiness in 2000...no way this time. This is the soccer-mom, single-mother...attemtping to raise a family alone and facing higher prices and a ahrinking economy. She doesn't feel gay marriage or evan Iraq or terrorism, but this she does and know what's causing it. She blames a combination of deregulation (she works in the airline industry), corporate/government corruption, the tax giveaway to the rich (her bosses) and the large defecits as to why she has to pay so much more just to keep a roof over her head and her two children educated. She's getting message, I hope others are as well.

[historian]

12. patting self on back

The moment bush stole the white house i told my republican neighbor that a) we would soon have a war to boost his ratings b)the economy will head for the toilet and he wont give a damm and c) watch him pander to the right loonies as he "suddenly" finds jesus. Good old neighbor now will vote for Big Bird if it gets rectal opening out of the white house.

[Cleita]

13. Hey I'd vote for big bird.

:-)

[ulTRAX]

14. The Nightmare is Over

As one humor site imagined a Bush inaugural... "the long nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over". ;-)