Fuck.

...

Fuck.

So far this is about the most depressing result imaginable.

Fraud, deception and gross apathy I could get my head around, but to think the US public turned out in record numbers, including however many newly registered voters...

..and the fucking chuckleheads voted for Bush.

Not by a big enough margin for us all to immediately concede the fate of the civilized world and go drink ourselves to death in a dark hole, but by just enough to ensure that things are slowly going to get more and more fucked as our hope something good might happen slowly drains away, by which time we're well and truly trapped in the cycle of fucked-ness, waiting for the boot to hit our face.

I've always tried to avoid the whole "Americans are so dumb" mentality, but god (fuck god!), it's such a tragedy that so many ordinary people in the USA don't seem to realise what damage another Bush presidency is going to do to their own lives, let alone everybody else's. It's obscene that Bush's sponsors and powerbrokers haven't even bothered trying to offer the people a carrot, instead they've just beaten them senseless with a fucking stick and haven't even tried to hide their greed and self-interest.. and instead of kicking them out on their ass like in any sensible democratic country, so many citizens have just followed through and voted for them. The American public have once and for all proved themselves prize fucking chumps, and Bush & friends are just gonna be laughing in their faces for another four years.. it's so depressing.

Sorry for being so defeatist before the final score is actually in, but best get it out of the way now I guess unless a couple of hundred thousand people in Ohio all suddenly had an unexpected change of heart at the last minute.

Of course, thank god (the fucker!), there’s a readymade conspiracy theory waiting to make us feel better. As Our Lady puts it on Barbelith:

In unsurprising news 1/3 of the voting population have reported problems with touchscreen voting. This needs to be shouted loudly, after the 2000 there seemed to be a sense of 'well Bush didn't win but he's there now so let's not rock the boat'. People are reporting flaws in an electronic system owned and run by friends of George W. Bush.

Interesting thought, no? Large voter turnout, many exit polls etc. suggesting could-go-either-way with a distinct swing towards the Democrats.. then as soon as everybody’s entered their choice into the guts of a sinister ‘voting machine’ built and declared reliable by.. who exactly?.., bang!, big swing to the Republicans.
No doubt a bunch of research would sort me out with dozens of reasons why this is completely implausible, but for the moment.. hmm.. think about it.

I certainly wouldn’t put it past the ol’ GOP to try something like that – the only problem is that given their history of barefaced and unashamed deception over the past few years, I’m sure that if they did have the whole deal fixed they would have taken the opportunity to make their victory ridiculously swift and decisive rather than as subtle as it has been.

So almost certainly not true, but it makes me feel better.