America is rejecting the Democratic Party

Ruth Tighe, an unabashed liberal, gave Saipan a dose of one of the Democrats’ talking points in her weekly column last Sunday. Ruth does not seem to have a firm grasp of the facts. President George W. Bush’s victory on Nov. 2 was a very clear mandate given by the American people to lead this country for the next four years. I’m not sure where she got her election results but Bush received 51 percent compared to Kerry’s 48 percent of the popular vote (or to be more specific: Bush – 50.95 percent, Kerry – 48.09 percent). If we were to use Ruth’s measure of the popular vote to determine a president’s mandate, only two Democratic presidents in the last 60 years would have a mandate. Lyndon B. Johnson (60 percent), and FDR (53.3 percent). Clinton, Carter, JFK, Truman did not have a mandate to lead America according to Ruth’s measure. Likewise, all Republican Presidents like George HW Bush (53.3 percent), Ronald Reagan (58.7 percent), Richard Nixon (60 percent), and Dwight D Eisenhower (55 percent) show a convincing majority of the popular vote. I do not think that Ruth would be comfortable with these statistics.

The victory, though, was not Bush’s alone; in fact it was a victory for the Republican Party. To add insult to injury, just when no one thought the Dems could lose any more seats in the House or the Senate, the Dems lost six more seats in the House and four seats in the Senate. Republicans also have maintained their lead in governorships (28). These are facts that only short-sided liberals can’t digest. They are the same people who believe that people like Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Matt Damon, and the Black Eyed Peas are the heart and soul of America. They are the same people who believe that vilifying Bush is more fulfilling than vilifying despots and terrorists like Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. They are the same people who believe that 9/11 was Bush’s fault. They are the same people who believe that the 5,000-year-old institution of marriage should change and that partial birth abortions are necessary.

It is clear that America is slowly realizing that the Democrats are out of touch with their values. The Dems thought that a higher turnout would have guaranteed them a win on Nov. 2. The opposite turned out to be true. President Bush received 3.5 million more votes than Kerry. It was a stark contrast to the results of the 2000 election. This time, there were no court challenges or hanging chads. We won the White House and expanded our majorities in the House and the Senate. How much more do you need? America has made it clear. The majority party just got bigger.

Bo Palacios
Junior, George Washington University
Washington, DC