Buyer's Remorse - Or Something Else?

It didn't take long to start hearing stories about Bush voters and so-called buyer's remorse, did it? By now, we've probably all heard one or two. The Bush voter who says "Bush is an idiot, but all you guys had to offer was Kerry. And that Dean fellow? Crazy liberal. If only Democrats had something to offer. And if only Democrats would nominate a centrist, just think of all the votes they could have had."

I flat out reject this cheesey "buyer's remorse" posturing. It has one purpose: To let them off the hook and assuage their sorry conscience for making a very bad decision. And the only way it works is if the people who didn't vote for Bush are foolish enough to let them get away with it.

Bush voters, even the reluctant ones, are conditioned to squeeze everything which doesn't originate from Bush's GOP into tired but very effective cliches ("tax & spend" and "weak on defense" etc). If FDR or JFK had materialized before us as a Democratic candidate, these "remorseful" Republican voters would've been throwing eggs at them -- and everybody knows it. Jesus Christ wouldn't be enough to shake the GOP faithful during an election, especially with all that tolerance and feed the poor talk. "What a freakin' commie, that Jesus."


Bush is a spectacularly rotten president bereft of ideas and vision, and his policies are trashing this country in every way imaginable. Those who cast a vote for him had a choice and they made it, and to turn around and blame others for their decision is typical of the "accountability" we see all too often from conservatives. Bush voters - loyalists and otherwise - supported the man destined to go down in history as one of the worst presidents ever, if not the worst. And all of that - 100% of it - is on the conscience of each one of them. Let's not deprive anyone of their accountability moment by indulging their justification as though it was legitimate in any way, shape or form.

So to those idiots who say "Gee, I didn't really want to vote for Bush, but all the Democrats could come up with was Kerry," just tell them this: Maybe in 2008, Democrats will field a candidate who promises to be as fiscally reckless, contemptuous of the environment, ethically challenged and utterly cavalier about the flag-draped caskets coming home from abroad as George W. Bush.

Until then, when Bush voters want someone to blame for the problems facing America, they can look in the mirror.