Buh-bye!
Posted on 11/01/2004 5:45:25 AM PST by SolutionsOnly
Some left-leaning Californians say they would rather leave the United States -- and go to Canada or elsewhere -- than stay with George W. Bush as president.
''I certainly don't love the climate of Vancouver, but I love the sanity,'' said Steve Crawford, 54, a singer and actor working as a volunteer at the Democratic Party offices in Santa Monica.
He and his wife, Karen, have been investigating selling their home in Pacific Palisades, an upmarket area close to the coast, and moving to Canada.
''For someone like me, if this happens, I can't in good conscience allow myself to support another Bush government, even benignly. And a lot of other people are saying the same.
''I have a good friend who is adamant he will leave if Bush is re-elected. He's picked two countries and will definitely go to one should this happen.''
In the heavily Democratic state, famous for its Hollywood- and San Francisco-inspired latte liberal politics, such talk has become increasingly common at Starbucks and at dinner parties.
At first, the threat was little more than a joke. Now, on the eve of one of the most polarized elections in recent history, some say they really do intend to leave should ''the worst'' occur.
There seems little doubt Californians will deliver the state's valuable 55 electoral votes to the Democratic candidate. In a poll on Friday, Mr. Kerry had a seven-point lead statewide, with a 24-point lead in Los Angeles county and a 35-point lead in the San Francisco Bay area.
But fear at what may happen in the key swing states of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania has led to an escalation in coffee-shop chatter about emigration to Canada, Britain and elsewhere.
''Do you think Great Britain would give us political asylum?'' a woman in Starbucks asked. ''It's just ... I don't think I can stay if Bush wins again.''
Mr. Crawford said it would be a difficult decision to move his nine-year-old son from his elementary school. ''But if I feel he's going to be living in an environment that's not safe for him, then I will do it. First and foremost I'm a dad.''
Gretchen Witte, 35, from Alhambra, east of Los Angeles, who runs her own Internet business, is making plans to move to London, where she previously lived for eight years, should Mr. Bush win.
''As a woman, the current climate is becoming intolerable. Bush has just appointed a man to the FDA reproductive health panel who believes that women with medical trouble should pray to Jesus for relief. If this is what America is becoming, I cannot live here. The only reason I can sleep at night is the thought that I can leave the country if he wins.''
Robert Boleyn, a 35-year-old independent consultant from Los Angeles, says he hears people ''all the time' 'saying they will emigrate if Mr. Bush wins.
''But I think it's often more a measure of frustration with the last four years than a real intention to leave,'' he added.
Voluntary exile as a political statement is nothing new. Democrat-supporting celebrities have a habit of making (usually empty) threats to leave should the election not go their way. Robert Redford, a vocal critic of Mr. Bush's policies, was reported this month to have vowed to move to Ireland, where he owns homes near Dublin, if Mr. Bush is re-elected. Before the 2000 poll, Alec Baldwin's then wife, Kim Basinger, told Germany's Focus magazine the actor ''might leave the country if Bush is elected ... and then I'd probably have to go, too.'' Mr. Baldwin did not leave.
The only public figure to carry out his promise was Pierre Salinger, the White House press secretary during the Kennedy administration, who died last month. Before the 2000 election, he said: ''If Bush wins, I'm going to leave the country and spend the rest of my life in France.'' He did.
Thanks for the laugh!
yep alec is still here, he's all talk and no action!
I can't miss you if you won't leave, so please leave now. Why wait? Go and enjoy paying for all of the benefits of living in socialist Canada or Europe. Stop talking about it and just go. Go on, git!
Please Leave...Don't let the door hit you in the A$$!
Oh please, where to begin......
I can't say I would be sad to see people go who do not understand this very simple point.
Like 3-year-olds...just this mornng I was thinking two. They may be the damaged products of the Dr. Spock parents.
"Spare me your lying whines, Hollywood! Either get out or shut up, but don't play this 'beg me to stay' game, you larcenous untalented gang of drug-addicted narcissists!"
I hope the door hits ya'all in the ass on the way out, 'cus I'm with the croud that's slamming it behind you.
Never heard of any of these people; but if they are so dissatisfied with America; please GET OUT as fast as you can.
Unfortunately, we know they won't because they are so full of lying hot air.
Here we have a country where millions trying to get into America every year and yet these few leftists want to leave.
"Some left-leaning Californians say they would rather leave the United States -- and go to Canada or elsewhere -- than stay with George W. Bush as president."
Just when I couldn't stand them any more, it looks like I can do it from afar. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
It is easy to see how much they love their Country, NOT! What Traitors!!
I didn't recognize any "famous" names in this whine which to me means that all the Hollywood freaks who promised to leave in 2000 and then didn't have learned their lesson. They were soundly mocked then as people took up collections to buy them air fare - I guess they don't want to make the same promise again only to be held up as first dumb and now dumber.
PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!!!
If you don't leave now, we're coming for you!!
Come on... Can you really see John Edwards if something happened to sacry kerry (if he had a chance to win) being president of the USA? Cheney=yes ...Edwards? That is even scarier that heize ketchump himself. Id leave then.
Suggest we henceforth refer to these people as the Baldwin Brigade. They could go help France and the Spaniels manufacture white flags which we don't need over here.
And you need not come back to nurse at the trough of the American People!
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