Posted on 11/07/2004 9:05:37 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The summer of love has given way to the autumn of fear in San Francisco, a liberal stronghold where residents bitterly disappointed by the Bush victory are in no mood to reach out and mend divisions.
Rather, they are waving "United States of Canada" maps, redrawn to show Canada extending down to include California, New England and the other so-called "blue states" that voted decisively for Massachusetts Democratic Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) in the U.S. presidential race.
Some are canceling plans to travel to neighboring "red states," where Bush drew most of his support. They are asking serious questions about the future of American democracy. And the usual post-election bravado about moving out of the country when a favored candidate loses is sounding different this year. It sounds a lot more serious.
"I'm going in on Monday and getting a new passport," said an electronics technician and volunteer at the Green Festival environmental conference who requested anonymity.
"I'm not leaving yet, but I'm getting prepared," he said. "I can imagine that this country is going to get a lot worse before it gets better."
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news - web sites), a Democrat who competed with Kerry for his party's presidential nomination before backing the senator, urged the crowd at the festival to remain hopeful and connect with the other concerned citizens.
But the questions Kucinich fielded were anything but hopeful.
"Why should we believe we will ever have another fair election in this country?" asked one woman.
After the well-publicized electoral chaos in Florida in 2000, the United States invited international observers to monitor the Nov. 2 election. Despite widespread allegations of electoral fraud before last week's vote, they were unable to substantiate the claims.
The woman's frustration was echoed throughout San Francisco, arguably the most liberal city in one of the most Democratic states in the country. On Tuesday, 83.3 percent of voters in San Francisco County cast their ballots for Kerry, compared with 62.8 percent in Los Angeles County and 54.7 percent statewide.
STAYING OUT OF RED STATES
Peace and tolerance have long been the words to live by in San Francisco, known for its large gay community, broad ethnic mix and frequent anti-war protests. But days after the election, many residents said they were so worried about an erosion of civil rights, environmental standards and the escalating violence in the Middle East, that they did not know how they could tolerate the Bush administration, or Americans who voted to re-elect him.
"I have family in Idaho, but I told my wife we're not going to visit them now. It's all Republicans there," said Ron Schmidt, a public relations executive. "We have family in Indiana and I don't want to go there either."
It was not the reaction George W. Bush must have been hoping for when he made his acceptance speech on Wednesday and told Kerry supporters: "I will need your support and I will work to earn it."
Schmidt said: "The ideologies of the two parties are too different. I don't see how healing can take place. I feel like the disenfranchised minority now, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking white guy like me to say."
Schmidt's friend, magazine editor Joseph Connelly, said one of his columnists who had moved temporarily to Paris six months ago decided Wednesday she would settle there permanently.
"She was hoping she would want to come back," Connelly said, "but after she saw the election results she just didn't."
These endless screeds of how upset, depressed etc. they are shows how appallingly self-centered they are.
The Air Force should start flying low runs over Frisco...with full loads under their wings.
"Schmidt said: "... I feel like the disenfranchised minority now, and that's a funny thing for a tall, good-looking white guy like me to say."
Best unintended humor of the day,
And
"... one of his columnists who had moved temporarily to Paris six months ago decided Wednesday she would settle there permanently. "She was hoping she would want to come back," Connelly said, "but after she saw the election results she just didn't."
A sign that some of them actually ARE going to leave!
I live in the Great State of Jefferson (northern California, north of Sacramento). If these dumbs#!ts want to be part of Canada they better be planning on moving up there. Rural folks in California are not going to allow secession to Canada.
If they do leave, I hope they take their rotten air with them. It’s strange that these environmentalists live in some of the most polluted air in the world, yet they continue to tell the rest of us how to live.
Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com
OK, let's think about what we would have to give up if the blue states become part of Canada. California produce so Texas and Florida would have to take up the slack; Michigan - they'll still be the center of the car industries but a lot of the cars are made in the red states so that's not a problem; LA and NY will still be the centers of entertainment and finance but hey, that's not tied to geography; Chicago - I forget, what is Chicago good for? -- Daley won't let it seceed more's the pity. Northwest - hmmm. salmon, I don't like salmon, no loss there and hardwoods? - na, coffee, na. computer stuff, again, geography not a factor; Maine... lol; Wisconsin and Minn. cheese and wheat respectively... hey we've got both in red states - so tax base? Can someone tell me whether more of the red taxes go to the blue states or vice verse?
It seems to me that we should make drilling off the California coast an immediate priority! LOL
Flame throwers on their 6?
This cut-and-run mindset is a perfect example of why they cannot be trusted with national security.
WHAT??? For decades Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, and Tom Brokaw have told me that the Democrats were the party of tolerance and that the Republicans were "mean-spirited"...
bttt
I might have to move in that case.
Actually I rather enjoyed being the brave neighbor who put up the Bush/Cheney sign in a sea of sKerry/Edwards signs. The most amazing thing is that it wasn't vandalized.
Of course after the result I took it down right away just in case someone wanted revenge. LOL.
Between those moving out of the country and the idiots in Athens killing themselves, the nation just feels cleaner, doesn't it? Everytime I see a story like this it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Is there a fund we can donate to for those who don't have the financial means to buy a plane ticket (or a 12 guage, whatever is their choice)?
Sorry. I'm a tall, good-looking white guy and I have no problem with the vote. He must be mistaken. :)
I just put a mental "Moonbat Alert" on *every* thread from/about liberals/Democrats...
And for many years I used to *be* a Democrat. I realized the error of my ways when the party was finally taken over by the "moonbat" wing.
I keep waiting for *someone* left in the Democrat party to stand up and finally say, "are you people just gone f***ing INSANE?" I'll probably have to settle for Zell Miller, although he didn't put it quite that bluntly.
Probably, though, like me all the sane ones have already run screaming from that party... Now it's just an echo chamber for the moonbats.
You are correct. Alberta, for example, is sort of the Texas of Canada. British Columbia, on the other hand, is the California of Canada. And Quebec is the France. ;-)
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