I didn’t hype my pending blogiversary because I didn’t know whether I’d be celebrating it and George Bush’s re-election or commiserating with you over John Kerry’s victory. Now I can celebrate!
One year ago today, I started blogging on Blogger (Blog*Spot). This was my first post.
By the time I’d heard of something called a “blog”, I’d been writing a bi-weekly column for one year (Find late 2002 stuff here. I can’t add. I wrote “two years” earlier instead of “one year.”). A blog sounded like an online journal, and because I’ve kept hard copy “journals of life” since I was 16 (20 years ago!), it sounded easy. I decided my new blog would be a semi-personal online journal serving mostly as a rant forum between columns. It’s become much more than that.
I signed up on Blogger one night in early November 2003, and for three days I almost tore out all my hair working with CSS and HTML code trying to get the look I wanted. Here’s a cached copy of my beloved old blog spot. The memories return! This was my first post on this blog on July 22, 2004.
There’s a whole lot I can say about the past year, but I’ll save it for another time. This weekend I plan to do more reading and less blogging. I’m also working on a piece about the moral divide in this country. I’ll have to take some of the edge off my writing style so I can submit the op-ed to major newspapers. A little compromise is sometimes necessary. 
More links to follow. I hope you all have a restful yet festive George-Bush-won weekend!
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Dean reveals the secret Republican plan.
David Limbaugh on traditional America (Update: I just got a shout-out trackback from him! Visit his column archives.)
Thomas Sowell: “The oldest fraud is the belief that the political left is the party of the poor and the downtrodden.”
Read Power Line’s Democratic Spin, Part I and Part II.
A must-see idiotic article over at Slate. This sort of thinking is why Democrats were soundly defeated. Roger Simon responds.
Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds on Elections and the New Media.
Liberals and states’ rights? Check out Evangelical Outpost.
I recommend everything at Discriminations, but this recent post is related to the election.
Casey Lartigue on “divided country.”
JollyBlogger is my favorite theologian-blogger.
Sheila “Red” O’Malley on movie quotes.
I’ll bet Southern Appeal has gotten crazy traffic now that the “Confederacy” is on the rise again!
The Anchoress on moral values.
If I ever decide to add liberals to my regular blog-reading list, I’d start with Mark Cooper.
Blogs For Bush, having completed its mission of re-electing the president, will become GOPBloggers.org. Will Kerry Haters and Crush Kerry follow suit?
Democratic Underground asks (via Blogs For Bush): “What is more depressing…9/11/01 or 11/3/04?” I predict it will become the new catchphrase for liberals.
Power Line on the gift that keeps on giving.
Politburo Diktat says Bush is closing in on 60 million votes.
Houston Voice: “Bush wins quarter of gay vote”
Oft-quoted University of Maryland professor Ron Walters: “He [George Bush] won’t have any reason to do anything for Black people. There was a massive Black vote against him. However, second terms are interesting because they (incumbents) don’t face any competition. He doesn’t really have to play games in order to get re-elected, so it’s conceivable that he might, although I don’t expect that we would, go as far as trying to make any common cause with any centrist parts of the Black community.”
Will hard-core depressed liberals leave America for Canada? Safe travels!
Read about Jason’s adventures in poll watching as a “Lawyer for Bush.”
Finally! From Reuters:
U.S. Urges Civilians to Flee Targeted FallujaU.S. air and artillery strikes shook rebel-held Falluja late on Friday after troops, using leaflets and loudspeakers, urged Iraqi civilians to leave.
This is how war is fought. Warn civilians to get out, then go in and clean the “rebels” out! Has Mr. Bush been emboldened by his re-election?
Duane has a funny post about a site I don’t like.
“Reality-based community” is destined to become another catchphrase for leftists in their post-election nightware (sweet dreams!). Eric has an interesting post on this.
Update (10/6): Flashback — Pessimistic Me on election night: “Will Republicans pick up seats in the Senate? Too much to hope for.”
Flashback — In April 2003, I dedicated a column to Tom Daschle, Against All Enemies, Foreign and Domestic.
Disgruntled anonymous acquaintance (paraphrase): “I can see it now. It’ll be just like all that mess with Ronald Reagan. They’re going to end up re-naming D.C. ‘Bushland’.”
USA Today apparently is reporting bush a picked up net gain in the last few days to 4,660,412 votes. that’s a 1% increase … bringing the popular vote tally to:Bush: 52%
Kerry: 47%cspan has similar (though even w i d e r ) figures
(Hat tip: Hube’s Cube)
Dean: “In case you hadn’t heard, Bush did in fact win New Mexico and Iowa, two states Gore won in 2000. The only state Kerry won that Bush won in 2000 was tiny New Hampshire. That makes the final electoral vote total 286 to 252, with a popular vote final margin of 59 to 56 million.”
Very link-worthy post by Avery Tooley
The polling director at ABC News strenuously tries to deny the power of moral values among the electorate in this op-ed for the NYT (reg. req.). If I weren’t a God-fearing Christian who believes in moral absolutes, I’d probably be persuaded by his analysis. But since I am, I’m not. Interesting reading, though. Here’s a better piece by David Brooks.
Democrat Bruce Reed (WashPost reg. req.): “For the first time in memory, Republicans are now the majority party from the top of the ballot to the bottom. The South, which helped elect every Democratic president in history, hasn’t given us a single electoral vote in the 21st century. Bush won majorities not just of white men and evangelicals, but of white women, married people, couples with children, people over 30, voters who make above $50,000, high school and college graduates, and regular churchgoers.”
Excellent article by David Broder (WashPost reg. req.) on the Dems’ “teachable moment” — “For a thoroughly chastised and seemingly clueless party, that is the only good news to be found. And there is one clear lesson the Democrats could learn from examining what helped them recover from those other two-term Republican presidents.”
From a Brit: “I guess those woolly-minded, gutless, godless, liberal Europeans had it coming…America had told us, quite clearly, where we could shove our opinions.”
Something to think about: Democrats have lost five of the past seven presidential elections — Reagan, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Clinton, Bush II, Bush II. Interesting.
This woman (reg. req.) should probably see a shrink. She’s living on a planet with a breathable atmosphere but not much else in common with the one we inhabit. I understand it’s part of her schtick, but still…
Said Iago to Othello: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on.” (Othello, W. Shakespeare)
