A few things that I think need to be said:
1. Just because one holds a strong opinion does not make anyone who doesn't hold it stupid. They can be wrong in one's eye, but attempting to push away their opinions, calling them "stupid" without providing reason, is foolish, because it results in no understanding of why something happened, whether you agree with it or not.
2. Bush is every American's President right now. It may not be the President every American preferred, nor one that every American accepts, but he is legally the United States President. He belongs to no one.
3. The rest of the world cares about our elections because we are a major super power. What we do affects the rest of the world profoundly. They have the result to seek out information and voice their opinion if they wish. They have just as much right to be interested in the American elections as we do and telling them to stop paying attention is pointless.
4. 37% of people in Massachusetts voted for Bush. 38% of people in Texas voted for Kerry. That's more than 1-in-3 people. There are Democrats in Texas, and Republicans in Massachusetts. The electoral system makes it look like we are much more divided by city vs. country than we actually are. The truth is, 37 or 38 in 100 people represents a huge sector of the population. Generalizations do not help.
Thanks you Alcon. Well said.
Hearnes: in the words of Dick Cheney, "f$@# off". If you consistently demean the intelligence of others who hold different opinions or have different values from you, you are no believer in freedom of speech. You are not culturally aware. You are the one who is stupid. Democrats are welcome to keep up this kind of rhetoric: they'll only lose bigger in 2008.
