Jarring contradictions

The aftermath of the election brings into sharp contrast the views of the left and the reality of what happened.

For example, Mareen Dowd complains

The president got re-elected by dividing the country along fault lines of fear, intolerance, ignorance and religious rule. He doesn't want to heal rifts; he wants to bring any riffraff who disagree to heel.

Media elites simply can't figure out what's "wrong" with America. After all, according to Gary Wills we believe in fantasies and reject reality.

Respect for evidence seems not to pertain any more, when a poll taken just before the elections showed that 75 percent of Mr. Bush's supporters believe Iraq either worked closely with Al Qaeda or was directly involved in the attacks of 9/11.

(The possibility that 75% of us are better informed because we ignore corrupt sources like the NY Times never crosses their blinded minds.)

We're not just deluded, however, we're dangerously radical in our beliefs.

At one level this election was about nothing. None of the real problems facing the nation were really discussed. But at another level, without warning, it actually became about everything. Partly that happened because so many Supreme Court seats are at stake, and partly because Mr. Bush's base is pushing so hard to legislate social issues and extend the boundaries of religion that it felt as if we were rewriting the Constitution, not electing a president. I felt as if I registered to vote, but when I showed up the Constitutional Convention broke out.

Yet here in the redneck, stupid, intolerant, bigoted state of Texas, smack dab in the dead center of the Bible belt, we elected a Democrat to the office of county Sheriff for the first time in 34 years. Oh, and the new sheriff just happens to be gay, Hispanic and female.

Over in the backwards state of Louisiana, where oil is still king, the environment is an afterthought, and elites only show up for Super Bowls and Mardi Gras, a first generation Indian-American (the country) has been elected with 78% of the vote!

In Montana, a state populated by dumb cowboys who chew tobacco and spit, 73% of the people voted for the use of medical marijuana.

Yet some highly enlightened Democratic states voted for banning same-sex marriages: Michigan - 59%, Oregon - 57% and against the use of medical marijuana: Oregon - 58%.

It's enough to drive the black and white world of a liberal absolutely mad.