Good Thing I've Had My Shots

Well, I just got home from the hospital. No, it wasn't anything serious, but they wanted to keep me for a while to make sure I wasn't contagious.

It all started when I was reading this interview with President Bush in which he said that his reelection validated his Iraq policy, and that he now has a mandate from the American people. He also says that there was "no reason to hold any administration officials accountable for mistakes or misjudgments in prewar planning or managing the violent aftermath."

Well, needless to say, when I read all that I began babbling incoherently about how the President only won 50.8% of the popular vote compared to Kerry's 48.3% (final Numbers). If he had gotten something like 60% of the vote, then okay, that's definitely a mandate. But 50.8%? Not only is that NOT a mandate, that's barely a majority!!

And this business about Bush having gotten more votes than any other presidential candidate in history? That may be true, but another truth is that Kerry's 59,028,550 votes means that more people voted AGAINST Bush than any other candidate in American history.

Let's also keep in mind that the President won Ohio by 118,457 votes. If 59,229 people in the state had voted the other way, Kerry would be the one getting sworn in on Thursday. What kind of mandate is that!?!

Anyway, one of my neighbors, a diehard red-stater, saw me and called the authorities. The police showed up and saw me foaming at the mouth. Then they called animal control, and when that guy showed up, he became concerned that I might have rabies and shot me with a tranquilizer dart.

So then they took me down to the hospital where they ran a number of tests to make sure I wasn't a danger to myself, and that I didn't have a fever, and that I wasn't rabid, and that I was properly housebroken. After everything checked out, they let me go provided I kept myself properly sedated.

Fine.... BUT IT STILL WASN'T A FREAKING MANDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Brrr
The DC area's fling with spring is now officially over. After more than two weeks of temperatures in the 50's and 60's (and a record 72 last Thursday) we're back down into the 20's for our highs. Tonight will be even worse, with expected lows in the single digits and windchills of below zero (that's fahrenheit, for all you foreign types). With Bush's inauguration only days away, the cold weather is actually rather appropriate. Many people had predicted he would be reelected only when "hell froze over."