Second verse, same as the first

America will have to wait until Ohio counts 250,000 provisional ballots to know who won the Presidential election. The Bush Whitehouse is declaring victory, proving once again how little regard they have for facts and the opinions of voters.

I had hoped that Americans would soundly reject:

Incompetent prosecution of a war (see al QaQaa).
Incompetent administration of the budget (see deficit).
An international soiling of America's name (travel abroad).
The intermingling of religion and politics.
Outing of CIA agents (see Valerie Plame)
Lying to Congress (i.e. "We know where the WMDs are")
Lying to the American people (i.e. "Mission Accomplished")
A record of failure at creating jobs (1.6 million lost).
Abu Gharaib abuses.
Laughable debate performances.
and so on...

I view President Bush as a mixture of Harding and Nixon, but someone a lot more dumb than Nixon and more incompetent than Harding. I am, therefore, at a loss to explain a close race. Now, I have been raised to trust the instinct of the American people, but in this case I feel I am missing the point. Where's the man's up-side?

Ohio has until November 15th to count the ballots and you can be sure of two things:

1. Lawyers for Kerry will be pressing to have those votes counted.
2. Lawyers for Bush will be pressing to disenfranchise those voters.

In America we should always count the votes, for it is not in the voting but in the counting that Democracy lives.