WHY GEORGE W BUSH WON AND JOHN KERRY LOST

A high turnout, most people believed, would remove George Bush from the presidency even if it did not give a Democrat majority in both houses. But a very high turnout - that is something else!

60% of Americans, we are told, do not believe in the theory of evolution (whether Darwinian, neo-Darwinian, Lamarckian or hybrid). Some because they don't understand the science, others because they don't understand the Christian religion - for it is clear as day from his teaching that Jesus understood the origins of man; just as it is clear that he explained it in language and parables suitable to his time and his audience. A discussion on DNA would have been impossible since Jesus, like all others, was limited to the languages and vocabulary of the time. Many of the people that George Bush succeeded in getting out to vote this time had never voted before. Many could not read or write according to current statistics. But he put the 'fear of God' in them.

Other good American patriots were not about to change commanders in the middle of a war on terror - unless they understood that the commander was doolally [no comment]. Besides, George is a nice guy, he is consistent (easy when blind to changing realities) and he has a nice wife and family. George puts America first, and that is what counts, isn't it?. Who needs friends? They only like you anyway because you have money.

Enough of why George won, why did Kerry lose? Cruelly described by one educated American as 'an empty suit', Kerry had to run on an Anti-Bush ticket. But that put him in the camp of those championing Gay Marriage and a range of issues which do not command majority support with the American public.

That meant, with a mathematical simplicity that was unarguable, that if Kerry got out the high anti-Bush vote, Bush would have to get out the large (some silent) majority that would vote if their core beliefs were threatened. So that was what he did. That was why he rushed round the country like a blue-arsed fly. That was why the turnout was too high. That was why he won the popular vote and with it (unless there is something I have overlooked) a second term in office. So what I thought must happen, did not.

Summary: in a country where 60% of the population do not believe any theory of the evolution of life is possible, democracy should be put on hold until education has been reformed.

Will George do anything better with his presidency, now he is freed from worrying about a winning again? Almost certainly not.

JB - NOVEMBER 3rd 11am GMT

Update Nov 4th
So at least the result is clear cut, over and done with.
On reflection I would add another reason that Kerry lost was Michael Moore, whose demeanour and method of attacking Bush (I have not seen his film but have seen Moore holding forth) was enough to make quite a lot of people vote for Bush even if they were previously undecided. Kerry's unwanted supporters sealed his fate.

Kerry's utterances since his defeat have been sincere. Bush has revealed once more that he is just Bush, unable to think outside any box he is inside. "I have gained a lot of political capital in this election, and I intend to spend it, because that's my style". It is that last bit I have put in italics that depresses me. It puts him in a bracket of people I have had experience of throughout my life so far. I have to say I define them as the enemy. They represent the whole awful essence of those with minds that are unable to do anything else except follow the awful grooves they are destined to run in. Barring a miracle we are in for another grisly cycle of human folly. A Saddam Hussein removal tool out of control is not an acceptable leader of the developed world. However it is best that Bush stays around to finish what he has made such a mess of rather than hand to anyone else, so that's the up-side.

Let me be clear. Saddam Hussein had to be removed. It was the UN's duty to authorize this and it failed. The Taliban had to be removed. If some attempt at democracy and human rights is not promoted forcefully wherever it can be (and that means picking priorities and taking one at a time), the refugee and asylum position in the coming decades would be completely unmanageable. That was why in former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Kosovo, the nations could not be left alone to slaughter each other. What is at issue is the unnecessary losing of the support of 9 tenths of the world's population for these actions by the personal characteristics and presentation of George W Bush, which has led anyone with a working brain to conclude that the errors made over the last 2 years have not been due to bad luck, but to unbelievable ignorance, obstinacy and stupidity.