51 PERCENT IS NOT A MANDATE

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Below this text are links to George W Bush T-shirts, George W Bush coffee cups, George W Bush shirts, George W Bush gifts, George W Bush tee shirts, George W Bush sweatshirts, and George W Bush 2004 presidential election merchandise imprinted "51 percent is not a mandate."

Excerpted from a San Francisco Gate ( www.SFGate.com ) article by John Wildermuth and Carla Marinucci. " Bush won 51 percent of the national popular vote, and his total of more than 59.1 million votes was the most ever for a president.

"Vice President Dick Cheney spoke bluntly about the decisive win, calling it "a broad national victory'' and a 'mandate'' for the president and his policies.

"Bush, while content to say only that 'America has spoken,' still made clear that his agenda now rules the political day and promised to overhaul the nation's tax system and the Social Security program and 'uphold our deepest values of family and faith.'

"Democrats vowed not to roll over for the president.

" 'You can be disappointed, but you can't walk away,' Sen. John Edwards, Kerry's running mate, told the crowd in Boston. 'This fight is just beginning.'

In a message to supporters Wednesday, Howard Dean, the one-time leader in the Democratic presidential derby, took the position that 'more Americans voted against George Bush than against any sitting president in history.'

" 'We will not be silent,' the former Vermont governor said. 'Thank you for everything you did for our cause in this election. But we are not stopping here.' "

During the second Presidential Debate in 2004, George W. Bush was asked what mistakes he'd made and how he'd fixed them. He couldn't think of any.

George Bush talks about important problems using agreeable terms like "freedom, " "future, " and "children" without explaining his dangerous partisan agenda. Dick Cheney tells us to "go FCC yourself!"

Bush says he does not want problems passed to future generations. The rhetoric is great. But George Bush has passed a multi-billion dollar debt to our grandchildren, along with a five-year military commitment in Iraq, a quagmire created by bad foreign policy. The most dangerous terrorists can roam other countries with far fewer troops to chase them.

George Bush gave us the increased standards of "No Child Left Behind." Standards have to be paid for. Poor schools are told to "get better, " while their budgets shrivel. Schools are being set up for failure so George Bush can roll out private school vouchers to send kids to religious schools. Maybe Halliburton will have to contract to run schools.

Most Americans are struggling to afford health insurance while white-collar jobs are being outsourced to "improve the economy. "

At Social Security, George Bush is "starving the beast " and appointing top administrators who believe in privatization. The foxes aren't just guarding the chicken coop. They're running it. Visit www.GetSocialSecurity.info . Then call 1-800-772-1213. How long did it take to answer?

George Bush attempts to leave audiences with the impression that he supports our military. Bush's $87 billion bill for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq was presented to Congress as a package deal. Dissent and disagreement were attacked as disloyal and unpatriotic. In a year of record federal deficits, Bush proposed to borrow the money from our children and grandchildren.

From Wikipedia ( en.wikipedia.org ) "The term red states or blue states describes those U. S. states having residents who predominantly tend to vote for the Republican Party or Democratic Party, respectively, in presidential elections, the only national elections held in the United States.

"The origin of the term is from television newscasts which reveal, or project, on presidential election night which party's candidate has carried which states in the U.S. Electoral College, usually through a map of the country with the states projected to go to one party or another (Republican or Democratic) lit up in one primary color or another - specifically red or blue. The colors were selected because they appear on the United States flag.

"Originally, the color assignments alternated every four years. In the hotly-contested election of 2000, it was the Republicans' turn for red and the Democrats' turn for blue; and because the resulting map for that year revealed that support for each party followed a sharply defined geographical pattern, it has since become customary to refer to the Republican-leaning states as red states and the Democratic strongholds as blue states.

"The red states tend to fall in The South, parts of the Great Plains, the 'Lower Midwest,' and rural Western regions of the country. The Northeast and Pacific Coast, featuring the largest metropolitan areas, are blue states.

"Solid red states are Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming, which have not voted for a Democrat presidential candidate since 1964. Other strong red states include Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina and Texas, which have not voted Democrat since 1976.

"Red states have several demographic differences from blue states; thus the term now has cultural implications as well, implying a conservative region or a more conservative type of American. This view of an "America somewhat divided" into two cultural zones has been most prominently advanced by conservative writer David Brooks. The most typical is that the majority of red states tend to feature more rural area, with agriculture being one of the most important industries. Red states also tend to be poorer and have fewer college graduates, but they send far more members to join the U.S. military. Red states tend to be more actively religious and more overwhelmingly Christian. Recently others have challenged Brooks' views, charging that they are exaggerated.

"The blue states tend to be in the Northeast, Upper Midwest and Pacific Coast, with the Great Plains, South and the remainder of the Midwest being red states.

"The solid 'blue states' would generally be California, Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Vermont, Maine and Michigan. The distinction between the two is far from clear-cut, however. Minorities in all states tend to vote Democratic. Many states are divided, such as Florida, which is quite liberal in the cities, but rather conservative in rural areas such as the Panhandle.

"Blue states have several demographic differences from red states, thus the term now has cultural implications as well, implying a liberal region or a more liberal type of American. The most typical is that the majority of blue states tend to be more urban, have higher per capita government expenditures, and are more multicultural.

"The distinction between the two groups of states is far from clear cut, however. Members of minority racial groups in all states tend to vote Democratic. Many states are divided, such as Pennsylvania, which is quite conservative in the interior, but liberal around the urban centers of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

"It should be noted that not all media outlets follow this standard. According to Federal Review's web site, the trend has been towards the use of blue for the incumbent and red for the challenger."

From Peter S Cannelos, Boston Globe ( www.Boston.com ) "George W. Bush's victory marks the political ascendancy of 'red-state' America that backed him strongly four years ago but then served as veritable bulwark against some of the strongest political winds to confront an incumbent seeking reelection.

"Bush won almost exactly the same combination of states as in his disputed 2000 victory, but most of them gained population and electoral clout in the intervening years, and, on Tuesday, rewarded his program of tax cuts and military aggressiveness with higher margins than four years ago.

"Through all the darkest moments of his presidency - the guerrilla insurgency in Iraq, the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison, the release of pre-Sept. 11, 2001, memos warning of a terror attack on the United States - Bush's supporters in Southern and Western states remained loyal, restricting the competitive landscape for the 2004 election to a handful of swing states.

"In a pattern reminiscent of four years ago, Democrats were cheered by strong exit-poll results, only to watch Bush do better than expected almost everywhere. The president held on to the key states of Florida, West Virginia, and, finally, Ohio.

"And, just like four years ago, he lost the Northeast and the West Coast -- including such large states as California, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey -- by almost exactly the same margins as in 2000.

"The president's victory can only be seen as an endorsement of the president's aggressive policies in Iraq and elsewhere. Bush was greatly helped by the fact that the United States has not had another major attack since 2001, a circumstance so welcome that both candidates barely mentioned it, as if trying to avoid a jinx. But voters noticed it: Many who were interviewed outside polling places in Florida said they believed that, despite Bush's failure to anticipate the Iraq insurgency, his decision to go to war in Iraq helped dissuade potential terrorists from attacking the United States.

"Still, Bush's victory is, at bottom, a mandate from a little more than half the country, almost exactly the same half that supported him four years ago. Drawing another narrow win out of the same well can further the red-state/blue-state cultural divide that is, in some respects, a product of Bush's policies.

"The way Bush won reelection does not signal a move to the center: His chief political adviser, Karl Rove, advised him to shore up the base at the expense of swing voters - a decision that led to Bush's endorsement of a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, his commitment of federal funds to faith-based charities, and his unapologetic embrace of the doctrine of preemptive war in Iraq.

"The usual blueprint for a presidential run calls for appealing to centrists to build a coalition. But Bush's decision to concentrate on energizing his core supporters may change that blueprint forever.

"After all, an energized political 'base' does not waver if the candidate loses a few debates. It comes out to vote even in the kind of driving rain that soaked Ohio on Election Day. It supports its favored candidates even when times are good, like 2000, and there is no obvious need for a change in leadership. And it sticks with its favorites even when times are hard, and many voters seem to be looking for a change.

"A leader who touted consistency as his prime character trait, Bush will probably govern in a second term the way he has in his first: by accepting the counsel of a small group of advisers led by Vice President Dick Cheney and by resisting opinions from any other quarter, including Republicans in Congress.

"In recent months, some senior Republican senators have spoken out against various aspects of Bush's Iraq policy, perhaps signaling a desire for more consultation in a second term. It is not likely they will get it, and it is not clear they will demand it.

"Bush's margins have been small, but he has kept the Republicans in power, earning his party's gratitude. And he, Rove, and Cheney believe that having congressional Republicans read from a White House script is the key to transforming Washington. It is the way the party has leveraged narrow victories in 2000 and the 2002 congressional elections into far-reaching policy changes in taxation and foreign policy.

From David R. Francis, Christian Science Monitor ( www.CSMonitor.com ) "President Bush appeared quite cheery at his press conference last week. But that glow will be tested in the months ahead as he faces the task of putting America's fiscal house in order after four years of massive tax cuts and rampant overspending.

"Everywhere he turns, pools of red ink lurk: a huge federal budget deficit, a record deficit in the current account (that is, a growing imbalance in the nation's international payments), a record shortfall in national saving, record household indebtedness, and the lowest level ever of personal savings. Some of these issues lie beyond the president's direct influence, but not the budget deficit. How Bush handles it will determine to a large extent the economic success of his second term.

" 'The next four years are going to be unusually challenging from the standpoint of America's economic stewardship,' warns Stephen Roach, chief economist of Morgan Stanley, an investment firm. 'Never before has the United States pushed the envelope to this degree. The US economy is an accident waiting to happen.'

"There's one bright spot. The budget deficit, which reached $413 billion last fiscal year, may have peaked. One of the Bush tax cuts, a depreciation for business, expires this year. That will add about $38 billion to revenues in fiscal 2005. The economic recovery could boost revenues another $38 billion, says the Congressional Budget Office.

"That should help the president get a little closer to his goal of cutting the budget deficit in half (as a proportion of gross domestic product). But various budget experts doubt he can do it in five years, as he has promised.

"The reason is that other expenses, such as Iraq, Medicare, and Medicaid, keep crowding in, and that the president has other priorities that will swell the deficit. For example, the first budget items on the Bush agenda probably will be the complete repeal of the estate tax, and then the extension of any other expiring provisions of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts.

"With a bigger Republican majority in the Senate, he will probably get them, says Charles Schultze, chief economic adviser to President Carter. Repeal of the estate tax is favored by some Democratic senators. So it may easily gain a filibuster-proof 60 votes.

"Thus, this fiscal year's deficit will hover around $350 billion, figures Richard Kogan, an expert at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington. Beyond that point, annual deficits will run at least $300 billion for years, he calculates, adding to the national debt and its interest-rate burden.

"The war in Iraq is another budget burden. It has so far cost $147 billion, of which $21 billion is for reconstruction and related aid, calculates Steven Kosiak of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, another Washington think tank. Every month of occupation costs another $4 billion to $5 billion, he adds, which would mean another $40 billion for fiscal 2005. Other Washington reports say the president will request an extra $70 billion from Congress for Iraq.

"On the plus side, from a budget perspective, is the possibility that Bush will find it politically easier to withdraw from Iraq than a President Kerry would have.

"Also important could be a revival in spending restraint. In February, the president's new budget will probably call for sizable cuts in almost every program except defense and homeland security.

" 'Then will begin a long fight that will not just cause tremendous discomfort to Democrats but will rend the Republican Party,' says Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute in Washington. On one side will be Republicans concerned for the future of their party if such cuts disenchant voters. On the other side will be supply-side members of Congress, mostly in safe seats, arguing that trimming the size of government is more important.

"The administration has not done a good job in restraining outlays in its first four years, notes Daniel Mitchell, an economist with the conservative Heritage Foundation. He's counting on better control in the next four years, plus a supply-side boost to the economy from the Bush tax cuts, to reduce the budget deficit.

"So far, the trickle-down effect of tax cuts for businesses and the well-to-do has not produced an exceptionally strong upturn. But economists do expect even moderate growth to eventually step up employment and, thus, tax revenues.

"Finally, here's an election-year oddity. The red states that vote Republican, the party pushing for smaller government, usually get more benefits from federal programs than they pay in federal taxes. Contrariwise, the liberal blue states are mostly net losers in that balance, notes Herman Leonard, a Harvard University economist who has studied the issue. So small-government voters benefit most from big government."

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