"Moral values" -- you bought that crap? Suckers.

So the GOP propaganda machine managed to convince enough people that Bush represents "good moral values" that he got elected (apparently for real this time) for a second term. What exactly does that mean -- where's the hard proof, the evidence that one man possesses more "good moral values" than the other? The evidence I've seen to date paints W and friends as greedy, ruthless, power-hungry jackals who flash big shiny smiles and spout faux biblicism at us as they devour this nation's heart and soul, and flesh, and bones.

I think it's just whitewash for a deep-seated racism, a trust in a certain Kind of person who will keep us safe from those Other Kinds. If Kerry had been able to act less like a Rhodes Scholar and more like a small-town preacher, he might well have pulled it off -- the American voters elected Clinton because he's a likable guy who doesn't threaten them. Most Americans can't stand intelligent people, which is why we have a bumbling dumbass with mean friends running our country. Still, despite the burgeoning evidence that he and they have been running it into the ground for the past four years.

So, what now?

I want to share some excellent insight and inspiration from a fellow blogger:

"I hope fervently that after everyone (not just here, everywhere) has a chance to process this and scream and cry and rage....

"...that we don't lose that passion. The passion that we feel today, that we felt yesterday, that we felt for the months coming up to the election. The passion that got people mobilized and out there doing whatever they could in the hopes of changing the vote this year.

"I want to see that passion carried on starting ASAP and not just put on ice until June of 2008. I want to see it next week. I want to see it in the local school boards, village halls, local initiatives, fundraisers, etc. I want to see it in the next state level elections. We can't change the results of last night. But we can work on the little results, the day to day ones, the ones that happen in our neighborhoods and cities. And that will keep the fires burning. That will provide us with victories. That will swell the ranks of people who want change. And that will carry us through the next four years, fight after fight. There won't have to be some big mobilization of forces in 2008 if that happens because that passion will still be there and will have been productive in the meantime."

Thank you for that, gremlin. It'll help me and, I hope, many others focus the disbelief and anger and despair over the next four years into something worthwhile: change for the better.

Moral frickin' values -- we'll show them good moral values, for real. Let's get to work, shall we?