Nov. 6, 2002, 6:57PM

By DICK FOWLER

I finally went to sleep at midnight Tuesday still uncertain, but by six o'clock the next morning I awoke to what I expected. For a couple of hours I read the newspaper and listened to the so-called "analysis" of the election, hoping to find one article, guest speaker, news reporter or network anchor who would correctly announce what had actually happened, and what this election really meant. Sad to say, the elite of the media, many politicians, party leaders and all the high-priced analysts still do not get the message.

The historical results of this mid-term election were not about the failures of Democrats or the successes of Republicans. It had nothing to do with party lines, single issues, nor was it about liberal or conservative ideology. It was the American people, of all ethnic and racial backgrounds and all parties, letting everyone know that they were no longer willing to accept business as usual.

The American people, myself included, are afraid, and we voted accordingly. Since the tragic events of 9/11, we are uncertain about our safety. With the economy in the doldrums, we are uncertain about our financial futures. The whole world has become a dark, confusing and dangerous place, and all the while our elected politicians have been nit-picking, politicizing, dividing us and obstructing policies that may bring normalcy back to our lives. We are fed up with the whole political mess, and this was the real message sent by our votes.

This vote was also for President George W. Bush, the man. The media and world leaders have long been scratching their heads, wondering why Bush is so popular with Americans. It is not hard to figure out if you are just a simple citizen, with no more power than a single vote. Bush is not a typical career politician. He is not a lawyer (as are most politicians) with a silver and often-forked tongue, spinning words the way the diplomatic or political elite of the world wants to hear them. He is everything the rank-and-file American citizen likes, and the rest of the world hates. He is more comfortable in blue jeans and boots than a suit, prefers to kick back on a ranch full of scrub bush and horny toads, drive a Ford pickup rather than a limousine, and enjoys a good barbecue much more than goose liver paté and caviar. He is not like Bill Clinton or even his father, the senior George. But, the American people love him, because he is genuine. He feels the way we do. We know that when tears cloud his eyes they are real, and when he speaks with emotion, it comes from the heart. We trust him, not as a politician, but as a man.

Proof is in pudding. For the next two years President Bush has the ability to deliver, and deliver he must! He can seize on this opportunity to do more than just wage war. He can stimulate the economy and create jobs. He can make us feel safer. He can change the entire tax system so that it is fair and simple. He can get badly needed judges on the bench. He can provide genuine help for our children and elderly. He can solve the health-care problem.

Few presidents have the chance to become great men. The American voters have given Bush this chance. If he fails to deliver now, come 2004 we will vote for someone who can.

And, this is what really happened in the mid-term elections of 2002!

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2002

Answers

nyp

WHY THIS LIFELONG DEMOCRAT VOTED FOR REPUBLICAN

By ANDREA PEYSER

November 7, 2002 --

IT'S a bit like falling out of love.

On paper, I look like a Democrat. I'm pro-choice on abortion. I detest guns. I'm also an enrolled Democrat, and don't intend to switch parties anytime soon.

But on Tuesday morning, I waltzed into the voting booth in my left-leaning corner of the People's Republic of Brooklyn, and performed an act of once-unthinkable infidelity - one that gets ever-easier with each repetition:

I pulled the lever under the Republican line. And I cast my vote for George Pataki.

My, that felt good.

New York's longtime love affair with the Democratic Party is in its death throes. It's over, except for the whining.

In this city, positively stinkin' with Democrats, the party to which my immigrant parents once pledged loyalty has failed to notice that people like me feel increasingly taken for granted, misunderstood, misrepresented - or even outright betrayed.

Even my formerly Socialist mom now routinely votes Republican.

While Democrats were paying pathetic lip service this election season to long-rejected ideals, vowing to pour buckets of money into familiar sinkholes such as welfare and corrupt public-education systems, Republicans became not exactly cool - but they at least learned to dance.

So clueless were the Dems, they also failed to notice many of us stand firmly behind the party of our president in the war against terror - a struggle whose outcome could decide no less than the survival of our culture.

In a sense, my vote for Pataki was a vote for Bush to kick Saddam's ass.

I'm not alone.

"I held my nose and voted for [Pataki] even though he's a do-nothing governor because he's a moderate and I thought McCall would do even less," said Liz Whitehead, president of a Manhattan educational media company. And a Democrat.

She continued: "I support Bush totally in the anti-terrorism fight and am very conservative - tough on crime. At the same time, I disagree with Bush and the Republican platform on just about everything else domestically: energy policy, the environment, economic policy, gun control. I am pro-choice."

How can you reconcile the belief that the government has no place in the medical stirrups with the GOP plank against abortion? Well, no less than Planned Parenthood of the Mid-Hudson Valley was sure to note on its Web site:

"Pro-choice groups opposed Mr. Pataki when he first ran for governor . . . Since becoming governor, [Pataki] has committed himself to supporting pro-choice policies."

These days, it's the Democrats who scare me stiff. I fear that, given the chance, the party would pull this country backward, to places I don't care to revisit.

Personally, I like tax cuts. And the death penalty. Welfare reform has, in my view, been a resounding success, helping infantilized adults grow up and, likely, helping to reduce crime and child abuse.

Meanwhile, nothing the Dems have shown me proves they have a single, sound idea for improving education. Bring on the vouchers!

When did the love affair end? I trace my disaffection back at least a decade, when crime in this city was off the charts, squeegee guys terrorized the night, and there was a rising army of moms and kids on the welfare rolls. Back then, friends who considered voting for Rudy Giuliani were careful to whisper their intentions in mixed political company.

Last year, most people I know voted for Bloomberg.

This year, there was no contest.

As long as the national GOP upholds a platform I dislike, I'll stay a Democrat.

But as long as my party remains a train wreck, I'll vote Republican.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2002

Yeah, he is just like the average voter.

I have a friend who dislikes the Bush's intensely. From when Dad was in the white house up till now and probably beyond.

My friend was in Desert Storm. He points out that while we do need to go after the terrorists and delete them from the planet, if we wage war with Saddam and Saddam calls it a holy war, any allies we have in the sand nations may become our enemies instantly. Except Israel, of course.

War with Iraq may turn into something we don't want to see. I'm not going to get into the religious details, you know what I mean.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2002

I figure we're at war with those people anyway, they're just wallpapering over it and have been for a while. Does anyone really believe the Saudis are our friends? Has anyone thought about what the Saudis will do when they begin to run out of oil? Maybe use those missiles they've been buying from the Chinese to take over other places, like the former Soviet Union countries? You also have to figure that Buch, Powell, Cheney and Rice, et al., have info we don't. I honestly don't think they would risk [issing off the Saudis if a) they weren't already pissed off and/or b) there's a really, really good reason for it.

-- Anonymous, November 07, 2002