As for me, I didn't vote for him OR Bush, so my hands are clean either way. And no, I did not vote for Nader, and no, my third party protest vote did not affect the outcome, so you can blame me. My state went overwhelmingly for Gore.

I expected Bush to play golf, cut brush and otherwise be an ineffectual, grinning fool. I expected Cheney et al to meet in secret -- like he did with his "Energy Task Force" -- and be ahellavalot more subtle about destroying the government. I figured that neocon plan for the new century was too blatant to pull off. I didn't credit the "new Pearl Harbor" part and expected more of a Gulf of Tonkin off-camera justification that most people wouldn't accept.

Seriously, BooMan, if you anticipated this level of disaster, how did you calmly write blog posts instead of forming a revolutionary cell?

But I don't believe anybody who claims they really knew that Bush would bring this country to its knees in every possible aspect of its being. That the fruit of his works would make Bin Laden and the terrorists of the world seem like, at most, minor pests by comparison. That he would destroy this country's standing in the world, poison our economic viability for decades to come, subvert the most basic constitutional foundations of our society, contract for the murder of hundreds of thousands of humans who had done nothing to us, and complete Reagan's work of turning the United States into a classic fascist regime designed to be bled dry by bankers, financial swindlers, militarists, and their political courtiers.

Or to put it comcisely, I didn't believe America had it in it to turn this bad, this fast, no matter who "led" it. I don't think anybody had the imagination to foresee that.

FDR's response to progressive demands: "I agree. Now go out and make me do it."