Memes from today's La Vangua:

America is a divided country and must now heal its wounds.

Bush has been strengthened and legitimized.

Kerry was dignified in defeat.

The Republicans have been strengthened in Congress.

Bush won't be able to pack the Supreme Court because the Dems have enough votes in the Senate to block nominees.

Wall Street is happy Bush won.

It was the Religious Right that tipped it for Bush.

This was the strategy of the "Machiavellian" Karl Rove.

Americans have an image of Bush as a strong commander-in-chief and a person with moral values.

The "sociological majority" in the US is conservative.

Karl Rove brought out the Red state vote so Bush won.

"Bush country is a peculiar mix of Rural America, a culture of farmers and hunters, the religious right, post-racist (!) Southern conservatism, and sectors of the new suburban middle class seduced by the "society of owners" pushed by the Republicans...He is someone they understand because he explains things to them in black and white in a simple way."--E. Val

"The Democrats usually err with a certain intellectual arrogance regarding Bush Country. They think that those who don't vote for them are primitive and ignorant. The aristocratic personality of Kerry, a son of New England, contributed to the negative perception."--E. Val (Explaining things with images again!)

Men and white people voted for Bush. He did pull 41% of the Hispanic vote.

"(The Hispanic vote) can be explained by the positive effect that the President's conservative message on social issues like abortion, defense of the traditional family, and rejection of gay weddings. One should not underestimate the response that Bush's economic and tax policies finds among the Hispanics who are making economic progress, among those who have bought a house and have achieved--or are convinced they will achieve with hard work--the American Dream."--E. Val

"The culture of the welfare state--so deeply rooted in Europe--is not rooted to the same degree in the US. This is why the negative evolution in health care and the rise of poverty has not hurt Bush. Historically, the US ias a country of opportunities, of pioneers and fighters. State protection is considered secondary."

Bush won because the Jesusheads voted for him.

Bush won because of marketing.

"Karl Rove intentionally divided the two Americas, the ultraconservatives in the ever-growing Bible Belt and, on the other hand, the liberal and progressive cities. Bush was chosen by Rove in the mid-Nineties as the perfect vehicle for this kind of aggressive Republicanism in Texas...a bitter confrontation with the more liberal sectors of society. The reconciliation Bush talked about yesterday is almost impossible."--A. Robinson