Democrats, we suck. Let's get it together, guys. In yet another master stroke by the Right in our beautiful country, George W. Bush has been given the go-ahead on four more years of Big Business in the White House.

Ouch, eh? Harsh realities merit harsh words, however. Here's a shocker for you, though. I voted for "Dubbya" in 2000.

I'll allow a moment for those of you who have me pegged as a liberal, leftist, commie S.O.B. to pick your jaws up off the floor.

In 2000, I just couldn't muster the gumption to let Al Gore, a man who off-handedly claimed to be part of the creation of the Internet and had more holes in his logic than Swiss cheese, become the leader of the free world.

In 2004, I just couldn't muster the gumption to let George W. Bush, a man who has proven himself to be a scary dude this country doesn't need as president, keep control over that "free world."

I wasn't a huge Clintonite, but he handled his terms with a purpose.

Let's take a trip back to 2001. Everybody was internally debating this kind of do-nothing president who had taken office less than a year earlier. Suddenly, the nation is sucker-punched by a terrorist attack.

Let's review what Bush has done for us in regard to foreign guys driving planes into our national landmarks and such terrorist hoopla.

The Patriot Act. What an Einsteinian idea that was. A messy war in Iraq reminiscent of Vietnam (with fewer casualties because we're not fighting in a jungle). Score two for Bush!

Tax cuts. Yeah, tax cuts are where America's concerns are. Seriously. Gas prices are nullifying any tax cuts the middle and lower classes get right now. $2.15 per gallon? Foreign policy that didn't involve mud-hole stomping could help price negotiations with OPEC.

I'm a liberal man; I'm a liberal man who doesn't like terrorists. But, I can't fathom how quickly America was emotionally mobilized against this amoebic specter of foreign terror.

Suddenly, Bush had a purpose and was hawking his particular brand of conservative propaganda with gusto I didn't credit the guy with having.

We didn't know it was going to happen. No wait, we did, but only sort of knew.

We've been absolutely shaken to our knees by the plethora of terrorism in our country since then, haven't we? Sure are a lot of bombings and such nowadays. Especially in the country America invaded (and is profiting off of like a pig in slop), but that's besides the point.

Jon Stewart, executive producer of the Comedy Central "fake news show" The Daily Show, put it bluntly in a way that took my breath away.

The nation is being led by a man who's chief system of communication and method of leading the nation is "say it louder and more often." What happened to think it through logically and war-as-a-last-resort?

Granted, John Kerry isn't a shining example of leadership and good, clean politics, either. Hell, I don't like him, but I voted for him.

Republicans tore him apart for months, degraded him as cowardly and used his war record as grounds for scathing critiques of what he would do against the ever-present "terrorist threat." He's wishy-washy.

Like me, he's afraid of George W. Bush and what four more years will do to our economy and our country.

Here's the bottom line as I, a still-wet-behind-the-ears-journalist, see it.

It really wouldn't have made a big impact in my upcoming four years if Kerry were elected, and it wouldn't for most of us. I'd have been able to look America in the eye, though.

Nick Todaro is a senior journalism major from Shreveport and serves as managing editor for The Tech Talk. E-mail comments to nst005@latech.edu.