I can agree with most of what you say, but regarding your hatred for Bush, I would have to take Sam Rayburn's position on hating people. Sam Rayburn used to say "That he didn't hate anyone. But there were some real shitasses that he loathed."

You're writing about heartfelt passion, and I respect that. But ugh -- surely when you're looking for objective data to cite in support of your passion, you can do better than Ted Rall! I could fisk that whole piece -- it'd be like shooting fish in a barrel -- but lemme just take one particularly egregious example:

Bush's recount guru, James Baker, went on national TV to threaten to use force to install him as president if Gore didn't step aside: "If we keep being put in the position of having to respond to recount after recount after recount of the same ballots, then we just can't sit on our hands, and we will be forced to do what might be in our best personal interest--but not--it would not be in the best interest of our wonderful country."

Hello? I practiced law for six years at the law firm where Baker works now. I don't seem to recall that we had an army. The Commander in Chief of the American armed forces was one William Jefferson Clinton, right up until the day in January 2001 when he shook Dubya's hand when Dubya was sworn in, and all of the people at the inauguration Republicans, Democrats, independents applauded, including Al Gore. So the coup d'etat was going to happen ... how, exactly? And the mind control that Dubya and James Baker exerted on the Clinton appointees who agreed that what the Florida Supreme Court was doing violated the Equal Protection Clause worked how, exactly? I'm reasonably sure that what Baker was talking about wasn't assassinating some Secret Service men and seizing control of the "football" with the nuclear codes, but sorta more what lawyers more typically do, and what Bush's team ended up doing -- seeking relief in court.

I can see why Democrats can still argue about the 2000 election. You can make principled arguments that the Supreme Court was wrong or that the Bush camp was cynical. But this coup d'etat stuff is just UFO-caliber stuff.