"There was no way Bush could have won."

That's what everyone will be saying November 3 after Kerry wins 40 states. Given

• Bush's record of converting a $200 billion surplus into a $500 billion deficit while simultaneous arranging an outrageous tax giveaway to his rich supporters,
• his phony but expensive war,
• his squandering of American respect around the world,
• his so-called Patriot act that has begun to move this country toward a dictatorship,
• his lack of respect for and apparent failure even to understand the fundamental rights written into the constitution, a failure so profound that even the Supreme court, the court that put him in power, had to reign him in -- something it rarely does during a real war,
• his prison scandals,
• his Halliburton scandals,
• his broken promises ("no child left behind," indeed; plenty of money for a phony missile shield but none for firefighters) and his bait-and-switch approach to government ("The Healthy Forest Loggers Act"),
• his blatant hypocrisy in which he panders to special interests at the expense of the overall economy (the imposition of shrimp and illegal steel tariffs while claiming to believe in free trade) for short -term political gain,
• his record of being the first president during whose administration the number of jobs has shrunk,
• his pompous dishonesty and promotion of bigotry, "defend the sanctity of marriage,"
• his attempt to censor government sponsored science and economic reporting,
• the torrent of well documented, highly credible anti-Bush books:
  • American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush, by Kevin Phillips,
  • The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, by Ron Suskind,
  • Against All Enemies, by Richard Clarke,
  • Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush, by John W. Dean,
  • Plan of Attack, by Bob Woodward,
  • House of Bush, House of Saud, by Craig Unger,
  • America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order, by Jonathan Clarke and Stefan Halper
  • The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir, by Joseph C. Wilson,
• his simple arrogance. He is the man who told Bob Woodward,

  "I'm the commander. See, I don't have to explain why I say things. That's the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me why they say something, but I don't feel like I owe anybody an explanation."

Given that Bush is

• the man who will almost certainly be judged as one of the worst Presidents in history,
  
  
• the man who, when asked how he responded to the August 2001 Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB)  entitled 'Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US,' said
  

  "My response was exactly like then [sic] as it is today, that I asked for the Central Intelligence Agency to give me an update on any terrorist threats. And the PDB was no indication of a terrorist threat. There was not a time and place of an attack. [emphasis added] It said Osama bin Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that. What I wanted to know was, is there anything specifically going to take place in America that we needed to react to?"

  In other words, since bin Laden hadn't sent him a telegram explaining how and when he intended to attack, there was nothing to do,
  
  
• the man on whose watch 9/11 occurred.

How could he possibly have won a second term? Of course he lost by a landslide.

That's what we'll all be saying on November 3.

So why am I so worried now?