It could be painful to watch if the Bush administration now steers sharply to the hard right domestically.

But, seriously, how anyone can read the Newsweek Nov. 15 special election series about Kerry and not think a Kerry presidency would have been an utter disaster is beyond me. And remember, Newsweek is pro-Kerry.

But even Newsweek can’t hide the character defects of the man that would have affected any Kerry presidency big time: in particular, his inability to lead even his own entourage, the dithering, the arrogance, the inneffectual strategizing. His other character flaws, such as the tiny fact that he is a pathological liar and a consummate narcissist, were already on full display in the still-not-discredited Unfit for Command. And then there’s the little matter of his voting record and his non-leadership in the Senate, and his dangerous foreign policy (global test, UN, possible withdrawal from Iraq, ban nuclear bunker buster development, give fuel to the mullahs of Iran, bilateral talks with N. Korea, initial recommendation of Carter and Baker as envoys to the Middle East).

Maybe the country would have survived Kerry, but I, for one, didn’t want to roll the dice and take the chance of finding out. I’m not happy with Bush’s domestic policies, and we may have to do some suffering about some of them, but that’s the bargain I and many other lifelong Democrats made to insure that one of the worst presidential candidates ever nominated, Kerry, did not become our president.

Democrats, quit whining about evangelicals, and those flawed exit polls that you think expressed a “truth” that the actual vote didn’t (somewhat like those CBS memos, no doubt). You covered yourselves with shame in this election, nominating such a man, promoting lies about the draft and countless other issues, smearing the swift vets instead of forcing Kerry to sign a 180 and answer their actual charges, and trashing the war on terror in hopes of winning short-term political gains.

Forget the far right, you’ll never win them over. But what about the goodwill of people such as myself, which you have squandered? And your post-election behavior is squandering it still further, I’m afraid. Your arrogance, elitism, and rage is not a pretty sight.

So take some responsibility, for a change. Also, you might try the novelty of common sense. Reform, and some of us will return. But the way most of you are behaving right now, I don’t see us prodigals returning any time soon. And moderates such as myself make the difference in any election, in case you hadn’t noticed.