John Perry Barlow's discussion.

John Perry Barlow a fellow who wrote songs for the Grateful Dead and one of the Electronic Freedom Foundation's leaders had an interesting article about the election. No, he was not supporting the President. The title is Magnanimous Defeat

He talks about sitting down with a young Bush supporter and soldier from one of the Red states and found out he was not the racist homophobic monster the left is trying to portray Republicans as. He listens instead of lectures. He talks about how he in the course of their discussion he felt the young soldier was off in some of his facts (we obviously have a different take, but that was not the point) but that was not the point of their discussion.

Mr. Barlow also notes the nation survived other Republican administrations (of course) and we must recall the nation survived Democratic ones as well.

The overriding theme of the article was to respect and understand our political opponents. My wife and I have some terrific friends who live in Wausau. We enjoy visiting them and they enjoy our company as well. Alex (not his real name) is a door-knocking, phone dialing Democrat. As you know I am the same for the Republicans. We have informally set boundries about politcal discourse and we do not cross them. I let him have his say from time to time and he lets me have my say from time to time. We exchange little barbs from time to time but we understand that neither of us is out to destroy the nation.

Of course the discussion touched off by the article appears not to have paid much attention. The follow-up comments from readers were mostly of "Republicans are hateful dummies" but there were some thoughtful comments. There were some Bush supporters making comments as well. There is plenty of the bomb throwing and the like.

Mr. Barlow clearly understands the nature of the Left's defeat.