In the wake of the election results that confirmed re-election for current President George W. Bush, it’s easy to criticize the college population that vouched so hard for Sen. John Kerry.

Isla Vista has never been a strong voice in politics; in a town dominated by liberalism, it’s a common practice to sit on a couch and take bong loads. Yet in the last few months, this town yelled and screamed about the election, claiming that Bush could never be re-elected. But just like four years ago, a close race ended with a Republican in office, simply because the 25-and-under age group didn’t vote enough. I heard there was a 10 percent turnout. My parents told me it was 12 percent. Either way, it’s well under 20 percent.

If this election was judged solely by MTV and Rolling Stone, Kerry would have been the next president of the United States. An article published in Rolling Stone essentially gave the election to Kerry, stating America would surely have another President come Nov. 2 because the younger population has taken too much abuse in the last four years.

England is a breeding ground for Bush-haters, and a few of my friends have confirmed this while studying abroad. They were ridiculed for being American and living under the watchful eye of our president. With so much anti-Bush material in the air, it seems that the Democratic Party just assumed it was going to win and decided to let everyone else vote. This was their biggest mistake. For every West Coast Democrat that didn’t vote and instead stayed inside and watched the election from their couch eagerly awaiting “The O.C.,” a redneck Republican went to their voting booth and re-elected Bush. Granted, the electoral vote was all but done in our Democrat-filled state, but why not rub it in?

As a Republican living in California, I am continually confronted with political talks from Isla Vista – politicians dressed in regular street clothes holding a keg cup. These are the people I am calling out. Don’t talk for four years about how you can’t stand our president, then fail to vote when your chance comes to get him out of office. The voting booths were in Isla Vista – next time, win the popular vote so you at least have some ammo to shoot at every Bush supporter. It seems every loud-mouthed Democrat was celebrating a little too early and never quite got out there to vote. Nov. 2 was a little early, guys. I waited ’til Nov. 3.

Chris Rice is a UCSB student.