An online poll conducted by the Web site Democratic Underground found that 72 percent agree that Bush's re-election was the more devastating of the two events, with 28 percent who said it wasn't.

DU members were invited to explain their votes. One typical response:

"9/11 was an outside attack on our country and was terrible. 11/3 was an inside attack on everything our country stands for and should be, it will have been far worse historically."
George Will, writing for the Washington Post:

On election night on public television -- your tax dollars at work -- Bill Moyers said: ``I think if Kerry were to win this in a -- in a tight race, I think there'd be an effort to mount a coup, quite frankly. ... I mean that the right wing is not going to accept it.'' Moyers, the emblematic face of public television, is an intellectual icon in the sort of deep blue precincts that think red America is paranoid.
From what I read elsewhere, the commentators on PBS actually discussed seriously how "the right" might very realistically attempt a coup d'etat if they lost the election.