six more days
October 29th, 2008 | Uncategorized
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXZBQNHzGaE[/youtube]
I’m listening to Obama’s infomercial. Whatever he’s selling, I’m buying.
How’s everybody doing? God, I need some Tums.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXZBQNHzGaE[/youtube]
I’m listening to Obama’s infomercial. Whatever he’s selling, I’m buying.
How’s everybody doing? God, I need some Tums.
99 Responses to “six more days”
I just want to hit a fast-forward button to next Tuesday. Then my Ph.D prelims would be over and I could commence getting either really euphoric or rrrreeeallly depressed.
Are all of you out there doing your patriotic duty, i.e. not just voting for Hopey but helping someone else to the polls? Oh, and here’s a bit of cheer for you all- McCain is tied with Obama- IN ARIZONA! Hyuk!
http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/election08/articles/2008/10/29/20081029asupoll1029.html
Here in South Carolina, things are looking far bluer than I’d have supposed. Let’s hope all those college kids and the folks with multiple jobs (there’s alot of that in my coastal Congressional District) show up at the polls. It’s the only way… Even the rednecks and crackers are sick of the family values candidates. Who knew?
The skinny around these parts is that Newt is already doing fundraisers for the GOP nomination for 2012. So on that note, when you get your Tums, pass ’em this way.
i just mailed another hundred bucks to the obama campaign.
this sunday my neighbor and i went to a calling party for moveon.org. we called people in indiana asking them if they would be willing to go knock on people’s doors this weekend. it was a little nerve wracking at first, but between all of us there, we got 25 people to agree to do it! indiana is a swing state so it was an important mission.
i just finished reading curtis sittenfeld’s new book, american wife, which she based on laura bush. quite a cathartic read — the first lady is secretly pro choice and anti war.
so’s the mother-in-law
Yup, making hundreds of calls to NH, calling local vols to get em out to swing states, addressing postcards (from folks around the country) to… Ohio. What a country: At the local HQ you can either 1. call a swing state, 2. write to a swing state, or 3. organize others to go to a swing state. It ain’t easy being blue.
Anyways, all this frenzied Obama activity keeps me from angsting too much. Guess I’m feeling cautiously optimistic? But as Michael Moore said, if you could rely on the polls, we’d be voting next week for Hillary Clinton or Rudolph Giuliani (per last year’s polls re: the primaries). So Keep. It. Up. ~Agitate!
ps Good luck DLdL on those PhD. prelims and gracias cybercita for putting money into the cause.
Ugh, I need to cut myself off from political blogs before I go insane. Does anyone here frequent fivethirtyeight.com? They have some really interesting polling statistics that look both accurate and encouraging towards Obama.
I’m feeling alternately hopeful and excited that we might actually get a President Obama, and terrified that we won’t. I’m afraid the GOP’s dirty voter suppression tactics might work, and that they’ll steal the election like in 2000. Trying to not succumb to fear.
I’ve been addicted to Rachel Maddow – the next best commentator after Mo and Clarice and the gang. Sigh. I wish I could hear what the conversations around the Ginger-Sparrow-Stuart-Lois household are like these days. And I’m sure Sydney would have some choice words about Palin, in her cute academic way.
Anyone want to do some fan fic about Lois and Rachel Maddow? Now that would be a fun read…
I’m going door knocking for Get Out the Vote on Sunday.
Jennette
Yes, I’m addicted to fivethirtyeight.com. They still show Hopey winning the election with a probability of over 95%.
I also like their “on the road” series. Very encouraging stories about the “ground game”.
I’m too freaked out over the possibility that State Prop 8 (anti equal marriage rights) will pass to enjoy the possibility of the first non stolen election since 2000.
However, I guess they could still steal it 🙁
Sorry to be a bummer, guess I’m just on edge.
When did we start calling him Hopey? I like it. All I can think of is the Hernandez bros “Love and Rockets”, which after all these years still kicks major butt.
Please someone tell me that if they steal this election too that this time we really will riot in the streets. All of us I mean.
Urgh, please share the tums AB.
This is better than Tums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzyT9-9lUyE&feature=related
Us Brits get confused by the colours – here red is left, blue is right. How did red get to be right when the Red Flag was there first?
Rachel Maddow is really excellent. I usually hate political shows, but I first heard about her on this blog and then I read about her in the NY Times and so now I have been watching her show….what an awesome b.s. detector she is, as well as a terrific broadcaster. Her show is very very well done.
yes, I agree that Sydney may be looking over the tops of her glasses as Gov. Palin…much to the annoyance of all….fun to imagine….
Pam I (“Pam the First?”) asks:
Us Brits get confused by the colours – here red is left, blue is right. How did red get to be right when the Red Flag was there first?
I don’t know the answer, but my assumption has been that this labelling was used precisely because “the Red Flag was there first”.
That is, I imagined the reasoning going like the following:
— We have to use the colors Red, White and Blue.
— Labeling either party as the “White Party” is obviously problematic, so we’re left with Red and Blue.
— Red has other associations. So, all told, it’s probably safer to label the Republicans with Red (after all, no one’s going to assume that we’re accusing them of being commies).
(As I say, this all conjecture. If anyone has a more authoritative answer I’ll gladly be corrected.)
Pam I: I think the Republicans became identified with the color red in the 5-week aftermath of the year 2000 presidential election. Each election, the television networks have to pick a map color for each major party. Red and blue show up well, although gold is sometimes used for a strong independent party by the American networks (and, isn’t gold the Liberal Democrat color in Britain?). Anyway, the major networks all just happened on the same color scheme for the 2000 election: red for Republicans, blue for Democrats (blue, ironically enough, the color of the Conservatives in both Britain and Canada). After all the coverage of the disputed presidential election in Florida following the election, the colors must have lodged themselves in the public imagination. However, I can remember that in the 1972 presidential election, CBS used red for George McGovern, the Democratic party candidate, and light blue for Richard Nixon, the Republican party candidate. I was a poll-watcher for McGovern that year, and I was also one of the 18 year-olds who was getting to cast a ballot for the first time after a constitutional amendment lowering the national voting age from 21.
Oh, Salon (the on-line magazine) has an article about women television anchors, including Rachel Maddow. The article is entitled “Ladies of the Nightly News” (!), although I notice that the web address says women, not ladies. Here’s the link (haven’t read the article yet, myself):
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/10/30/nightly_newswomen/
I have this horrible, horrible scenario going through my mind:
Some blow-dried talking head on one of the networks: “And the results are simply too close to call in the final state needed to hand the election to one of the two candidates. Of course, coupled to the states that have automatically gone into recount mode because the tallies were so close to each other, and the other challenges due to defective voting apparatus, we won’t know the results until the Supreme Court decides for us in about a month.”
But if McCain wins (or the election is stolen for him by the Republican apparatus), I’m moving to Canada.
I watched part of the Obama Infomercial before breaking down in tears, then tried to watch The Monster Squad to relax but the Frankenstein monster got me weepy, and finally, finally realized the anxiety caused by this election is going to keep me from normal daily activity until it’s over. Perhaps I’m a pessimist, or just afraid to hope for some good things, but I vividly remember being in Boston four years ago where we all waited for the results of the election, and everything was set up – a stage and musicians and speakers – but there was a horrible feeling of doom looming over the crowd… Am I scarred for life?
Rachel Maddow is awesome. Her wit and brilliance and gorgeousness (or my pointing this out too often I’m thinking) has made my girlfriend just a tad jealous.
The New York Times did a good story speculating about how the United States came to use the red state/blue state nomenclature.
Hey June!
How do you like that? The Times stole my answer!!
And they had the nerve to do it four years before I thought of it!
NLC, your intuitive answer was just as correct as the NYT’s researched one.
It always confuses me. I always remember going to protests when I was at university in England, and one university always having to make a PA announcement that there was no political significance in their banner being blue!
And to come back to the topic of this thread:
My “This Day in History” source points out that today is Grace Slick’s 69th birthday.
What say we all get together and get Grace a new administration? Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise?
“And the pols the GOP gives, don’t do anything at all…”
Pah. Once again the Mercans have to go against the global norm.
And why don’t you get real and start driving on thr left too?
This made me laugh:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Kg-K7em20
A reporter goes into character in Worlds of Warcraft and interviews players about the candidates, how they would fair as characters in WOW and how the vote would go in that “state.”
Very clever.
Saw Ani Difranco last night, and it reminded me how bad Bush was for the world. I know i am probably preaching to the converted on here, but please vote. I don’t trust the polls even though they look good for Obama. If you are in the UK C4 are showing the Emmy award wining Recount this Saturday.
Ready2Agitate, thanks for the luck! Jen in California, I got the hook “Hopey” from Wonkette (If I didn’t go there to laugh at what was going on, I’d just be crying all the time,) but I’m a big fan of Los Bros Hernandez, so the name appealed to me for that reason too. And to Alex the Bold and everybody else, keep this in mind: while I was blearily starring at fivethirtyeight.com last night, I read a projection that pointed out that all the Kerry states are safe, and so is Iowa. That brings Obama to 259 electoral votes right there. So as soon as they call it for Virginia after the polls close at seven, and if they call it for Obama, the election will be over by 8:00. Neat, huh?
Oooh, how was Ani? It’s been years. I just saw Billy Bragg (he’s touring w/Iraq Vets Against the War). And he asserted that we need to be prepared for the END of American Exceptionalism. First to go? Our confused-backward red/blue configuation (next, our misnomer “football,” — but in all seriousness, no more unilateral wars). Anyhoo, thx AB for kicking off this conversation. Let’s Get Out the Vote!
A woman at an event last night said to me, “Obama Obreezy” — guess it’s a nickname in her African American community….
Kerry won NH by 1% in 2004 — only 9,000 votes — NH is NOT NOT NOT safe! McCain is VERY popular there!
Massachusetts-bloggers, Get Out the Vote! Go to tinyurl.com/MASSGOTV.
NH has only a few electoral votes, albeit, but had Al Gore won in 2000 (he lost by only 1% — 7,500 votes), we would NOT have had George W.! NONE of those swing states are safe – don’t let your guard down!
R – did you catch Ani de F on Woman’s Hour this morning? It may be possible for non-uk readeres to Listen Again here http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_44_thu.shtml but i think they block access from outside UK, as you lot are not paying the BBC licence fee.
WH was presented today by Clare Balding, Out Lesbian. First time I’ve heard her there. She’s a sports specialist. so this is (to me) a major leap in prestige for her.
I just voted this morning. Heard on the news last night that 38% of registered voters in Austin had already voted as of yesterday. That seems crazy to me…there’s never been this huge push to vote early before. But I’m busy on election day, so I didn’t want to end up waiting in line.
Nov. 4 is also my birthday, so I’m hoping for an Obama win for my present. My wife and I have a good bottle of wine saved that we’re planning to break out and share with a few friends to celebrate.
NPR was speculating last night about the possible pathway to a 269 to 269 Electoral College tie. Heaven help us!
here in the UK my 16 year old, after long discussions about the candidates has been a supporter of Obamas for the last few months.
he has been right about the European cup (football) winners and who would win wimbledon, so he could be on a roll.
erg.
I am curling up around myself, hoping (love Hopey!) and terrified. Please, let this be the time that things actually change.
jen, I will riot with you. My daughter and I will be in the streets screaming if Old Asshole wins. ‘Cause it will be stolen if he does.
Sorry, rotten sentence structure and inability to spell are symptomatic of intense anxiety.
Off to find fivethirtyeight.com
In all the excitement and worries about Obama (I’m expecting the Repubs to steal it, and hope to be happily surprised), don’t forget the down-ballot races. The other day I heard a co-worker say that if the networks call the presidential race before our polls close, it hardly seems worth voting since it’s decided already. I reminded her that even if the presidency is decided before 8:00 Pacific Time, the governorship will not be. The governor’s race in Washington is in a dead heat, and there are other close local issues as well. Be sure to remind any apathetic friends that more than the presidency will be decided next week.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith Will Cuppy: Nero did not fiddle while Rome burned because the violin had not yet been invented. He played the lyre and sang of the Fall of Troy.
… good to read everyone…..this world seems such a hard place… don’t people find that?
the news from the Eastern COngo today…. why do i feel a lifetime of these images, this kind of news, and our personal histories saturated with it too…. what are we as a species??
anyway, surely we are ready for a new leadership, a vision, a spirit of change?? surely we are deserving of that….
and the thought of moving back to the States with Obama as president just fills me with a thrill….
crossed fingers for next tuesday, day after my birthday, i want no other celebrations or gifts…..:-))) crossed fingers for next wednesday morning UK time…
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it’s time for you and me
Got a revolution Got to revolution
Come on now we’re marching to the sea
Got a revolution Got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of America!
Ready2Agitate, it’s true that we can’t let our guard down anywhere, but New Hampshire is only a swing state in John McCain’s imagination. Uncle Barry has been creaming him there for weeks- to to http://www.electoral-vote.com, and you will see NH is finally in the “strong Democrat” column, with Obama polling at 7 points ahead. The projections for NH on fivethirtyeight are even better. I too am worried about Republican theft at the polls, but just because McCain’s cabal keep calling New Hampshire and Pennsylvania “swing states” doesn’t make it so.
DeLandDeLakes, about the election being over at 8 p.m.
I won’t consider it over until Obama’s sworn in. Because if there’s one thing that has never failed to disappoint, it is the neo-con ability to lie, cheat and steal to get their way.
I am bracing myself for court challenges, legal papers delivered by process servers at 2 in the morning, Bush declaring martial law and ordering anyone who votes Democrat to be shot on sight, witch burnings, crucifixions, etc.
Interesting discussion as usual.
Tomorrow I’m off to Trick or Vote here in the People’s Republic of Portland,reminding people to turn in their ballots (all elections are vote by mail here in Oregon). It’s part of a national effort designed esp.to get out new young voters. The idea is that people are already primed to answer their doors on Halloween. What a concept!
And we get to party afterwards! Sure beats phonebanking;I burned out on that in the 80s.
Trickorvote.org
Speaking of Rachel Maddow, I have just learned that Obama will be on her show tonight! The screen will overflow with charisma!
Ani was awesome, thanks for the heads up on Ani on women’s hour. OBAMA ON MADDOW..omg!! Loving the board.
I’m buying too! Though what a dyke conundrum – do I want my free pass for MyBO or Maddow? It’s a horse race.
Obama is in Columbia, Mo right now for a 9:30pm speech. Several of my students are attending.
You have to get 270 or more Electoral College votes to win don’t you? (I’m gradually working your system out). Most polls appear to have Obama on more than that, but to use a truism, a week is a very long time in politics!
I’m biting my nails off here, 3,000 miles away. Goodness only knows what it must be like over the ‘pond’!
I’m not as scared this year as I was four years ago. Remember “free speech zones”? It seemed the U.S. were much closer to totalitarian rule then than now.
I received my copy of your new book yesterday. It lightened my mood considerably, I must say. The original pre-order ship date was supposed to be 11/12 (meant to be a b’day present to myself) so I was quite pleasantly surprised to receive it early.
It’s a heavyweight tome and I’m loving it all over…ooh, a brand spanking new hardcover DTWOF book!! It smells like a new book smells, you know? Yes, it’s love…
It’s 270 electoral votes to win. To pull this off, Hundred-Year John would have to win in every state where he’s even vaguely competitive. I don’t see it happening.
The risk of Republican shenanigans is high, but it would take a coordinated effort in a dozen states to engineer a victory. This year, they’re nowhere near that coordinated.
I am going to make my local returns viewing gathering into an Alice Paul party. http://www.alicepaul.org/
And then I am going to (fantasize about) throw (ing) bricks into windows if the worst transpires. Emmeline Pankhurst here I come.
My girlfriend says I can’t write that, Homeland Security will get me. She also says Obama is going to win. She is however a 15th (or something) generation Boston-born democrat.
I hope she’s right.
am i the only one leaning towards cynthia mckinney? and no, it’s not only ‘cuz she’s a woman. NOTHING could have made me vote for either Clinton. and no, it’s not cuz she’s a green; i didn’t vote for ralph. it’s ‘cuz she seems to be the best of the available options. which is what this thing is supposed to be about, no?
I suppose it falls to me, again, to be a somewhat dissenting voice. Could we please tone down the “stealing the election” rhetoric a bit? The vast majority of Republicans are just like the vast majority of Democrats: they respect the electoral process, and would no more steal an election than their friends on the other side would. There are plenty of historical examples of electoral jiggery-pokery on both sides of the aisle, and I do agree that the obvious problems have been more prominent on the Republican side, but I suspect that’s a situational thing. (I’ll also say that as a more-or-less unbiased outsider I’m much more unhappy with Ohio in 2004, where the evidence of malpractice seems to me more convincing, than I am with Florida in 2000.) But to spend a lot of time imagining that your opponents are all crooks is unwise: first, democratic societies rely on a basic degree of trust between political rivals, and if you lose that you will quickly lose your democracy; second, it’s probably not true. As for planning to riot if you don’t get the result you want, that’s what happens in non-democracies. By all means, check the results carefully and dispute them if necessary, but stick within the democratic process. There are crooks on both sides, but they are a tiny minority, and there are extremists on both sides (and this election is certainly bringing out some very stupid and unpleasant people – we’ve all seen the YouTube videos), but they are a tiny minority. Please, let’s respect our political rivals, and win by clear, reasoned argument. The voters on the other side are our friends and families, and although they disagree with us they are doing their best, and, like everyone here, are making their voting decisions as best they can, with honest hearts and minds. We may think they’re wrong, and they may actually be wrong, but let’s respect them. We all have to live together in peace after election day.
Hello bean–My compromise:I voted (mail-in ballots in OR)for Obama,progressive local Democrats,and several of the Green Party candidates for local and state offices when they had the best candidate.While Obama’s latest infomercial was very moving,he didn’t focus on,as McKinney’s music video did,on people such as dislocated Katrina survivors & others in the underclass. She also gave a strong message for peace & mentioned Sojourner Truth and her sisters/brothers at the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848.
London Boy–
Do you know about the Diebold voting machines?
Those who might think about moving to Canada if McCain wins, think again. We just had a conservative government–the most anti-democratic, regressive government in probably a century returned to power by peddling out-and-out lies about their opponents.
I, too, wish we had Mo and all her friend commenting on this one. As I was doing my bedtime reading last night–“Unnatural Dykes to Watch Out For”–I saw in the culminating sequence Clarice describing Mo’s apathy concerning the election that brought Ronald Reagan to power: “Why bother? The whole system is corrupt. And besides, Reagan’s not gonna win! Can you imagine? We’d be the laughingstock of the whole world!” Take nothing for granted!
But good old Mo, always ready to find the leaden lining in every ray of sunshine, would probably advise us to be careful what we wish for. When Obama comes to power, the expectations are just insanely high for him. Expect some disappointment.
>>Sure beats phonebanking;I burned out on that in the 80s.
Ah but it does bring back memories from back in the day, Feminista!
What’s changed:
cell phones! you catch people in the middle of their workday, in a restaurant, or en route to the train! And pple can see your phone number before they pick up! – and will just let it go to voicemail if they don’t want to talk (and block calls from blocked ID’s). And they call you back!
What’s the same:
people are people. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of calls ~ some folks are kind, some are not. Some are respectful, some aren’t. Older folks seem to want to talk longer. Younger folks sound, well, younger and speak their own language/slang. Really, it’s been fun. (guess I have a knack, anyway…)
ps I am NOT NOT NOT letting down for ONE SINGLE SECOND. I am not watching polls, I am not listening to the news. I am working on this till it’s over.
ps Thanks for the Cynthia McKinney reminder. Really need to check her out further.
LondonBoy– Bravo.
can we just write Rachel Maddow in…? I mean for president.
The 1992 election in the UK was meant to be a walk-in for the Labour Party, all the polls were massively in that camp, cabinets had been sketched in – then whammo, another five years of Tory rule. And NO-ONE would admit to voting conservative.
Lying to pollsters is useful too – I was called and I lied. If majority polled say they’re for Obama now, so you all relax ….. need I go on?
@LondonBoy: “Honest hearts and minds”? Oh dear. Religious fundamentalism is based on willed ignorance. Eyelids glued shut, fingers in ears, la la la la la God created the world six thousand years ago… You want us to respect persons who reject the evidence for evolution? To accept “I’m Proud to be an Ignoramus” dysintellection as honest? To say “You may be right” to someone who states that Sarah Palin is qualified for the Presidency?
Once again, oh dear. I can’t follow you down that road, mate.
—
The tedium of my flight yesterday from London to San Francisco (we are to marry before Proposition 8 is approved – ceremony today), ten blinking hours next to a loo that had packed up smellily, was relieved by my discovery in the book-review column of a comparison of Posy Simmonds’ cartooning style to **drumroll** AB. Ma’am, you are now a benchmark!
—
Yes, I checked “dysintellection” against Google. No, it’s not a recognised word. But what the heck. Everything starts somewhere. And I can’t come up with another one-word term for thought processes that can be viewed as coherent only in that they cohere around an unrelenting refusal to entertain fact. OED editors: You read it here first.
AB writes:
How’s everybody doing? God, I need some Tums.
Two suggestions:
1] Relax. No doubt there are morons out there, but let’s keeps some faith in folks’ common sense.
2] Look over the “Appearances” page. That’s a very interesting November you’ve got lined up there. Think of it as a post-election victory lap of the country.
Brief responses…
Ellen O.: Yes, I do know about the problems with Diebold, but that doesn’t change my basic position.
Alex K.: By golly, yes, I do want you to respect people who reject evolution, because I want and hope that you respect everyone. By all means disagree with them, debate with them, try to persuade them, but do all those from a position of respect. It seems to me that we are all on this planet doing the best we can, given our particular personal circumstances, and the variations in what we do and believe arise out of the fact that we all start at different places, and each travel a different journey. I can (and do) dislike some people, or think they’re thick as bricks, or view them as criminals, but I can also see that they’re engaged in the same struggle I am, every day: to make sense of a complicated world, to try to find my place in it, and to do things that help me and my family and friends to survive and prosper. I’m doing the best I can, and I hope that others can see and respect that. How can I not treat them as I would wish to be treated ?
Well, speaking of dysintellection — that was the NEW YORKER in whose book-review column I saw that comparison. Sorry to have left that out.
@LondonBoy: I can love people who reject evolution, and I can cherish them. Indeed, I do both. But the love, etc., that I can extend are not extended with respect.
They may be as loveable as a black Labrador puppy. The puppy, however, never chose to be stupid.
Unlike you, and unlike – I hope – me, people who reject evolution (with “reject evolution” as shorthand for “preferring to take someone else’s word on X”, as with “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it” ) are NOT, in my opinion, “doing the best [they] can…to make sense of a complicated world”. They have turned their backs on observation and judgement. That’s not doing their best.
Of possible application: “Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
“And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
“His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
“Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
“Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
“For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
“And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
It was, after all, the man who buried his talents, viz. intellection, rather than making use of them, whom the master punished.
“The Bible sez it – I believes it – an’ that settles it!”
Amazing what one can find in that book, eh?
@LondonBoy
I can certainly respect a request that we not say “all republicans” as though every person who voted republican was the same, had the same values, or all did bad things. There are corrupt Democrats (and liberals and green party people) as well, and its never us vs them.
However, even though I agree with your characterization LondonBoy that crooks “are only a tiny minority” of the Republican party as a whole, it doesn’t take more than a tiny minority to steal an election.
IMHO we have already had two elections actually stolen, (2000 through voter suppression, recount shennanigans, and Supreme Court abuse of power), (2004 through voter suppression, fearmongering, and Diebold). Since it is something that has happened, I feel free to bring it up in clear reasoned argument as to why I believe the current version of Republican leadership should be rejected. Since McCain is using those same people in his campaign now, I believe it is perfectly appropriate to use as an argument against a McCain leadership.
Loving my neighbor does not mean allowing them to steal my right to representation. I’m not going to demonize McCain, or other Republicans that I respect. I had a lot of support for many things he did as a senator. When he goes back to being that McCain, and rejects working with the Karl Rove crowd, he’ll have my respect again.
Yes, we have to have a basic degree of trust against political rivals (and respect too), but just like an abusive relationship, if one party acts in a way to break that trust (especially if its violent and nasty), the other person has to stop trusting in order to protect themselves.
And, to finally bring it back on topic, who remembers that great DTWOF where Sparrow compares the Bush Admin to an abusive boyfriend? I’m sure that must have influenced my analogy.
Bean-
To answer your question honestly (and I am trying to do so respectfully as well)- no, voting for the best available option, when that option is from a party as small, marginal and unorganized as McKinney’s, is frankly not what the American electoral system is about. Your best chance at ever being able to make a third-party vote make a difference is to work to abolish the electoral college. The whole system is set up so that third party candidates fundamentally cannot be competitive unless they are billionaire lunatics with money to burn, a’ la Ross Perot. Unless the entire electoral system is changed, a vote for a candidate from the Green Party, Constitution Party, etc. etc. will never be anything more than a fruitless symbolic gesture.
Mazel tov to Alex K. on your marriage. May you have many wonderful years together!
deland,
this is the first time i’ve registered and considered voting in about twenty years. usually, i subscribe to the “don’t vote, it only encourages them” philosophy.
i’m not sure i actually will vote for mckinney. i might not vote for anyone, or i may write in vermin supreme: http://www.verminsupreme.com/
but here in massachusetts, where i’ve recently moved, there’s a question about changing charges for marijuana possession from criminal to civil charges resulting in civil rather than criminal penalties. (i.e. you’d get a parking ticket for possession.) it’s not that i’m a pothead; i’m a prison abolitionist. so that, at least, seems worth voting for.
For those of you who weren’t following the “on the road” series at fivethirtyeight, today they have a nice summary.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/big-empty.html
This makes me very optimistic. And it’s hard to imagine how a campaign that can’t get its ground game together would have the wherewithal to orchestrate massive fraud across the whole nation.
You trust Diebold with your money (they make most of your banking machines, don’t they?), so why not with your vote? 🙂
Omigod. I’m having conniption fits. I’m having to really sit on my hands here to try and stay respectful. “Don’t vote, it only encourages them”??????
If you participate in society AT ALL (and I guess you do, you have internet access), it’s your friggin’ DUTY to vote. (I’ll spare you the other fifteen paragraphs of my rant.)
Now that the beautiful hardcover “Essential” will introduce the masses to DTWOF, a continuation of the comic strip will be less of a marginal business than it used to be. So I’m looking forward to A.B.’s next graphic novel being about Mo et al. 😉
Do those of you who believe that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen by the Republicans accept that the country is split pretty much 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats?
I think elections in this country are decided by a very few people who potentially change their votes every four years. Those of us who always vote one way or the other are pretty much of no interest to politicians before, during, or after general electoral campaigns. (Obviously they’re important during primary season.)
Bean, I think that given the situation you have described in Massachusetts, your vote could prove very important. This is a good thing for everyone to think about- don’t think about sitting this one out just because you live in a solidly blue state, because Democratic candidates for the Senate and the House of Representatives desperately need the votes- we have to build a coalition of politicians to help out Hopey. Then there are ballot initiatives like Proposition 8, which we need to work to defeat.
Hey there, I’m a Boston undergrad writing a paper on “Fun Home.” In the course of doing research, I came across the below video on YouTube of somebody’s class project. Have you seen it? What’s your reaction?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxg4UvKc2rs
I think the reason so many people are voting early is because they simply want this over with. And by voting early, there’s a tiny bit of relief. (Tum, tum, tum, tum).
As to McKinney. Without bringing politics into this political discussion, I think the reality of it is like this:
Until the Republicans are gone (if this election goes to Obama, it’s quite possible their party will fracture to the point of not being able to reconstitute) it’ll be Dems v. Republicans.
A.R. (After Republicans), the Democratic Party will shift a little more to the right. The Greens will end up being the Left’s preferred party.
Republicans ———– Democrats
—–Democrats —————Greens
The illustration (above, such as it is) shows what I mean. The entire population will continue to shift a little more toward liberal attitudes (example: 30 years ago, gay marriage? Are you nuts? Now, it’s much closer to reality).
Another thing to keep in mind, when political parties collapse, they tend to offer up worse and worse candidates. Sarah Palin isn’t just a case of being “not my cup of tea.” She is — at the very core of the matter — simply not capable of doing the job.
If Bush was Reagan without the stage skills, Palin is Bush without the oratory ability. I can’t imagine who’ll they dig up out of the woodwork next: A bedwetting serial killer?
To all of you vote resisters: I wouldn’t have a problem with you if it was only your own country you were bringing down with your non-voting shenanigans. Unfortunately, much is at stake for us outside the USA. So please take some responsibility. The whole world is watching, and we are depending on each and every one of you.
Londonboy: I don’t know why you think concerns about stolen elections are “rhetoric” given what happened in Florida (and all around the U.S.) in 2000 and in Ohio (and all around the U.S.) in 2004.
You wrote, “The vast majority of Republicans are just like the vast majority of Democrats: they respect the electoral process.” That’s beside the point. Even if only 5% of Republicans are not respectful and are powerful enough, that’s all it takes. It’s not about respecting the majority; it’s about dismantling the illegal and immoral acts of the few that steal (yup, steal), votes from the Democrats.
This American Life did a good piece on this in 2004. I think you might find it enlightening.
Sigh. There are perfectly reasonable concerns about many elections in the USA and elsewhere; as I said above, I have concerns about 2004 and 2000 (though I also have concerns about many other elections, including, notably, 1960 and 1948, both Democratic wins). As I remark above, the 2004 election seems to me much more dubious than the 2000 one, though I entirely understand that the 2000 election looks superficially worse, because the questionable parts of the process are more obvious to the casual observer. (In general both seem to me to be in the lowest quartile of overall fraudulence amongst (say) elections in the G7 since WW2: there is nothing even of the same order of magnitude as virtually any Italian election, nothing to compare with France in 1981 or 2002, numerous Land elections in Germany (particularly Bavaria), or the UK in 1945). However, I feel that little is gained by simply shouting “fraud” whenever the person you voted for lost. As CPO points out above, the United States was very evenly split in the last two elections, so it isn’t entirely surprising that the winning margins have been small. I do strongly feel, though, that more is to be gained by treating all participants in the political process as you would like to be treated.
Unfortunately, it seems to me that there’s not much point in trying to encourage a generally moderate stance round here. Oh well, I understand that emotions are running high, and I’ve been around long enough to recognise hysteria when I see it. I imagine everyone will calm down after the election. In the meantime, please try not to demonise your opponents too much.
@Ready2Agitate: Thank you very, very much!
We are indeed now married. It was scary, and fun, and I got a bit wrought up. Pair after pair of **OHMYGHOD THEY ARE SO THREE-DOLLAR-BILL QUEER** and **BIGGEST LESBOES EVER** (the question of how to spell the plural of “lesbo” without pulling a Dan Quayle has taken thirty seconds of my life that I’ll never have again) were milling about the county clerk’s office, filling in forms and being ushered into a little room draped in marital organza to speak their vows. Some people made proud and happy eye contact and engaged other couples in conversation. Others behaved as if they were waiting for the double-buttock injections at the clap clinic. I understand each group perfectly, because my response to the idea of being m*rr**d is a mixture of joy and embarrassed denial.
It may last only till Tuesday, but it’s wicked good transgressive fun being on a par with Sarah Palin and the First Dude.
In other news, I’ve seen Rachel M for the first time: Uninterruptedly sardonic, and that’s not good. One needs a bit of low-emotive newscasting in between ZOMG THIS IS SO STUPID I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT commentary. Or am I beside the point? Is she meant to be Jon Stewart? Hmmm. All that aside, however, she is hawt.
By the way: Apologies to everyone for vehemence on non-AB-related subjects that have nothing to do with AB’s blog. I felt, after posting, like a hijacker. Time to hold my tongue for as long as possible, I decided today. Thanks for forbearance and – I’ll try to do better.
@K.B. Bechdel’s next graphic memoir is “Love Life: A Case Study”. Unless you mean a fictional “graphic novel”, of which she has not written.
Looking forward to volunteering for Obama this weekend.
in SC
Awww, congratulations Alex K!
Happy Hallowe’en everyone! Just thought I’d share this fab pic someone did (no idea who – found it on another blog) of the Peanuts gang as the Watchmen. As ever, Snoopy is my favourite …
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2990112819_27e8bd0e6a_o.jpg
Empty volunteer offices?
All that says to me is that the Republican Party has gotten so arrogant that it’s not even going to _pretend_ to win fairly any more. Going through the motions of the democratic (such as it is) process is apparently no longer worth their time.
Why waste the energy? Stealing elections is so much easier.
To echo Anonymous, objecting to the illegal and immoral acts of the powerful few (that are celebrated or just unchallenged by the many) is not “demonising your opponents”.
@lakshmi, boston undergrad writing abt Fun Home, I thought that YouTube video was awful. Didn’t think it had anything to do w/Fun Home ‘cept for the closing scene where a truck’s headlights veer into & hit a poor chap in the street. How awful. Maybe the video-makers thought they were being cute, but I thought it was an insult to the memory of Alison’s dad (and can see why it has only gotten 97 views). (AB, don’t waste the 3:42… like I did!) 🙁
So yes, election tension is high. We are carping at each other? (carping? harping?) I am promising myself I won’t break my daily phonebanking regimen with Get Out the Vote.
Something encouraging is the anticipated high voter turnout. Could this really be a sea-change? How STRANGE it feels to be (somewhat) in the majority!!! (Can we handle it? What does Stu-Clarice-Mo-et.al. think, goshdarnit!)
Going to Indiana for door-knocking tomorrow! (Technically, today.) I would be with you on the tums only I have moved on to the harder antacids.
Go Andrea! Go tjb! Get Out The Vote! We can do this!!!
LBoy
The U.S. is not experiencing moderate times (to say the least), so this is not the time for a “moderate stance.” Do you really want a long list of the the horrendous things that have happened under the illegal Bush administration?
What you dismiss as “hysteria,” I call educating oneself and taking action.
Perhaps you could educate yourself more fully on lack of voting machines in poor neighborhoods that tend to vote Democratic, Republicans gathering voter registrations in shopping malls then throwing out the Democratic registration forms, etc. etc.
Maybe Democrats did throw elections in the past — are you suggesting that balances out things now? Perhaps other governments have crooked elections— does that mean that people in the U.S. should not be concerned if ours are crooked too?
Frankly, I don’t understand your reasoning.
Speaking of the New Yorker book review columns, did you see Alison mentioned this week as a favorable comparison to a graphic novel they were reviewing? (Can’t think of the book, though. It wasn’t that “Bat-manga” book.)
@lakshmi I’m with Ready2Agitate on this and one of the two posters on UTube, that video was pure crap. I’m not sure what you thought people here would think about it. What did you think about it? Do you think people are gay because they were molested?
@Alex K, I agree with you about Maddow. I didn’t really want to say anything about her but watching her last night I was wishing that she would calm down just a little. I’m sure she is just doing what her producers want her to do. Keith O. is becoming a parody of himself with his shouting and over the top rhetoric.
There’s a good review of “Essential DTWOF” on Salon today.
I voted yesterday and have never seen such a line at the election commissioner’s office, here in sleepy little Lincoln, Nebraska. Lucky I had gotten my ballot ahead of schedule and was just dropping it off. Local Democratic party has really stepped up during this election season, helpful emails, wingdings for rich and poor to join in the non-republican of it all.
Plus I also give a shoutout to Grace Slick–my birthday twin although I’m 12 years younger.
Hurry Tuesday, and on from there!
I’m door knocking in Minneapolis tomorrow for Get Out the Vote…
Also working for the Legacy referendum: making sure MN water, wildlife and Arts are funded. If people don’t vote yes, the state automatically considers it a no vote. So anyone thinking like bean better haul in to the polls.
Alex: CONGRATULATIONS! on your recent nuptials. Best wishes for your life together. And I always enjoy your posts – yours too, LondonBoy – no need to apologize. It’s the smart people on this blog that keep me coming back.
Speaking of interesting posters – have we heard from Maggie Jochild lately? Maybe I missed it, but I don’t think I’ve read anything from her in awhile.
Thanks to all,
Jennette
I’ve never seen the modern Reaganite Republicans at such a loss. I know they were worried months ago about the presidential and congressional elections, but it seems to me that when the financial crisis blossomed on September 25, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. At that point they seem to have become overwhelmed and lost the ability to respond intelligently to events. They seem to be on autopilot now, flailing out with tactics that have worked for them at the past, but with no sensitivity to the current situation, so that they’re incurring criticism even from other Republicans, while being rigidly unable to propose any economic solutions that differ one iota from Shrub’s economic agenda. Perceiving that their proposals for dealing with the economic crisis were electoral losers, they’ve tried using diversionary tactics that have worked in the past. Unfortunately for them, a majority of registered American voters think the economy is the most important issue these days and they haven’t been willing to chase the McCain campaign’s red herrings.
How funny that after 28 years of dominance within the Republican party they have no ability to show enough flexibility even to propose a few non-regressive economic measures as a temporary way of staying in the political game and not making the GOP irrelevant along with Reaganonomics.
Okay, _maybe_ I’m being too optimistic, but there seems to have been a change in how the electorate, including a fair number of grassroot Republicans, is looking at governmental involvement with the economy that I think spells trouble for the anti-regulation, anti-government spending, regressively taxing, anti-worker ideology of the conservative Republican establishment.
I do know that the McCain-Palin campaign seems to do one thing at one time, and then something different and contradictory. like the appeals to mass hatred and then telling the haters to cool it. Its operatives are already doing writeups that assume losing and that blame everyone else but themselves for causing the loss, while McCain-Palin campaign people are already sending out resumes, which is supposed to be unusual at that point in the game. And there is a conference planned by conservative leaders to take place only a few days after the election concerned with salvaging the Republican party. I don’t recall ever seeing this much pessimism, disarray and inability to function among the Republicans.
Oh, and there’s this:
Palin takes prank call from fake French president
By CHARMAINE NORONHA – 10 hours ago
TORONTO (AP) — Sarah Palin unwittingly took a prank call Saturday from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and telling her she would make a good president someday.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g6h1fK1yrnh6Tqp-SAGxAmFgDf1QD946GVF01
Caribou Barbie talks to the obviously fake French president for 6 minutes and NEVER FIGURES IT OUT. You can hear it on YouTube.
@ jbt, Maggie Jochild has her own blog at http://maggiesmetawatershed.blogspot.com/
She skims the web for goodies, always worth a look – and her own novel is appearing there too.
Congratulations, Alex K! So, what china pattern did you pick?
Posy Simmonds’ “Tamara Drewe”. How could I have forgotten it?
God, I loved Tamara Drewe!
Here’s a YouTube video called Hockey Momma For Obama:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh9BmNuqeiQ
And, here’s a detailed and disturbing link:
http://www.palinaspresident.us/
I’ve never rioted int he streets, but I’ve never felt closer.
re: election outcome, I’m actually hopeful this time that the election will be fair (count me among those who believe the 2000 and 2004 results are fraudulent. how interesting that in the ’04 election here in Ohio — and in other states, too — abnormalities were overwhelmingly in Bush’s favor. “abnormalities” is a euphemism; there were accounts of votes cast for Kerry showing for Bush in the results.) this time around, far more people are paying attention. the risk attached to messing with election results is much higher, and if there are problems with the election, I don’t believe the American public will just stand by and let them pass.
I’m sometimes worried that we’ll honestly elect John McCain on the strength of Sarah Palin’s charisma/sex appeal, but attribute that to the trauma I felt after hearing the ’04 results. still haven’t fully recovered from that! I’m hopeful that many of the new voters will vote for Obama/Biden and the support for voting this time around will get them to the polls. I also have concerns that McCain/Bush supporters may try to contest results if Obama wins, but believe that’s a crisis that Barack Obama is capable of handling.
re: red vs. blue, it seems to me that long before the 2000 election Republican yard signs were red and Democrat signs were blue. at least from the 70’s on? as I recall, green yardsigns appeared in 2000 because of Nader’s candidacy and green is used (in Ohio at least) by Democrat candidates who have more progressive positions. I thought it was interesting that Bush’s yard signs in ’04 and McCain’s this time around are a dark navy — it’s as though the Republicans are visually distancing themselves from their roots and are attempting to pass as Democrats!
I have a private theory that Republicans were represented by red because they’re associated with Tories (in my mind at least, so far as favoring the status quo) . . . the Tories sided with the British in the American Revolution, and the British were the “red coats.” since we have an international audience here, I want to say quickly that I don’t associate Republicans with contemporary British politics and am not drawing comparisons between 18th century and 20th/21st century England. it’s probably notnecessary to even say this, but many of us are feeling contentious just now and I don’t want to create any misunderstandings!