Please vote for the Democrats
October 8th, 2008 by 
Ellen
You know how they talk about that camel, and the proverbial straw?
Well, this is a god-damn haystack.
Enough already. This is all getting scary–and we don’t need scary, with everything else that’s going on in the world.
The Democratic ticket may, in my opinion, err on the side of being ineffective leaders and disturbingly prone to opportunistic political expediency, but as long as they don’t continue to fall prey to the many wrong-headed calls for them to “take off the gloves” and “counter-punch” and stoop to endless “he said! she said!” invective and so forth, that is very different from the Republican ticket, both members of which increasingly seem to be extremely dangerous, and have always been inclined to be mean.
For a lot of people, this may not be a vote they make with wild enthusiasm and starry-eyed optimism (and for those lucky people for whom it will feel that way, do me a favor and don’t bother lecturing me about it endlessly or making smug, Kool-Aid driven comments, afterwards), but really, how many Presidential votes actually do fall into that category? From national campaigns to local referendums, I have probably voted at least a hundred times in my life, maybe more (yes, I even show up for the local judicial elections), and I can think of only two occasions when casting my little vote made me genuinely happy. Well, three times, if I count my first vote, which wasn’t for someone I strongly supported, but hey, I was voting, in an actual booth, at a real, live polling place–and that was pretty cool all by itself.
This is America, and people should cast any vote which makes sense to them, but I just wanted to make it very clear that even if, like me, you find yourself in “which one is the lesser of two evils?” territory, it is my very strong opinion that voting a Democratic slate is the way to go this time. Straight up and down the ticket.
It is very disappointing that after this horrible, interminable, often ugly election season, I can’t ever imagine enjoying politics the way that I once did–but, a vote is still a vote; nay, an inalienable right!–and I wanted to make it very clear where mine is going this year.
Posted in Politics, Website Admin |
October 8th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I couldn’t agree more.
Back in the Democratic primary, I was genuinely excited about this election and liked all three main candidates. Now I’m just so sick of the goddamn thing I can’t wait for it to be over.
My vote is clear (and yes, it’s for Obama), but this is what gets me. People are terrified about the economic meltdown. Friends and family members, perfectly rational, not panic-prone people, are thinking about pulling out all their money and buying gold or seriously making plans on what to do in case we enter Depression 2.0. And last night during the debate, neither candidate could get past the frickin’ talking points and show some leadership and really address what’s going on.
Sarah Vowell on The Daily Show last night said she was so desperate for some words of wisdom during this whole thing that she’d taken to reading FDR’s fireside chats. I’m with her. We need a leader, and we aren’t getting one, and what the Republicans are trying to do to distract us is downright shameful.
October 8th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
And the Democrats are wasting time pounding Sarah Palin–who would best be handled by simply ignoring her. (and, possibly, chuckling.)
Alas, I agree–there is not a leader anywhere in sight right now.
But, at least, if Senator Obama wins, the Supreme Court should be relatively safe.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Ellen, I know just how you feel. I believe I may once have been excited to cast my vote (I was newly 18, and starry-eyed, and voted for Reagan in ‘84 — yeesh).
Now, however, it is a chore. A chore made more onerous by the loathsome choices we’re invariably given. McCain may once have had some integrity, but in pursuit of the White House he’s changed himself into an ill-tempered, impatient clone of Bush with none of Bush’s amiable, lunkhead charm, who has demonstrated that he’s more than willing to use lies to win the Presidency.
And Obama is no prize either. He’ll have my vote, but I may hold my nose as I ink the circle for the man who turned his coat and cheerfully sold the country down the river when he voted to grant the telecoms perpetual immunity for assisting the White House’s illegal spying activities.
At least there’s light on the horizon. The economic meltdown, combined with the worst running mate anyone can remember, plus the media finally waking up and vetting his campaign, have put McCain in a deep hole. I don’t know if you’ve been to the fantastic web site http://www.fivethirtyeight.com (run by one of the founders of Baseball Prospectus, and using similar statistical modeling to study polling data) has Obama currently winning about 90% of the time.
Absent some more dirty tricks by the GOP, or enough poor people being removed from the voting rolls in close states, that’s good news as far as I’m concerned.
Go Sox!
October 14th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I wish I could believe that this will all come to a close by Nov. 5th but given the new info surfacing daily about ACORN’s tactics–which may have been well-meaning but are simply idiotic–I suspect we’re in for a long ride. States that come down to a handful of votes will be contested by either side, and I have a feeling both sides will have good REASON to contest votes in more than a few states.
I wish to God one of these men would demonstrate some solid leadership, whether I agreed with it or not. It would just be so nice to think one of them had the balls to steer the ship but I haven’t seen that from either side in months. Though I bet Sarah Palin will be formidable in 2012 one way or the other, she’s looking and sounding more like Reagan 2.0 every day and the left will be foolish to think that’s not going to be effective this year or in the near-enough future…
October 15th, 2008 at 6:22 am
I actually worked for ACORN briefly, back in the day, as well as PIRG. (along with most of the people I knew at school.) I was a lot more impressed by the idea of Obama as a community organizer–until I found out it was with the likes of ACORN. That was where you got a job–they hired _everyone_, no questions asked–to make some pay-the-rent cash, until you found something real to do. I didn’t last long, because it was poorly run, and even then, clearly not an ethical group.
October 17th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Last time out, weren’t Republicans accused of doing these voter registration drives and then tossing Democratic registrations into the trash, so that when people turned up to vote, they found they weren’t actually registered?
I’m all for voter registration drives, but it seems like there needs to be more oversight. Monitors, or something? The idea of trusting citizens turning over their unverified personal information to random people unconnected with the government who can then do who-knows-what with it is not so appealing.