November, 2008 archive
Superbowl? 0
Someone I know wants me to mail her a copy of today’s paper.
The first four places I went, all the newspapers, local and imported, were sold out.
I would have expected that if the Iggles had won the Superbowl. Guess it says something about how people feel about this election.
At one place, I walked past an unhappy looking guy sitting in a pick-up. I could hear Rush Limbaugh’s dulcet tones through the closed windows. (I tend to avoid purveyors of hate such as that; I see enough hate without inviting it into my life.)
I wonder whether Limbaugh was explaining how 52% of American voters must hate America.
Stray Thought 0
If Obama can get elected President, dammit, I can stop smoking cigarettes.
Afterthought 0
I just put out my flag.
And a special “thank you” to Colorado.
The Morning After 0
When Senator Dodd dropped out of the campaign, I trotted over to Barack Obama dot com, made my first contribution, and ordered an Obama yard sign.
Until last week, it was the only yard sign on my little street. Then a McCain sign appeared across the street and a few houses down.
It’s gone this morning.
I think I shall leave my Obama yard sign up for a day or two.
And my Obama tee shirt hanging in the upstairs window for a day or two.
And my picture of Obama and Biden sitting in the bay window to greet persons who approach my front door for a day or two.
Man, I wouldn’t want his new job on a bet. The odds are so against him. But he is a good and decent man who will put country above party.
It will be a refeshing change.
Trudy Rubin in today’s local rag:
And yet the opposite happened. Although opinion surveys show voters are pessimistic about whether a new president can turn things around, they flooded the polls. This surge reflects a desire to repudiate the incumbent. (President Bush’s 25 percent approval rating is the lowest of any modern president before an election.) Yet it also shows that many Americans still hope a vote can bring change.
“We Are and Always Will Be the United States of America” 0
“I will always be honest with you.”
That will be a nice change.
God be with President Obama.
The Really Big News 2
With Virginia, Florida, and possibly North Carolina, going for Senator Obama, the Solid South is broken and the odious “Southern Strategy” is dead.
I grew up when and where public facilities had four bathrooms: “White Men,” “White Women,” “Colored Men,” “Colored Women.”
The four bathrooms are gone, but the mentality behind them still lives. I see it every day.
But it is now clearly the losing side.
And the United States of America is finally ready to have government of all the people, by all the people, for all the people.
I love this country. My family was here for its founding and its story is my story.
It is the only country in history that is based, not on the accident of geography or ethnicity, but on an idea–the idea of freedom.
It screws things up an awful lot, but, through the years, it somehow manages, ultimately, in its own bumbling way, to straighten things out and figure out the right thing to do.
It sometimes takes a long time, but it ultimately figures out the right thing to do.
I think I’m going to cry. Okay, I cried. Okay, I’m still crying.
Give us a couple of more centuries, and maybe we’ll actually get it right.
God be with President Obama.
He has inherited a mess and will need all the help he can get.
__________________
I compliment Senator McCain for his gracious concession. He was the Senator McCain of the past, not the Senator McCain of this recent campaign.
Bill Lee Concedes Graciously in Delaware 1
Markell wins the governorship.
But I just saw Judge Lee’s concession speech on the telly vision.
He conceded with class and good humor. Since this is Delawhere, I don’t expect to ever see it on YouTube.
He also left me about 12 robocalls, but, after tonight, I will forgive him that.
Analysis 0
From Andrew Sullivan’s live blog of the returns (emphasis added):
Me, I’m not predicting anything. I’m too worked up about this election, and too burned from the theft of the 2000 election and the disappointment of the 2004 election, the first election in which I ever manned a phone bank, to rejoice until everything is signed and sealed.
But I, as this post I made last week implies, I think his analysis is spot on.
The Republican Party, the party that freed the slaves, has become the party the frayed the sleeves.
And, with luck, the American people have finally figured out that it is an empty shell, a banging cymbal, a sound signifying nothing, that hath not love, nor hope, nor charity.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally. Leaving a little early; it’s in part of town I haven’t driven in at night for several years, so I want to allow plenty of time to find parking.
Addendum:
Plenty of parking places on Chestnut between 2nd and Front. Mildly shocked. Good thing I brought lots of quarters.
Good bar, good food, nice people.
Good Grief 0
Making more stuff up.
Back from the Polling Place 2
When I can, I like to go in mid-morning and avoid the rush of persons trying to go before or after work or school.
A rather officious, scruffy-looking young man was blocking my way as I went in, stepping from side to side in front of me as I tried to manuever aournd him. Turns out he was inspecting my button. I pointed out to him that it does not refer to a candidate and he let me pass.
His life would be easier if he told people what he was doing.
Three people were ahead of me in line and three voting machines were set up. All three machines were in constant use.
I was there a total of ten minutes and spent five of those minutes jawboning with one of the poll judges, a neighbor I haven’t seen in a couple of years.
He told me that, when they opened the doors at seven, the line went from the door of the polling room almost out the door of the school (approximately 200 feet) and that traffic had been steady all day.
Now for the long wait until the evening.
My Mother Was Born in 1922 0
Then, again, the California Republican Party, that paragon of statesmanship, doesn’t care about her.
My Father Never Missed an Election 0
Voting is not a right.
It’s a duty.
Bushonomics 0
Over at the Booman Tribune.
Fact Checks 0
I’m not going to bother to post them, but Fact Check dot org has their end of campaign fact checks up.
Speechless 0
As I said, deeply corrupt.
And, as I didn’t say, inhuman, unfeeling, and willing to sell their souls.
If they had any.
H/T Karen for the link.