4 posts tagged “presidential campaign”

Downtown Durham, NC celebrates the Obama win.

You know how every year the retailers start whining some time in October that Christmas sales will be down this year? There's panic everywhere, lamenting about the amount of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and how people won't have time to do their shopping, and OMG what will we do, we're already in trouble because of job losses/gas prices/the elves are striking/ Santa hates Americans, [insert dumbass crisis here] and for the love of all that is good and lovely about Christmas, please STFU.  Do they really think that one less day between Thanksgiving and Christmas will keep shoppers from buying presents? If they're planning to go shopping, they go. If retailers gave their sales people and their drivers and their warehouse workers big fat raises during good years, I might care about sales being "down". They only panic because they're worried about executive bonuses and stock prices.

But I seriously digress, because  I had to get that little rant out of my system. Right now, I'm just as irritated with the Democrats. They're so close to winning this one, and one week before the election day, they've created a problem that doesn't exist.

I love Rachel Maddow. She's smart and funny and, as a bonus, she's not a mean-spirited lunatic who makes ugly remarks and then tries to pass them off as jokes. But what in hell does she need to "talked down" from?

Come on, Rachel and Governor Dean.  My inference is they're worried about undecided voters, but there are plenty of reasons that more people haven't already voted. Work schedules, family lives, procrastination. They could even like the ritual of having one day set aside for everyone to vote.

The Dems' fecklessness has been the subject of jokes for years now. They couldn't organize a car wash for fear that a volunteer might refuse to wash an SUV. Are they such doomsayers that they can't even be cautiously optimistic? And for the record, this refutes their claims. So for the love of all that is good and exciting about the 2008 election, stop whining and STFU.

More insanity in PA. This time it's Pottsville, another thriving metropolis in the Keystone State.

Is it possible that Obama supporters are behaving the same way but we're not hearing about it? Anything is possible, right? But I doubt the Repubs would let it go unnoticed.

In his October 25 column, Frank Rich defends the White American. My objective side agrees with him that white people are not screaming racists who would shoot Obama if they were given the chance and the gun. But this campaign season has me questioning my belief that things have gotten better over the last 40+ years. Maybe these virulent racists are like deadheads. You'll find the same people at every event. Perhaps the crazies in Ohio are literally the same crazies in PA are literally the same crazies in NC are literally.... You get the idea. The difference between deadheads and right wing zealots? Deadheads take acid. The zealots are trippin' all on their own. Also, deadheads don't want to kill everyone who looks different.

I found the Pottsville video on Artzy Carmen's Vox blog. Go check her out.

I've been a die-hard Democrat my entire life. If I changed my affiliation I'd probably be thrown out of my family. But, I try hard not to make across the board negative statements about Republicans. I've visited enough political blogs lately to see the damage it does, and I'm disgusted by the name-calling that occurs from both sides. Repubs think Dems are elite snobs with their heads up their butts, and Dems think Repubs are hicks and podunks with their heads up their butts. Nothing good comes from this. It just creates more animosity.

However, I've recently seen some truly disturbing videos documenting the behavior of McCain-Palin supporters. This is from Youngsville, OH. It seems some people in the middle of the country haven't been reading Miss Manners lately.

 Here's one from my beloved home state of PA. Apparently it's funny that women in Wasila, Alaska were required to pay for their own rape kits. And this newspaper article covers what happened at a Palin rally at Elon University, in my adopted state of NC. I've gone from one backwater state to another.

McCain's people claim they don't condone this behavior. I suppose it's possible that Sarah Palin didn't hear someone calling for Obama to be killed at one of her rallies. But the campaign ads have been designed to stir up fear and hate among the Republican base, whatever that is. If the people at these rallies are McCain's base, maybe he shouldn't be running for president. Why would any responsible candidate want support from a bunch of mean-spirited whack-jobs? I've always said people can't be responsible for all of their fans (Kurt Vonnegut has some seriously idiotic fans), but John McCain isn't trying to sell a book or a CD. He wants to run the country. Two people who not only appeal to these total wingnuts, but seem to be encouraging them, shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the White House.