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Finally
It didn’t occur to me as I tossed and turned until 3:00 last night this morning, but I’ve been treating today like Christmas, building up to it with excitement for weeks.
The only difference? It’s the most important Christmas since Jesus.
(And? I’ve probably never thought about a single Christmas this exclusively for five months straight. And I’ve definitely never wanted to stop thinking about Christmas this much.)
Unfortunately, last night’s nervous excitement didn’t make it any easier to get to the tree the polls this morning at 5:50. Or to stand there among elbowy idiots. Or be wrangled by screaming, ignorant volunteers*. Or to stomach the queen who loudly waited just behind us with his boyfriend, who had no sense of personal space and at one point sidled up to my husband, to, I don’t know, cuddle? He really made our morning. Thanks, sexy!
My point is, while this election may have brought out some really nice things in a lot of people, the process of voting absolutely brings out the worst. (Okay, maybe not the worst.) The yelling and clawing (yeah, perpetuated by a particular poll worker) was a surprising display at this hour. But some people will always try to skirt the rules, skip the line, and push their way through in a manner most unfitting this democratic tradition.
This is the line ahead of us in its calmer form, pre-6:00. The crowd behind us filled up about three times the size of this group.
And there we stood at 5:55, 6:15, and 6:45, with about a hundred others, waiting to cast a ballot in the most important election since Democratic candidate Sliced Bread was elected in 1925.
Now all I have to do is hope that tomorrow still feels like Christmas, and not the doom and gloom of disappointment.
*(A while ago, I sent in an application to be a poll worker. Hoping to be part of this election in a different way, I figured I’d volunteer. … Fortunately, due to legacy workers, and whatever else, my application was ignored and I do not have to spend sixteen hours with this gaggle of inefficient women today.)
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McClane has a Brain
We received another urgent letter from Mr. McCain this week. I guess the bumper sticker thing isn’t working out for them.
My favorite part:
We must respond [to the "fully funded" Democratic campaign] by dramatically increasing our own Republican registration efforts, matching them voter-to-voter, district-by-district, state-by-state all across America. But we can only do that with an immediate, emergency injection of funds.
That’s why I’m turning to our Party’s most informed and valued supporters – loyal Republicans like you – to help the RNC Victory 2008 campaign launch our most aggressive and ambitious Voter Registration Drive in the history of the Republic Party. To do that we must raise $10.6 million in the next 60 days.
I appreciate the flattery (we are some of the “most informed,” afterall). But unfortunately that second part isn’t true. Too bad they don’t even have a handle on who is in the Republican Party. This is one confidence-inspiring campaign, from the “emergency” funding pleas, to the party confusion, to the tone of sheer panic.
What kind of idiot actually responds to such pandering bull shit?
Right now, the Democrats are registering historic numbers of voters and building the most massive political fundraising machine in modern history [using social technology I don't understand] with one goal in mind: Defeat Republicans. The next 60 days will make-or-break the Republican Party and our grassroots voter registration efforts.
Wait, your grassroots what? I didn’t know the Republican party even knew that word.
We cannot delay in doing everything we can to build a war chest that will enable Republicans to get out our message [ABOUT WAR, AND MORE OF IT!], challenge the Democrats on their own turf, expose their radically liberal agenda for our nation, and mobilize and register historic numbers of Republican voters.
My blood pressure went up twenty points reading this. War chest… turf… radically liberal agenda? There are so many more important things to argue than turf and party line politics, but that’s all the system allows, and we waste so much time on it.
Not to mention money. Aren’t there better ways to spend $10.6 million? I’m overwhelmed with waste, here and everywhere.
So much goes into tissue paper arguments, smear campaigns, and turf wars over “our” nation, and then all that effort, money, and time dissolves with the swearing in, leaving in its wake the red, white, and blue debris of propaganda. And important issues go ignored.
So let’s ignore this important issue and imagine a world where John McClane is running for President.
