Current Affairs

one last time . . .

90 Comments

I want my country back, and I want the despicable campaign of hate, fear, lies, and division run by John McCain and personified by Sarah Palin to be repudiated by a massive Obama win. We can make this happen. The polls all say we’re going to make this happen . . . but I remember 2000 and I remember 2004, and even though the polls say that we vastly outnumber the people who tragically support John McCain, we’ve got to get to the polls and make sure our votes count.

So.
Make sure you get out and vote tomorrow, especially you younger people. You guys are overwhelmingly Democratic (yay!) but you’re also notoriously unreliable (boo!) so if you think you’re going to be in line for a long time and you’re going to get bored, bring a book, bring a DS, bring a PSP, bring a deck of cards, bring your cellphone and liveblog or Twitter the whole thing . . . just don’t get out of line and don’t leave without voting!

Everyone else, if you think it’s not worth waiting a few hours (or several hours) to cast an important vote in a close state, I have two words and one initial for you: George W. Bush.
Also, voter suppression is a terrible fact of life all over our country, and the ACLU has prepared a great resource for all 50 states, with printable sheets you can take with you to know your voting rights wherever you are.

The Voting Rights Project of the ACLU is dedicated to providing citizens with information and assistance in exercising their right to vote! We are urging citizens to ACT this election year. For more information or to voice a voting rights complaint, call 1-877-523-2792 [...]

I seriously hope that Obama gets to 270 before the polls close on the West coast, but even if he does, it’s still important to get out and vote in California. We must defeat Proposition 8, and we can’t take anything for granted.

90 thoughts on “one last time . . .”

  1. Obama lost me with his votes for the bailout and FISA. On the California front, Prop. 11 will strengthen the democratic system by preventing state legislators from drawing incumbent-friendly districts. The powerful California Prison Guard Union opposes it. For me, that’s a clear signal that it’s a good idea.

  3. I’ll say this much, it will be interesting times. I’m tuning to Michael Savage on Wednesday for what is sure to be the best talk radio ever broadcast on the airwaves.
    It takes real guts to vote for a naked Marxist and appease/placate globalist in the face of the country’s most precarious finanical situation and in the midst of TWO wars.
    Oh, and proposition 8 will pass with flying colors. There is no single issue that unites the country like anti-gay marriage. Personally I’m impartial; it’s just not the big of a deal, but the leftist tolerance of hegemony makes it so, which will backfire as it almost always does.

  5. Heads up for people in Florida. If the courts or the governor move to keep the polls open past 7, the Republicans are already recruiting people to be at the polling place to try to force everyone who votes after 7 to vote a provisional ballot (which I’m sure they’ll then challenge at the canvassing board). In past elections when the polls have stayed open late, no one has been required to vote a provisional ballot, don’t let them force you to do it now.
    The email my sister got from her local Young Republican club was asking for volunteers and telling them to get the police involved if necessary.
    If you’re in line past 7 and see something going down, call the ACLU, call the Obama campaign, call your local media. Get out your camera and start recording. Don’t let them pull that stunt this year.
    I’m sitting in a foreign country, hoping that I don’t find myself having to explain to my students on Wednesday why all hell broke loose back in America.

  8. I live in the wrong country to vote on these issues but will be watching the results nervously tomorrow.
    All you Americans who go through the hassle of voting have my respect, no matter how you vote, although I would recommend Obama/Biden and No on prop 8 if you’re unsure — and I’m saying that as a born-again Christian, for whatever that may be worth.
    (I don’t want to play my-country-is-better-than-yours, but in my 18 years of voting I have never waited more than two minutes in line, and voting is always on a Sunday from 8am to 6pm. It horrifies me that the American system apparently makes you take a day off or be late for work and wait for serious amounts of time.)

  9. WOW what a shock, a left coats liberal backing a socialist!!!!
    Will, you may take the country back for now, let’s see how well you like it when Barack takes what you learn and gives your kids no reason to have ambition to have a career because he is busy giving their money to some illegal living in in a second floor walk up above a liquor store.
    Oh wait, that’s Barack’s family!
    Celebrate tonight leftists because this is simply Jimmy Carter the sequel and from that Ronald Reagan emerged!
    OBTW, it’s been 2600+ days since America was attacked.

  10. Chris the Tiki Guy:
    Herein lies the problem, Chris: You take aim at my comments, but you don’t offer any facts to dispute what I posted.
    That is why the political process is fundamentally broken: discussions cannot take place, because people aren’t informed or don’t want to take the time to engage in an informed debate. Their passions outweigh their intellect. I am NOT above this statement, but it takes informed factual debate to make the case.
    I certainly could be WRONG, but you have done nothing to encourage a factual debate.
    Let’s take one of the most emotionally-charged issues in the election. It is so extremist and incendiary that it rarely gets reported on from a factual perspective.
    As a State Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama refused to vote in favor of extending human rights to those babies that happened to survive a late-term abortion.
    That is a statement of FACT that cannot be disputed.
    However, the rationale that Senator Obama uses to justify each of these votes is somewhat different, depending upon the vote. That still doesn’t change the FACT that he failed to vote in favor of this legislation that was eventually passed UNAPPOSED at a Federal Level (U.S. Senate).
    And before folks get carried away, these babies were outside of the womb, separated from the umbilical cord and struggling for life on a gurney. On FOUR separate occasions, Senator Obama failed to vote in favor of their human rights status.
    Does this really represent your values? This is the candidate that so many people have been duped into supporting.
    As I have said before; McCain is not my candidate, I have to vote my conscience. I’d rather vote for the candidate that best represents my beliefs than continue to perpetuate the two-party nightmare that got us into this mess to begin with.
    No thank you, I’ll have water – based on the reactions, something has to be wrong with the Kool Aid.

  11. wargamermike:
    You suggest that voting for a third party candidate is a waste.
    Respectfully, I disagree.
    With each vote that you cast, I encourage you to:
    Vote your conscience,
    Vote your beliefs, and
    Vote your opinions.
    The two party system is corrupting the process. Many voters, rather than risk voting for a candidate that they don’t think can win, will cast a vote for one of the two major parties. When you do this, your individual voice is lost.

  12. Well, the polls have only been open in Virginia for a few hours and already there are issues at the polls with machines breaking down. Go figure.
    I find it hard to believe that this will be third election in which there will likely turn out to be controversy over the voting in certain states. And isn’t it curious that the issues always seem to arise in the battleground swing states and nowhere else?
    I mean, really, people have been voting in this country for over 200 years, and then out of nowhere within the last 8 years our system is suddenly so flawed in certain parts of the country? I don’t buy it, myself.
    It’s almost as if the Republicans are again setting the stage for another contested and stolen election.
    Let’s hope not, though.

  13. It amazes me that anyone would vote Republican in this election, or how the last 8 yrs can be blamed on the Democrats.
    I’m neither, but I’m heading out right now to cast my vote for Barack Obama, I’m in OH, so lets hope we can make a positive difference this time around.

  14. I voted absentee last Thursday!
    (For Obama)
    Speaking of people needing to know their rights….
    My friend who goes to CNU never received her absentee ballot and when she called they had no record of the forms that she had sent in. She paid $23 last night to mail the ballot in after she finally received it. Apparently this has been happening to a lot of students. FTW, right?
    Her story is here if you are interested: http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-134521

  15. Wil:
    I wrote an entry about Prop 8 on my blog as well:
    http://www.brouelette.com/cgi-bin/blosxom.cgi/2008/10/18#noOn8
    I hope you enjoy it. I’ve met several people who are Yes on 8 proponents and the thing that is consistent is a complete lack of logic and critical thinking. There is not a single argument of there’s that stands up to even the slightest critical thought.
    It’s vitally important that California not turn into a religious theocracy. We absolutely must defeat prop 8.
    In other news: I also wanted to say that I really enjoyed meeting you at the Sacramento horror con. Thanks for coming up to NorCal.

  16. It’s Tuesday, Nov 4, 8:15a.m. as I write this. I voted about a half hour ago here in MInnesota, but I wish I was there to vote no for Prop 8.
    Stay strong California.
    –Swordman
    (Jeff, New Brighton Mn.)

  17. I am a regular reader and will be glad when the elections are over, but I always look at myself as an American first, then think about the politics a distant second. And I even worked for Congress a while back. But I wonder if Wil thinks that way, because the lack of respect I hear out of his mouth makes me wonder. I don’t like McCain nor be voting for him, but I respect him and his years of commitment to work for this country.

  18. To Thomas:
    Wil, like many a Leftist, justifies the vitriol and hate for The Other Side simply because the Left mindset is predicated on externalization. They place their happiness and self-worth in their ability to control others.
    From their loathing of religion, to adherence to socialism, to the mandatory celebration of alternative lifestyles – it is ALL predicated on submitting and otherwise forcing others to bow to the collective that is the absolute morality and wisdom of the state.
    As to the specifics of the vitriol for McCain/Palin; the Left’s means are justified because they don’t see a competing political ideology, but a hegemony of war mongering sectarians fascists. In such a framework pretty much anything goes.
    (FWIW, though this sounds scathing, I like wwdn, and have been a consistent reader for years, and enjoy the blog.)

  21. Mr. angie k and I early voted here in Texas. Austin is super liberal so we know that Travis county is going to go blue but I keep not so secretly hoping that all of Texas will turn blue this time. Probably not so likely but one can dream, right?
    Wished I lived in California to vote on Prop 8 but I’m sending mental vibes out hoping for its complete and utter defeat.
    What I’ve learned from this election is that it’s really time for all of us to take a vested interest in our country and know what’s going on. Yes I voted in the 2000 and 2004 elections but I didn’t have the knowledge and passion about it that I do this time. It’s a wonderful feeling. Voting is a primary part of democracy and I wished 100% of the country would get out there and VOTE. Our vote is our voice and no matter what a person’s politics are I wish more people would use their voice. (But of course my opinion is GO OBAMA/BIDEN!)
    To me this is an exciting time to be alive. :)

  22. I realize that passions are high and we all feel very strongly about our positions today as we go to cast our votes.
    However, the don’t be a dick rule still applies, and I’ll be dropping the banhammer on people who can’t be civil and polite. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but we can all be decent to each other, even if we don’t see eye to eye.

  23. Hey everybody!
    Vote for the person you prefer, on the issues that are important to you. And don’t tell me (or Wil or anyone else) I’m wrong for voting what is important to ME. Not all of us hold the same things dear. That would be what they call “cultural diversity”.
    I’ve seen a lot of people here in comments and out there in the general Intertubes saying “but if you vote for that guy, you’re supporting XYZ policy!” Yeah? And? If you vote for the other guy, you’re supporting ABC policy, which I disagree with. So, look, just vite already. I highly doubt anyone is going to change their minds on their candidate TODAY.
    *cue anecdotal posts from people who totally changed their vote on The Day, like, 4 times*

  24. There was hardly a line at my precinct at 9:45am. I was the 251st voter, so they were busy earlier in the day.
    Walking to the polling place, I saw 17 Obama signs, and 0 McCain signs – but that’s Ann Arbor for you.
    We have mark-sense ballots. Makes so much sense – computer tabulation, paper trail, and many people can be marking their ballots at the same time.

  25. I’m not sure how American elections work but do you only get two candidates to choose from? Or is it just the media that makes these two people the best possible contenders when in fact there are many other candidates running?
    Also, is it just me or do mostly whack-jobs support McCain? You know the people who still live in the 50s where blacks, gays and anybody else they don’t understand are evil.
    We have gay marriage in Canada and nothing has changed. They should be able to suffer like the rest of us ;-)

  26. Thanks for the ACLU links. That actually helped me out a lot. You are definitely doing your part in making our nation better (that sounded cheesy, but it’s true). I’m one of those “notoriously unreliable” “younger voters” that needed a kick in the ass to get to the polls. But with a little prodding from you and Facebook, I got my lazy ass out there and voted. Happy Election Day, Wil!

  28. A great deal of my American friends (I’m Canadian) have already voted today and so far they’ve all Twittered that the lines have been surprisingly short. One even mentioned it took her longer to get in and out of the parking lot than it did to actually get to the booth and cast her vote. So far it looks like other than NYC, lines aren’t so bad.
    Even though I’m not an American I’m smart enough to know that the effects will be felt outside of just your country so I’m watching this election with extreme interest and am hoping that the right man – Obama – will win. It’s time for a change.

  29. I’m not voting today. Already did that 3 weeks ago when I dropped off my mail-in ballot. Hubs voted a week later in our early voting; as of this morning, more than 50% of all registered CO voters had already voted.
    We can’t vote in CA anymore, but we’ve still got a lot of friends there. Keeping our fingers crossed that Prop 8 dies a swift, well-deserved, permanent death today.

  30. @Hugh: There are, in truth, more than two parties, but only two that receive significant financial support, which converts into advertising, which converts into attention. And they are the only two with a reliable nationwide presence. And to be fair, the position of a given party may drift as you go from state to state, staying to the appropriate side of whatever the political center of that state is. As they say, an Arkansas Democrat is more conservative than a Massachusetts Republican. Perhaps it’s that tendency that causes them to be the strongest parties, but it’s at the expense of having strong, consistent party values.

  31. @wil Agreed. It’s possible to disagree without being disagreeable. I wish more people I’ve encountered during this election understood that. (Yes, I did just steal that line from one of Sen. Obama’s speeches.)

  33. YES! I’ve voted for McCain. Though unlike Dems in Ohio, Florida and anywhere else ACORN worked I am only allowed one vote.
    Hey Wil, Once your guy wins tonight it will be interesting to see how far you back this lunatic when the money is coming out of your pocket.
    Republicans will be back and will be back with a vengeance.

  36. Cast my absentee ballot last week. I would like to say that I am proud to have chosen Barack Obama as my presidential candidate and voted NO on prop 8 (both true)…but really, I’m just proud to have voted. I’m proud that I live in a country where I have the right to raise my voice and be heard. I’m proud that even if the returns don’t come out in favor of what I support, at least I was involved.
    Have some pride, folks. Insulting one another simply because our viewpoints differ does not compute. We should be better than that…

  38. Made a family outing of it this morning. Dropped the Senior Booger Monster off at daycare and hit the polling place with the Spousal Overunit and Vice Boogermonster.
    I felt like voting mattered for the first time in a long while. I voted for Kerry last time, but I did so becuase he was not bush. I voted for Gore, well, because Gore is super smart and we all knew then that Bush was a ‘tard.
    This time, we have a candidate that seems like the real thing.

  39. I am proud to say that today, voting in my first presidential election (I turned 18 in October of 2005), I voted for Barack Obama.
    The past 2 years of campaigning, I’ve listened to both sides, watched the debates, and read up on the issues. The reason I voted for Obama was that after MUCH RESEARCH, I believe that he is the best candidate for the job.
    Right now, on the East Coast, I’m watching the election returns with my mom, who told me she hasn’t been this excited about a presidential election since she was a child…and my mom is going to be 53 in a month & a half.
    So, yeah, I voted, and I voted for Barack Obama. And y’know what else? If I were in California, I’d be voting NO on 8, too. I’m waiting with bated breath and fingers crossed for the first time in years.

  40. I guess I’m I young person. I answered my door today and the guy (who was selling newspaper subscriptions) asked me if my parents were home. -.-;; I’m twenty-two; I live on my own. I also voted about two weeks ago because early voting rocks.
    But I voted Republican. Whoops! I know that the majority of younger voters voted Obama, and it really makes me ashamed to be a part of this demographic. Not that voting Democratic is shameful. Just that young voters—especially college-aged ones—have never been out on their own, never had to pay the bills, never had to pay taxes, never had to support a family. Never had to deal with the problems of real life. Heck, I’ve been off my parents’ dollar for only a few months now. And these people are voting? They vote for Obama because he’s popular and he’ll bring change. But when you ask them what kind of change, they blank. They’re repeating a slogan and following the masses. Research has shown that the part of the brain dealing with risk assessment does not fully develop until the mid twenties. They vote for this guy because it’s cool and don’t fully assess what it’s going to mean to them or their futures. And I’m saying this as a young person.
    That being said, I will congratulate Obama on his win. He had a very well run campaign. I hope he does great things for this country; I really do. I’ll say this: he’s my President. And if I ever meet him, I will shake his hand and get a picture. And say, “Look! I met the President!” I will not boo if I’m at an event where he is a guest but rather clap respectfully. I’ll back him against people who lie about him. Because the office of the President demands that respect. I only wish maybe liberals had extended the same to Bush.

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