Welcome to 1928
As of right this very second, MSNBC just forecast Ohio for George W. Bush, effectively rendering the election over. Even if Kerry takes the rest of the unforecast states, the electoral vote count is tied, the election goes to the House and Bush is reelected.
The only hope is that the forecast for Ohio is wrong. It could be--the voting is not done. There are still absentee ballots to be counted.
The real dark stain on the soul of this nation is the number of states that passed pro-discrimination ballot issues, specifically all of the gay marriage votes. That's one of the reasons why I chose 1928 as the year to welcome you to; apparently, people are okay with codified discrimination again. (And the odious Jim DeMint's victory in South Carolina is not a good sign.)
The other reason I chose 1928 is that there are going to be major economic repercussions coming up over the next few months. With the bill for Bush's "I'm better than my father" war heading north of $200 billion, and the budget deficit heading south, and jobs heading out of the country, something's going to give. And it's going to give hard.
Will the sun come up tomorrow? Sure, of course it will. There were a couple of bright spots, namely the reelection of Russ Feingold here in Wisconsin, and the election of Barack Obama in Illinois. Can you think of any other ones, maybe from your local races?
The only hope is that the forecast for Ohio is wrong. It could be--the voting is not done. There are still absentee ballots to be counted.
The real dark stain on the soul of this nation is the number of states that passed pro-discrimination ballot issues, specifically all of the gay marriage votes. That's one of the reasons why I chose 1928 as the year to welcome you to; apparently, people are okay with codified discrimination again. (And the odious Jim DeMint's victory in South Carolina is not a good sign.)
The other reason I chose 1928 is that there are going to be major economic repercussions coming up over the next few months. With the bill for Bush's "I'm better than my father" war heading north of $200 billion, and the budget deficit heading south, and jobs heading out of the country, something's going to give. And it's going to give hard.
Will the sun come up tomorrow? Sure, of course it will. There were a couple of bright spots, namely the reelection of Russ Feingold here in Wisconsin, and the election of Barack Obama in Illinois. Can you think of any other ones, maybe from your local races?
posted by Robert at
12:02 AM
7 Comments:
At the same time, CNN was not making a prediction for Ohio yet. I'm going to bed.
By
Robert, at 12:32 AM
Life's a bitch and then you die.
By
Anonymous, at 8:22 AM
(JJB) True, of course. My fear, however, is that with this clown in office that may happen a lot sooner than I'd otherwise planned.
All I can say is: I hope there's a draft. Just for spite. If this issue can't motivate the 19-24 bracket to muster more than a 10% showing at the polls, then ship 'em off.
By
Anonymous, at 9:11 AM
(Savannah) Al Gore was robbed. John Kerry *lost.* This means a majority, a slight one, but a majority, ratified an America based on force, isolation, and running up unlimited charges on China's credit cards. The Republican victory in the House and Senate, which implicitly sends Bush a mandate, is perhaps the most worrisome to me. What direction are we moving?
In the fall of 1995, I took a history class at UW. The professor said, "There are scenarios where, in 25 years, the United States could end up a rogue military power." Twenty-five years, nothing! It only took eight! The minute we gave the world the finger and invaded Iraq, we became a rogue military power--a hollow rogue military power, a rogue military power that's getting its ass kicked, a rogue military power that would crumble in a nanosecond if the Saudis turned off the oil and the Asians cut off our credit (to say nothing of calling in our debts), but a rogue military power just the same....and apparently we like it.
By
Anonymous, at 10:15 AM
(Ham) As to particular race outcomes, I must agree that the Obama victory is very nice. He didn't have much of a challenge, though. Alan Keyes seemed more of an embarassment than a challenge. I'm still trying to figure out if there was some kind of insidious plot at work behind his being put on the ballot -- it just didn't make any sense, he's too much of a whacko. It's almost as though the Republican party wanted to lose the race intentionally, and then they'd spring some news about all the bodies that they found in Obama's back yard.
I'm not particularly sorry to see Daschle go, I must say. I always thought he was a clown. He always seemed like a complete whiner to me. It's really no surprise that with guys like him and Terry McAuliffe at the helm the Democratic party has floundered as badly as it has the past few elections. Nothing but bunch of tired and say-nothing cliches came out of their mouths for too long. For two presidential elections in a row, the Demorcats couldn't get somebody people were excited about? Something's wrong there. Not that I'm happy to see the Senate seat conceded, but at least with Daschle out of the picture, there's an opportunity for some fresh blood to come in and fill his spot.
I'm saddened, but not particularly surprised by all of the discriminatory measures that passed, even in Oregon. It's my guess that if it were up to a vote, it would overwhelmingly pass that blacks should still be riding in the backs of the buses. Utter shame on everybody who voted for any of those measures. B's title of 'Welcome to 1928' seems much too progressive. I'd put it closer to 'Welcome to 1096.'
By
Anonymous, at 10:43 AM
(JJB) "For two presidential elections in a row, the Demorcats couldn't get somebody people were excited about? Something's wrong there."
So true. Penny and I are moderately active at the state level. We've suffered through caucuses and conventions over the last seven years and twice our party came up with gubernatorial candidates who were party stalwarts, and bland bland bland long-term politicos. Both got their asses handed to them in a big way. Last time we had the chance to put the State Auditor on the ticket. She was a woman (obviously), a suburbanite, and, oh yeah, had been elected as a Republican. She said that the party had moved away from her beliefs. I felt she was sincere (hell, it's worked for Norm Coleman and Zell Miller). Instead we get Roger Moe. Yawn and a half. So now we have Tim "no new taxes EVER" Pawlenty, who's a real pleasant guy and completely evil.
On a tangent, I'm having trouble coming to terms with my few pro-Bush pals. I can live with reasonable policy differences, but even Rob saw the light this year. What can I think of someone who didn't? Shudder.
By
Anonymous, at 12:00 PM
I didn't vote for him last time either.
By
Robert, at 2:49 PM
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