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Sunday, November 2, 2008

Special Edition: Election Whining


Whine: This endless campaign season has worn my nerves badly.

Antiwhine: VOTE NOVEMBER 4, if you haven't already!

Apologies to our Canadian pals, who have probably been inflicted with more info about our elections than they wanted.

46 comments:

kathy a. said...

It's gotten so bad that there are words that make me cringe every time, like a rat who's spent a bit too long in the experiment.

Muslim. To cope, I have to channel Gilda Radner as Emily Litella: "What's this I hear about muslins in the White House? Muslin is a perfectly good fabric, but apparently it's not *fancy* enough for some folks. And isn't it going a leeeetle too far to say it's a threat to national security?"

Moose. A fine animal, but I'll take mousse, thank you. Chocolate, please.

Socialism. Can we please get some emergency rations of socialization out there in campaign-land?

Red/Blue. Electoral. Pundit. Projection. Terrorism. Surprise. Polls. Are you twitching yet?

And the only opinion I ever want from a plumber is how much fixing my personal plumbing is going to cost. No offense intended to plumbers as a group.

Madeleine said...

Tell me about it. Twitch, twitch, twitch.

My big election whine is that My Love has to go to the other side of the globe this week instead of sitting next to me on the couch biting his nails. Or celebrating. Or both. Where's the online pixie party going to be? I'll need company.

My Love's big election whine is that he'll be stuck in a meeting on the other side of the world, and he just looked it up and the hotel DOES NOT HAVE INTERNET IN THE ROOMS. Eeesh. There goes our skype visiting.

The anti-whine is that if they don't call the election until late it will be daytime for him. But he'll be in a meeting and may not have internet. Urgh.

Snuggly Girl's big election whine is that she is SICK of hearing us talk about the election. Except that I think she's finally getting into it. We had her watch the Obamamercial with us while eating popcorn and damn if she didn't ask some really insightful questions.

esperanza said...

My greatest pleasure this week has been the following conversation:
*phone rings*
Volunteer for some campaign/pollster/whoever: Who are you planning on voting for?
Esperanza: I already voted.

Ha. That right there makes early voting worth it.

A further antiwhine: I live in a state so deeply one color that we have been un-beseiged (is that a word?) by advertisments, persuasive phone calls, visits by candidates, etc.

Whine: that means my vote (for the party of the other color) won't count for much. Ah, well.

We are on Day Four of No Chocolate. I may not last through the election.

Unknown said...

My whine? I do not live in New Hampster. I don't even LIKE New Hampster. I do not care about Jean Shaheen or John Sununu. But they advertise ad nauseum on my television, and all they talk about is taxes. Because in New Hampster, taxes are bad bad bad. Live free but never pay a penny for taxes. I hate it. I hate New Hampster. I hate everything about that stupid state. Especially their politics. So STFU and stay on your own side. Do not cross over to the Blue.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Madeleine said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
kathy a. said...

The weekly whine thread is open; I moved the previous 2 comments there.

Back to the elections, here's some kind of funny news. San Francisco has a ballot measure to re-name a civic facility in honor of our outgoing president. The facility is a municipal sewage treatment plant. No projections or polls on this one.

Madeleine said...

kathy a., thanks for your blogular-administrative services. That makes sense.

I'm very amused by your sewage treatment ballot resolution. Sounds like something the onion would dream up, but then I said the same thing about the "no candy for Obama supporters" story and that was true!

I guess I should whine that I have some actual work that must get done today and all I want to do is watch the Yes We Can music videos and read poll analysis. (Have you seen the Mariachis for Obama video? Regardless of your political leanings, pixies, it is worth a look.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fd-MVU4vtU

Elizabeth said...

I'm at work today, being very nonproductive. I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through the next 32 hours or so.

Liz Miller said...

My fingers want to whine about the polls in AK and AZ. They are so good for Obama (he's within the margin of error!) that I am now disbelieving all polls and am chewing my fingers to pieces.

They are petitioning for secession and want to move to Canada.

Liz Miller said...

(tribute to Tom Lehrer)

You're reading the Daily Kos
And you see that the guy your poss-
e is supporting is doing well in Alaska
Now how does your day pass by?
Anxiously
Anxiously
Anxious LY.

Madeleine said...

Clap clap clap! Very nice, Liz.

Liz Miller said...

I'm awake. I'm getting dressed. It's fireplacing DARK out there!!!

But then Kathy A. sent me this and now everything's much better.

Anonymous said...

Quick break to move my car back to my driveway. WOW! GREAT TURN OUT!

The line was around the corner when I got there at 0530. People are in a good mood. Republicans only sent one guy...I've got 10 (people just keep showing up!) And the longest wait has been about an hour. It's about a 30 minute wait right now.

Liz (Mystery Mommy)

Gary said...

No whines here. Just the anti-whine of getting to vote for my guys. And the anti-whine of seeing such a great turn-out, with a line around the back and out into the parking lot (~200) when the doors opened at 6:00 AM, and just as long when I finished voting at 6:45. And the predictive anti-whine of a stress-free victory tonight.

Gary said...

Oh, and Liz, who happens to have a beautiful singing voice, for most stylish.

kathy a. said...

Two tiny towns in NH get all their voters into a hotel ballroom at midnight, so they can be the first voters on election day. And the combined results are:

Obama 32
McCain 16
Ron Paul [writins] 2
Nader 0

kathy a. said...

I voted! No lines, but a good turnover and well-organized election crew. It looks like a LOT of people in my precinct voted by mail.

My neighbor was there, with the boy from across the street, whom she watches before school. He got to help by feeding her paper ballots into the scanner, and he seemed pretty darned pleased to participate.

Enthusiastic "No on 8" volunteers stood a legal distance on either side of the polling place, waving and holding their signs.

Madeleine said...

Anti-whine: I thought of a couple of productive tasks to do that won't take me far from the refresh button. (Renew the parking permit online! Woo! Pay a bill by phone! Wheee!)

Whine: After that, I really should run to the grocery store.

kathy a. said...

Another anti-whine: My daughter voted by mail, her first time voting! My son told me a while back he was going to register and vote, but -- he lost his job, left his apartment and is staying with a friend, I haven't seen any election materials here for him.

But he just called to find out where our polling place is! I suspect he registered at the last minute.

Thanks to the ACLU, I've got info if he runs into trouble at the polling place: http://www.aclu.org/votingrights/gen/36695res20080909.html

My kids used to go with me to vote. I'm popping with parental pride that they are doing it themselves this year.

kathy a. said...

the ACLU address got cut off -- follow that last "h" with a "tml."

Anonymous said...

I voted early. For an election that means so much to me, that feels so monumental, I feel disconnected today. I voted early because I didn't want to wait with the 2 month old and the 4 year old. And that makes sense, still. But I doubt I'll vote early again.

kathy a. said...

sarah, sending you a virtual voting sticker, with a couple more for your future voters! stickers for everyone!

Madeleine said...

Snuggly Girl reports that in her (Canadian) elementary school this afternoon, a loud chant of OBAMA! broke out on the way in from recess. It was so loud she ran into her classroom and shut the door.

KLee said...

All I have to say is PLEASE let Obama win, because having Sarah Palin in any sort of control of this country scares the ever-loving shit out of me.

Anonymous said...

i myself voted to give the gov. a FREE ticket to alaska. it was the least i could do.

kathy a. said...

OK. I'm about to dive into reading the news.

Chocolate, anyone?

kathy a. said...

They say Liddy Dole lost in N.C. I used to have some respect for her -- like I did for certain other candidates in the past -- but she did some really horrible stuff during this campaign.

And they're calling Warner for the senate race in VA.

The Washington Post has Obama at 175 electoral votes, and McCain at 37. SFGate and LATimes and I think AP has it 175 to 46.

kathy a. said...

MSNBC has Obama at 200, McCain at 85.

kathy a. said...

But CBS has O at 199, M at 124.

Damn, but do I hate projections. I really do. This is why I held off looking for so long. They make me fireplacingly crazy.

Madeleine said...

kathy a., the New York Times has a "dashboard" you can pop from the front page that has a tab with all the networks in a row. For easy anxious comparisons, of course.

kathy a. said...

Thanks! My anxiety definitely needs "easiness." /faint/

kathy a. said...

aaack! woo! omg, i should not get comfortable before teh polls close!

but check it out: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

Gary said...

Anti-whines: PA, OH, IA, NM

Anti-whines on the way: FL, NC, VA (please!), CO, CA, OR, WA

Biggest anti-whine: it's over. Barack Obama is our next President!

purple_kangaroo said...

DH voted early. I stayed up late last night voting, and he took my ballot to drop off for me this morning at a polling site. I know that my vote won't count for much, as I'm probably in the minority in my state on many of the issues and candidates I voted for. But I'm glad I voted anyway.

I'm impressed with how close the popular vote is, overall. I hope whoever wins will keep that in mind--that the nation they are representing is pretty close to evenly divided on many issues.

I really hope that the other half will still have some representation and that the country's new leaders will be willing to work to find some common ground.

I'm holding my breath to find out how the local races here will turn out.

purple_kangaroo said...

Well, as I'm sure everyone knows, McCain conceded. I thought it was a good speech.

kathy a. said...

McCain just gave a very gracious and healing concession speech.

PK, I really hope that we as a country are moving to a place where we are working to find that common ground. I believe Obama has that idea at his core -- not that we all will agree on everything, but that we need to respect one another and work together.

Liz Miller said...

AW most massive.

The precinct I captained, the district my husband represents, the county I live in, the state I live in, the country I live in elected the candidate I worked for...

I hope that we can all be one nation. I think we can.

kathy a. said...

yes we can.

Elizabeth said...

My whine is that I have to go to bed before I keel over in mid-step, and I don't want this night to end.

Elizabeth said...

I'm awfully sad about Prop 8. And some of the people I was rooting for -- Judy Feder, Dennis Shulman -- lost. But all in all, I'm pretty happy.

Madeleine said...

I'm sad about Prop 8, also.

But The Onion is cheering me up. "Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job." Laughing and laughing.

Liz Miller said...

I'm sad about Judy Feder, too. I talked her up to voters every chance I got but she lost as badly as Gilmore in our county.

Courtney said...

Anti-whine: the obvious.
Whine: I can't wipe this smile off my face! (and that's ok.)

Seriously, a Prop 8 whine, but anti-whine on the Liddy Dole front. I used to like her...

Liz Miller said...

minor itty bitty wee sma whine: Sore feet, sore knees, sore hips. Flat feet suck.

AW: can't keep the smile off my face!

Unknown said...

For the first time in my entire voting career, which started in 1972 when I was 20 years old, EVERY single candidate and every proposition I voted for actually won. WON. I have always felt like a cursed voter, but today I'm floating on air.

Daughter, otoh, still sucks.