You Can Check Out Any Time You Like

He is taking advice from his bud.

Just got back from canvassing in the heart of darkness Eric Cantor’s district. Pretty red territory, but the Obama supporters we talked to were fired up, ready to go, etc. The field office did say, however, that Obama won by an average of 94 votes (out of about 1,500 total) per precinct in 2008 and that his edge this year looks closer to 16 votes.

@mellbell: Do you think those are legit numbers or that the office might be trying to get people to work harder through worry? Both?

@mellbell: Are there voter suppression efforts going on in those precincts?

@mellbell: always careful w/ words, but Cantor is beyond ignorant … he is dumb. Dumber than a bag of Krauthammers, one might say.

Defeat him. Defeat him on the ground. Grind his bones, send me the bread.

I already voted, and I didn’t vote for either of those bastards. I don’t like them. And I didn’t throw away my vote.

I’ve only missed one election since I was 18, and I was Yellow Dog all the way. I was raised that way. I was told Rs are racist. We are Ds. Kinda like how I was raised as a fundie.

I finally decided to actually Vote My Conscience. What a great idea that people rarely follow. If your conscience is about pragmatism, and you’re all freaked out about what The Other Guy Will Do, fine. My conscience tells me to think about the world I want to live in versus the world I know I live in and to say fuck pragmatism and get closer to the ideal of democracy.

So, yeah. I did what was right for me, and it feels incredibly good.

@JNOV: Well, it has to be said: If you lived in Florida in 2000, and your conscience told you Ralphie, your conscience bought you Shrub.

If you conscience can live with that, fine. That’s what consciences are for. But conscience doesn’t spare you unintended consequences.

@nojo: In life, there are always unintended consequences, especially when you think you’re doing the right thing. We deal with them daily. This is nothing different.

@nojo: And did Naderites buy Shrub? No, they didn’t. More people voted for Bush (forget the SCOTUS interference for now) than for Nader. Period.

Just because someone votes for a third-party candidate doesn’t mean they split the vote and caused some disaster. All it means is their candidate lost. The people who voted for the disaster-causing knucklehead bought him/her. No one else. Knuckleheads won. It happens.

When you vote for someone not because they will represent you well but because you’re afraid of some other person, you’ve sold yourself cheap.

@nojo: @JNOV: I’m happy for you that you could vote your conscience. However, I’m also happy that you’re not in a swing state, so voting your conscience is safe. However, I hope most Ohioans are pragmatists (as am I) rather than idealists. I’ve met people from Florida who voted for Ralph in 2000 and will never, ever forgive themselves.

@JNOV: More people voted for Bush (forget the SCOTUS interference for now) than for Nader. Period.

For the record, Florida 2000:

Bush: 2,912,790
Gore: 2,912,253
Nader: 97,488

Those folks who voted for Ralphie because Bush and Gore were just two sides of the same coin, got what they wished for.

Bitch all you want about a two-party duopoly, but that’s what we have at the national level, and a “protest vote” is a vote for the winner, same as not voting at all. That’s the reality of it; voting is not context-free, and pretending otherwise is self-delusion.

If you honestly think the “choice” is no choice at all — that Candidate Coke and Candidate Pepsi are functionally equivalent — then voting for Donald Duck is a legitimate act. Just don’t get upset when President Coke leads us into two pointless wars and tanks the economy — President Pepsi would have done the same, right?

As Iris Murdoch taught, humility is selfless respect for reality. And sometimes, reality ain’t pretty.

@Mistress Cynica: I’m sure, and I understand.

@nojo: Whoa. I thought flaming was verboten here, even flaming in the guise of imparting wisdom.

I’m not bitching, and this isn’t a protest vote. I read the party platform, and I’ve been thinking about voting this way for years.

Nowhere did I say that I see these guys as the same; I don’t. I dislike them for different reasons, and I prefer someone else.

I do have choices I’ve ignored before this election, and I’m not delusional. I choose to vote for a person I would like to run the country. It’s not the same as not voting at all because I’m voting for someone I would like to lead.

Can you say the same?

@JNOV: If that’s what passes for a flame, it’s pretty lame…

And me? I’m casting my vote for a dude who will likely fuck things up a lot less than the other dude, which is traditionally how I cast my vote, because that’s the nature of the beast. Even Socialist Bernie caucuses with Demrats, because he’s be totally powerless on his own.

Am I selling myself cheap? Sure, I’ll let you have that one; I don’t have a stake in it. Because if I did, I’d go on a rant about Moral Preening.

Oh, here’s a flame: You’ve barely landed in Seattle, and already you’ve gone native. Your argument is sooooooo Northwest. I know it in my bones.

@nojo: Can you help me out? I think I missed a feather.

:-)

Voter suppression is rampant and largely uncovered in Florida. My local rag in SW FL hasn’t carried any of the voter suppression activity in SE FL. The Spanish language Miami paper had a long piece when one of the collectors starting squealing in return for immunity. Of course, these “collectors” were just trying to help the seniors fill out their absentee ballots. Only in America would you find people willingly to help seniors with their ballots. USA! USA!

@BobCens: “Here you go m’am. Pat Buchanan is just a nickname for Al Gore.”