Extended Election Post
This is going to ramble a bit, and for that I apologize, but I have a lot to say today.
First, I want to retract some of my Wisconsin voting sucks blather. It still sucked, don't get me wrong, but less so. The entire process, arriving, waiting, voting, leaving took 40 minutes. Not bad, considering. I still think it is outrageous not to open the polls until 9 am, but whatever. They were checking ids, so that is something, I guess. Nobody asked me who I voted for on my way out.
A senior member of management called me yesterday morning to remind me to vote. I had to tell him that voting is not something I forget to do. As far as I'm concerned it is your civic duty, a responsibility. I did not choose to join the military (Clinton-era, Hello.) but to work on my education and career. If Clinton hadn't defeated Bush, I might have considered it, I don't know. Either way, I feel that if I'm not going to stand a post for this country and her freedoms, I damn well am going to vote.
Prince Charming did not vote and I believe my own little address is the microcosm of the election. Prince Charming was anti-Bush...but not opposed enough to get up and vote. Me? I'm a Security Mom (by right of trying to get preggers) without the kiddies, and Pro-Bush. The difference? I got up off my ass and voted. In a nutshell? Bush supporters were more motivated than Bush haters, and I say Bush haters to distinguish them from Kerry supporters. Prince Charming, as much as he despises Bush, seems to have no love for Kerry either.
Election Night...for me...is like the Super Bowl. It is MY Super Bowl. The way Prince Charming feels when the Badgers go to the Rose Bowl and the National Championship is how I feel on Election Night. I sit there, glued to the TV, bouncing between three channels comparing returns. I can confess to you, my 12 loyal readers, that I have a problem. (Meekly) I am an Electoral College junkie. Ever since the age of 8 when my gifted class studied it I have loved it. I love the fact that it was set up as a way to keep the industrialized parts of the nation from riding roughshod over the agrarian places. Had to explain to Prince Charming reason for EC last nite, that it makes sure that the candidates have to court every voter, otherwise they'd only campaign in the cities.
Can I just say how proud I am to be an American today? We are fighting a two-front (or more) war. The biggest, baddest, meanie in the world called out American voters and tried to intimidate them into voting for his preferred candidate, threatening to target US states that voted for Bush. What did the American public do? We all voted. Record numbers of us voted. If Osama had really frightened us...more of us would have stayed home cowering under the covers...but that didn't happen. That, my friends, is the indomitable spirit of the American. We won't be marginalized, threatened, bullied, or terrorized. In my opinion, Record voter turnouts (no matter which candidate they favor) translate into the following message for Osama bin Laden - "Fuck Off." Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
I saw a little girl at the polls last nite. She accompanied her mother who was doing her civic duty. The little girl was impatient with the wait, as all little children invariably are. But this is a wonderful commentary on American society, do you know what she kept saying? Was it "Momma I'm tired" or "Momma I'm hungry" or "momma go potty" or "momma let's play"? Nope. This little girl kept saying, "Momma, let's go vote! Why can't we vote?" That put a smile on my face.
Now...to the erudite, lucid, and political part of this message (I know, I know, get on with it already...)
First off, I believe that Bush has been reelected. I realize that it may take 11 days to confirm that, but I'm perfectly willing to wait. Having said that, I think the MSM are pussies for not calling Iowa, but I confess that I see their tactic as wishful thinking. Good luck to them, I say. Eventually they are going to have to eat their words.
I am so glad that Bush seems to have won the popular vote. I can't tell you how annoyed I was going to be to have to listen to the bitching about the popular vote versus the electoral college for another four years. The other good news is that the "they stole the election" argument should be all but dead now. I say "all but" because Kerry is a sonuvabich, but I'll get to that in a minute. I believe the EC will show in the end a healthy win for the President. Kerry is a posturing, graceless, egotistical, jackass. Statistically speaking, it would be practically impossible for him to pull one of Edward's fuzzy pink rabbits out of his magic hat from Cambodia. Nevertheless, he is not going to concede. Instead, he is going to put the nation through another round of Presidential Red Rover. If he were a gentleman, if he REALLY had the nation's best interests at heart, he would concede and be done with it. But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. He's too much of a slimy, sleazy, ambitious, toad-sucking, ass-licking, self-centered, self-serving, blight on the butt of humanity, ungracious, graceless, idiot, jackass, creepy, take-a-poll, nuanced, lying, intellectually constipated, theiving, gun-grabbing, moronic joke. I really don't expect him to do the right thing here. I expect that he will become the new Al Gore. He'll grow a beard and go on tour, decrying his fate and what was stolen from him, occassionally screaming into the cameras in a way made famous by Howard Dean, and taking very bad pictures. Theresa Heinz-Kerry will go back to her gin-soaked raisin remedies and possibly return to being just Theresa Heinz.
Clearly, the foreign markets are projecting that Bush won, as I believe US markets will do as well. The Republican party has increased its hold on the Senate and appears to be keeping the House as well. I'm happy.
But do you know why? I'll tell you.
MY children will grow up free and clear of the threat of Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, al Qaeda, Islamic Extremism, etc. And that makes me happier than I could have imagined. Because I know George Bush will personally take a bullet before he'll let us lose this fight. This I believe in my heart.
