Politics

I went to vote before work today. I wore my black hoodie, but I doubt that meant anything to anyone there. I was voter #94 in my district. Usually I’m #13 or so. So good turn out. We had both Democrat and Republican observers in our district — we’ve never had a Republican before. And there was a W-2004 sticker on a voter car in the parking lot, which is a bit discouraging. But I’m sure all will go well. We have the scan-tron voting system with a paper ballot that gets sucked into the machine. I wasn’t sure which way to put it in, but it ticked me off as a voter, so I assume I did it correctly. Apparently they’ll spit it out if you do it the wrong way.

I just mailed out my CDs for my CD club (wherein we burn and share a theme CD of cool songs) and then I found this most excellent mp3 that would have fit perfectly on my “I’m sorry my President is an Idiot; I didn’t vote for him” CD.
Damn it.

As usual, the Democratic Underground does a phenomenal job distilling Republican boneheadedness down to the key facts.
This week, there’s a whole lot of boneheadedness to cover.

All I have to say about this is “What the hell?!” From Salon Magazine, an article on the rabid hatred of Bush Supporters outside a Bush rally:

Lisa Dupler, a 33-year-old from Columbus, held up a rainbow-striped John Kerry sign outside the Nationwide Arena on Friday, as Republicans streamed out after being rallied by George W. Bush and Arnold Schwarzenegger. A thickset woman with very short, dark hair, Dupler was silent and barely flinched as people passing her hissed “faggot” into her ear. An old lady looked at her and said, “You people are sick!” A kid who looked to be about 10 or 11 affected a limp wrist and mincing voice and said, “Oh, I’m gay.” Rather than restraining him, his squat mother guffawed and then turned to Dupler and sneered, “Why don’t you go marry your girlfriend?” Encouraged, her son yelled, “We don’t want faggots in the White House!”
The throngs of Republicans were pumped after seeing the president and the action hero. But there was an angry edge to their elation. They shrieked at the dozen or so protesters standing on the concrete plaza outside the auditorium. “Kerry’s a terrorist!” yelled a stocky kid in baggy jeans and braces. “Communists for Kerry! Go back to Russia,” someone else screamed. Many of them took up the chant “Kerry sucks”; old women and teenage boys shouting with equal ferocity.
Jesus! Jesus!” screamed 26-year-old Joe Robles, pointing to his Bush-Cheney sign. “The man stands for God,” he said of the president. “We want somebody who stands for Jesus. I always vote my Christian morals.” Robles, a student at Ohio State University, told me that Kerry’s daughter is a lesbian. I said I thought that was Dick Cheney’s daughter, but he shook his head no with confidence.
Robles said that Kerry would make it illegal for preachers to say that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. In California, he informed me gravely, such preaching has been deemed a hate crime, and pastors who indulge in it are fined $25,000, which “goes to lesbians.”

According to the New York Daily News:
“We want people to think ‘terrorism’ for the last four days,” said a Bush-Cheney campaign official. “And anything that raises the issue in people’s minds is good for us.” A senior GOP strategist added, “anything that makes people nervous about their personal safety helps Bush.” He called it “a little gift,” saying it helps the President but doesn’t guarantee his reelection.”
They’re cheering the guy who killed 3,000 Americans. That’s really nice. And they want us to be afraid. That’s also nice.

According to all the blog, wearing a black hoodie to the voting booth is the hot thing to do. For those who haven’t seen it, in the Eminem video, Eminem’s leads a huge army of people who’ve been disenfranchised by the Bush administration, all of whom are wearing black hoodies, into the polls.
See the Video: Real Player, Windows Media

The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) is a not partisan group that carries out research on public opinion on foreign policy and international issues by conducting nationwide polls, focus groups and comprehensive reviews of polling conducted by other organizations. PIPA is a joint program of the Center on Policy Attitudes (COPA) and the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland.
On September 29th, PIPA conducted a survey that found that majorities of Bush supporters did not correctly identify the president’s foriegn policies, and expressed beliefs about foreign policy that were at odds with the candidate they support.

Wow. If you need a list of reasons to convince someone not to vote for Bush this election, the Nation gives you a doozy.