Saturday, October 16, 2004

As the day grows near...

As election day grows closer, I'm finding it harder & harder to concentrate. I'm sure having OCD has a lot to do with it, but I'm sure others are feeling the same thing. It's even hard to just sit and watch TV at times. My mind ruminates over the news reports of voter registration tampering, voting machine fraud, & the Sinclair crap, and it's starting to take it's toll on me.
All I can say is Kerry better win, because I don't think I can take another 4 years of this.

Anyone else having these problems?

3 comments:

Jim Marquis said...

Yeah, I know how you feel. There's anxiety and exhaustion and fear of another four years and what it will do to us. Plus the frustration of knowing there are so many Americans stupid enough to vote for Bush. I've been listening to less political talk on the radio and more music. We have all the information we need and now we just need to vote.

One thing you can take comfort from is the polls are a bit off. Dick Morris was talking about it. He is a sleazebag but I think he really knows his politics. He said the pollsters always underestimate the number of Democrats who are going to vote. Democrats tend to register later and the undecided voters end up voting Democratic for the most part.

So, hang in there. Just think how far Kerry has come since before the first debate!

M said...

I'm feeling it, too. Since last week's debate it's like waiting for a baby to be born or waiting to hear if you got a job...everything else is on hold...

Snave said...

I know how it is with the OCD, I have a very tough time not thinking about all of this. J.Marquis has a good way to look at it... listen to more music and less political talk, because we do indeed know about all we need to know.

Two weeks to go... any October Surprise the Asses of Evil try to foist on our fearful electorate might be a matter of "too late" at this point. If they were going that route, I think it would have been more effective and less open to suspicion had they done it about a month ago. I feel comfortable that if they try something major now, the press and the voters will pounce all over them.

The Sinclair junk is unfortunate, but like I might have said before somewhere or somewhen, I don't think a lot of undecided voters will be tuning in to watch that crap. I think Sinclair will be preaching to the choir. Undecided voters may well be undecided because they are thoughtful, and if that's true, they should be able to see the Sinclair movie for what it is... b.s. Many people probably see things such as the new "Fahrenhype 9-11" movie for what they are: thrown-together last-minute propaganda stunts being tossed out by people who are desperate to remain in power and who are having to resort to completely transparent b.s. If anything, undecided voters should feel insulted by the GOP's attempt to make them afraid of the Democrats.

Voter registration tampering and voting machine fraud are matters that cause me to worry more than the Sinclair/Fahrenhype stunts. In Oregon, all voting is done by mail. We get our ballots in the mail, we complete them and mail them back. This sounds like a great idea, but one inherent problem is that undue pressure to vote for a particular candidate can be placed on family members by a dominant family member. For example, in a fundamentalist household where the patriarchal system is the way of life, Dad can tell Mom who she will vote for (i.e. Bush), and he can watch her complete her ballot. If we still got to go to the polls, Mom would be able to slip inside the voting booth and vote for Kerry if she felt like it. At least all the votes should be counted in Oregon, and there is a paper trail. When I read that GOP Senator Chuck Hagel is on the board of Diebold, I get the willies.

We can expect more shenanigans this year, but let's keep sending positive vibes toward the Kerry campaign. I think that unless something really major happens during the next two weeks, he may well have the election in the bag.