I can't take much more of this. Two weeks to go, and I'm at the end of my rope. I can't work. I can eat, but mostly standing up. I'm anxious all the time and taking it out on my ex-wife, which, ironically, I'm finding enjoyable. This is like waiting for the results of a biopsy. Actually, it's worse. Biopsies only take a few days, maybe a week at the most, and if the biopsy comes back positive, there's still a potential cure. With this, there's no cure. The result is final. Like death.
Five times a day I'll still say to someone, "I don't know what I'm going to do if McCain wins." Of course, the reality is I'm probably not going to do anything. What can I do? I'm not going to kill myself. If I didn't kill myself when I became impotent for two months in 1979, I'm certainly not going to do it if McCain and Palin are elected, even if it's by nefarious means. If Obama loses, it would be easier to live with it if it's due to racism rather than if it's stolen. If it's racism, I can say, "Okay, we lost, but at least it's a democracy. Sure, it's a democracy inhabited by a majority of disgusting, reprehensible turds, but at least it's a democracy." If he loses because it's stolen, that will be much worse. Call me crazy, but I'd rather live in a democratic racist country than a non-democratic non-racist one. (It's not exactly a Hobson's choice, but it's close, and I think Hobson would compliment me on how close I've actually come to giving him no choice. He'd love that!)
The one concession I've made to maintain some form of sanity is that I've taken to censoring my news, just like the old Soviet Union. The citizenry (me) only gets to read and listen to what I deem appropriate for its health and well-being. Sure, there are times when the system breaks down. Michele Bachmann got through my radar this week, right before bedtime. That's not supposed to happen. That was a lapse in security, and I've had to make some adjustments. The debates were particularly challenging for me to monitor. First I tried running in and out of the room so I would only hear my guy. This worked until I knocked over a tray of hors d'oeuvres. "Sit down or get out!" my host demanded. "Okay," I said, and took a seat, but I was more fidgety than a ten-year-old at temple. I just couldn't watch without saying anything, and my running commentary, which mostly consisted of "Shut up, you prick!" or "You're a #*!@ liar!!!" or "Go to hell, you cocksucker!" was way too distracting for the attendees, and finally I was asked to leave.
Assuming November 4th ever comes, my big decision won't be where I'll be watching the returns, but if I'll be watching. I believe I have big jinx potential and may have actually cost the Dems the last two elections. I know I've jinxed sporting events. When my teams are losing and I want them to make a comeback, all I have to do is leave the room. Works every time. So if I do watch, I'll do it alone. I can't subject other people to me in my current condition. I just don't like what I've turned into -- and frankly I wasn't that crazy about me even before the turn. This election is having the same effect on me as marijuana. All of my worst qualities have been exacerbated. I'm paranoid, obsessive, nervous, and totally mental. It's one long, intense, bad trip. I need to come down. Soon.
posted on October 23, 2008 05:13:56 AM
Cash,
I feel like this too. I have never felt so strongly about the outcome of an election. I must admit...I wasn't much of a Kerry fan and I did not vote last time.
Family memebers are fighting and I feel tense about the future (doesn't help that our economy is in the gutter). I will be so glad when this is over!
***
A poll is not a prediction. It is a snapshot of how people are thinking right now.
I find it hard to believe that we've lost as much money as we have, and I'm still interested in this election as much as I am. It isn't as though I've ignored our finances, but I haven't given it the focused attention it deserves. We're on the cusp of retirement (it originally looked to be 3-5 years away, probably more like 5-10 years now), and I should be "rebalancing" our portfolio. Instead, I'm on Huffington.
I'm not sure what would happen if this election is stolen, but I don't think it would be pretty.
posted on October 23, 2008 08:42:37 AM
Cash - You've summed up the way I'm feeling too. Right down to the: "Assuming November 4th ever comes, my big decision won't be where I'll be watching the returns, but if I'll be watching. I believe I have big jinx potential and may have actually cost the Dems the last two elections. I know I've jinxed sporting events." I am a jinx too!
Michelle Bachmann is a fruit cake. I don't know if this has been reported in the national news but she was the person who had a death grip on Pres Bush's shoulder following the 2007 State of Union and wouldn't let go until he kissed her and posed for a picture. Here's what she said when she was running for her congressional seat:"God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought 'What in the world will that be for?' and my husband said 'You need to do this,' and I wasn’t so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and ...he made that calling sure And its been now 22 months that I’ve been running for United States Congress. Who in their right mind would spend 2 years to run for a job that lasts 2 years? You’d have to be absolutely a fool to do that. You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ. And in the midst of him making this calling sure, what has occurred now in this particular race is that this Congressional seat out of 435 in the country has become ... it has been one of the top five races in the country, and in the last week this has become one of the top three races in the country, you may have seen how God has in his own will, and his own plan, has focused like a laser beam after this scandal [involving Mark Foley] that came up about a week or so ago. He has focused like a laser beam in his reasoning on this race. The reason why this is one of the top three races is because this race will probably decide which way Congress goes this fall. We could talk more about what that means for this nation, what this means for defeating radical Islam, what this means for what the future of the family is going to be, what this is going to mean for the future of the freedom of religious expression" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Bachmann. Her opponent has received millions of $ from national contributors and I am pretty sure she will be defeated.
posted on October 23, 2008 09:20:00 AM
Her opponent was apparently relatively unknown, but woke up after her pro-American/anti-American channeling of Joe McCarthy to find more than $1 Million in contributions.
I seldom trust people who tell me that God chose them for some mission. I'm a bit more understanding if the mission is to be a doctor in Africa, or to work at a soup kitchen, or to volunteer in some back-water dirt-poor place. Most of the time the loud ones seem to be picked for much cushier roles
It really is time to take our country back from these blow-hard holier-than-thou anti-thought degenerates.
posted on October 23, 2008 09:59:26 AM
I enjoyed reading that, Cash. I also feel his angst. Yesterday, I found myself turning every damn thing off, and playing the old song by Simon and Garfunkel, "The Sound of Silence".
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking,
People hearing without listening,
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
This should be a landslide victory for Barack Obama but still there is a frightening percentage of Americans "hearing without listening" to the message of two dangerously incompetent candidates; McCain and his V.P. choice, a wacky hockey mom.
If you want a ray of hope, watch this clip of conservatives, Republican voters (one for 40 years) who are voting for Obama. Many of them don't agree with him on certain issues (abortion, for one), but will be voting for him nevertheless.
posted on October 23, 2008 01:54:44 PM
I get stressed when I see Obama's lead in the polls narrow but remind myself that it's the electoral count that matters. Obama still has a very strong lead:
Strong Dem (260)
Weak Dem (26)
Barely Dem (51)
Exactly tied (30)
Barely GOP (14)
Weak GOP (23)
Strong GOP (134)
270 Electoral votes needed to win
To win, McCain needs to win all of the states that are leaning GOP, as well as all tied states, as well as all the states that are slightly leaning to Obama and most of the states that are leaning to Obama. While it isn't time to pull the cork on the champagne, I'm trying to not freak when the polls tighten.
posted on October 23, 2008 03:19:17 PM
Former MN governor Republican Arne Carlson announced today that he backs Obama!
""I consider myself a Republican maverick," Carlson said in explaining his endorsement of Obama.
"I think we have in Barack Obama the clear possibility of a truly great president," he said. "I would contend that it's the most important election of my lifetime."
Carlson also took aim at Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, saying that her controversial remarks of the past week, suggesting Obama may have anti-American views, had led him to endorse the Democratic nominee. After hearing Bachmann's comments, Carlson said he telephoned former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Minnesota Democrat, to tell him of his plan.
At one point, Carlson compared Bachmann's statements to the tactics of Joseph McCarthy, the Wisconsin senator during the 1950s who helped define an era when the patriotism of many Americans was publicly questioned.
"I don't want Minnesota to continue to be seen in the national picture as some sort of a land that has these rather strange views -- we don't," he said.
The former governor said Obama's policies on the Iraq war, economic issues facing the middle class and alternative energy solutions meshed with his own views. "I think the disappointing part of the McCain campaign has been its inability to develop a national vision," he said." http://www.startribune.com/politics/32973804.html
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