The last 10 days
Politics in America have become pretty ugly, especially as the Presidential campaign reaches its climax. Messages of hope and promise are nowhere to be found. "Things are bad, and the other guy is going to make it worse. We must fight."
The grubby stories, or dark hints of stories, come at us from every angle. Obama was born in Africa. Palin faked her last pregnancy. McCain's cancer is back. The internet has given everyone the equivalent of the printing press, and the effective information filter formerly provided by the mainstream media is gone. If the truth is ugly or inconvenient, nowadays you're going to hear it anyway.
The right wing is behind in most of the polls, and quarterback McCain is throwing his last few Hail Mary passes. Socialism! Terrorism! Fear! It's depressing to hear -- and even more depressing to see it have its desired effect on some segments of the population.
It's all just human nature, of course. When you've got something that someone else wants, like your vote, it's fascinating to watch what they might do to get it. My friend Betsy Richter knows all about this subject -- she's about to give a public talk on how to get people to do what you want them to do. No doubt she's following the final campaign themes with interest.
Part of what makes the last stage of the campaign so distasteful is that it reminds us that we all push each other's buttons at one time or another to bring about a desired outcome. Ah, humanity -- we do throw our Hail Marys now and then. Steve Earle said it well a while back: "Sure, my music's political. All music is. Even a lullaby is political, to a baby."
| Posted at 9:59 AM | Permalink |
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Comments (9)
Relax and treat it like the Super Bowl. No matter how loud you yell at the TV and no matter how much money you bet on it, you can't change the outcome.
The only difference is that with the election, if your team loses, you're screwed.
Posted by Garage Wine | October 24, 2008 10:41 AM
Yes, but telling the police that a "black man" robbed and beat you at an ATM and then carved a "B" into your forehead after he saw the McCain sticker on your bumper, as a McCain volunteer is alleged to have done and has apparently confessed to, is going way too far. McCain's supporters are following right along with the real Republican platform: fear and smear
Posted by Grumpy | October 24, 2008 11:31 AM
"how Palin faked her pregnancy?"
Release her medical records and end the debate
Posted by mp97303 | October 24, 2008 12:45 PM
Actually, I see this one as sort of beautiful. Here you have Obama drawing every possible toxic little spew of venom from these right wing snakes, and it doesn't appear to be working. I heard Hannity say if Obama gets elected he will bring his terrorist associates to the White House. I heard that one myself.
Of course there are some people who even believe Obama is a terrorist based on the right wing talk machine.
But it just doesn't appear to be enough to deceive America this time.
The numbers who see through this talk machine have grown. The evidence of conservative incompetence is just too great. Nobody has screwed up this much in the history of the world, so their BS is falling on deaf ears. This is actually quite encouraging.
Rush Limbaugh has been talking like mad for 15 hours a week, but he can't even take the weekend off. He has to fire off an email to counter Colin Powell's endorsement - claiming it's all about race, and this went right to the Drudge Report. There was a time when these moves would have been enough. They were enough to put the worst president in history within striking distance of stealing the last 2 elections. But they're not enough anymore.
Not against Obama.
My latest favorite sign of desperation is when the righties try and say all this bad stuff is happening to the economy because Obama could be elected. They're trying to assign the blame on the future, because they can't deal with the fact that they've stunk up the joint for 8 years now. That is deep comedy for me.
All these old toxic moves just don't appear to be working anymore. That's a wonderful development for this nation. Perhaps if we get past the people who damaged America so badly - the little phony chicken-hawk patriots of the conservative movement - why then we can begin to try and save the country. I'm actually hopeful right now.
Posted by Bill McDonald | October 24, 2008 1:08 PM
I abhor the nasty end game. But the graceful, thoughtful manner in which Obama has run his race deserves respect. His calm demeanor and his willingness to offer up intelligent discussion rather than misdirected blather have impressed me every time I've heard him speak. He confronts racism, both overt and latent, at every turn, yet never turns bitter or angry. While McCain lurches about in desperation(picking Palin, suspending his campaign, Joe the plumber, etc.) Obama has been a rock. And he inspires hope rather than generating cynicism. We need him for so many different reasons.
Posted by Gannicott | October 24, 2008 1:43 PM
The grubby stories, or dark hints of stories, come at us from every angle. Obama was born in Africa. Palin faked her last pregnancy. McCain's cancer is back.
It'll be nice to see it end, however things turn out. Unfortunately, the next campaigns will begin in about three weeks.
Posted by Brad | October 24, 2008 5:06 PM
"how Palin faked her pregnancy?"
Release her medical records and end the debate.
---
Release the original copy of Obama's cert of live birth and end the debate.
Is that why he went to see Toots?
Posted by Harry | October 24, 2008 5:41 PM
Garage Wine: ...you can't change the [election's] outcome
Karl Rove would probably disagree with that assessment.
Posted by john rettig | October 24, 2008 10:01 PM
I must say that even though I will be voting for McCain, and even though I do think Obama will be bad for this nation; I'm very tired of the campaigns. It seems like it has gone on forever. I'll also be a bit happier when this blog is able to move (with the rest of the nation) beyond the politics. I'll be hunkering down for what I fear will be four nasty years coming up, but it would be nice if I were wrong.
Posted by native oregonian | October 25, 2008 7:54 PM