Run out the clock

Obama supporters have to be cautious to the point of Mexican-junky-Cubs-fan-pessimism to avoid this morning's obvious conclusion:  Our candidate is walking away with the significant measures, and McCain gained no ground last night.

But I think Democrats are wise to remain alert. Regardless of what you think of McCain, his party contains some people who simply don't like to lose, and changing the game is now their only hope.

Why be vigilant? Because the history of political polling and race is reason alone to doubt the numbers we're seeing today. And because of Florida in 2000. And Ohio in 2004.

America's mainstream media (for reasons that go far beyond the scope of this post) doesn't like to talk about those stolen elections in polite company. That left it to Democratic political operative (and Not-My-Favorite-Human-Being) James Carville last night to acknowledge everyone's unspoken fear of yet another voter-thwarting GOP election fraud:

But you stop and contemplate this country if Obama goes in and he has a consistent five point lead and loses the election, it would be very, very, very dramatic out there.

That's putting it mildly. So let's keep our focus, boost our electoral margins beyond their ability to tamper with them and run out the clock on the last ugly days of the Bush era.

Comments

[Agricola]

Xark.....quit drinking the kool-aid. The trusty shibboleths about Florida and Ohio have been investigated by the major press organs and found to be NOT TRUE. We won't talk about Michigan, Washington, and a few other states where ACORN et al did some marvelously fraudulent work. "That one" is probably going to squeeze it out in November, but if he doesn't, give the process its due and accept that more votes were freely given to the old guy. What with you guys and stealing elections....you'd think you were sensitive or something (like, say, JFK in Chicago in '60).

[Daniel]

No doubt: JFK's father fraudulently and criminally stole Chicago with the help of Mayor Daley in 1960, and in doing so robbed Richard Nixon of the presidency. Ironically, things sure would have turned out better for JFK had this not taken place, and sometimes I think things might have turned out better for all of us if the will of the people had not been thwarted in 1960 by the Democratic Party.

And you'll forgive me if I lack faith in those "major press organs" (boy, does that sound like a euphemism or what?). I think Ohio was theft, and the exit polling suggests I'm right.

If the pre-vote polling and the exit polling and the results all add up to the same picture, Democrats will accept whatever comes. If the results are anomalous again, no amount of official institutional reassurance will satisfy me. That's a future I don't want to ponder.

[Kerri]

Uh, let's ask Al Gore about what happens to the guy who gets more votes. Not to mention that other "x" factor, the Supreme Court.

[janet]

Don't mean to pick on you, Ag, because this comes from reading obsessively for says now. But honestly if i see the phrase "drinking the kool-aid" one more time, in any permutation, by either side, i'm going to save my employer a lot of trouble by just having my head explode.

for gawd sake, can we just express our views without behaving as if everyone who disagrees with us is a non-thinking, uncritical moron?

we all benefit from the lively exchange of ideas because hey, we might not be 100% right on everything.

Well, you guys, anyway. I'm infallible.

[janet]

The above typo does not change my unerring rightness.

[Peg]

Agricola, at first I thought you were being ironic, making a joke, but now that I understand you're posting in seriousness, I have to say I hope you will do a little more reading. For example, the Ohio (a state I bid a not-so-fond farewell to) mess has been documented.

[Agricola]

I swear I will never use kool aid metaphor again. Could the group allow me to use, say, "Xark, have you been hitting the pipe again?", or "Xark, did you stay up all night?"

Peg, documented by whom, or put another way, have charges been filed? I swanny (no offense intended), have we all given up on objective facts, or are we all now believing that b/c someone makes a claim, it is therefore true. PoMo run amok!

Janet: Having read your recent posts, I bow before your infallibility. I hope never to be in the sights of your rhetorical arrows....

[Agricola]

Well, Peg, if you are still reading, I did find some documentation and charges filed:

http://tinyurl.com/4wwxv2

Check it out..........

[Peg]

@Agricola, To name one, the congressional report (Jan. '05), result of 5-week investigation, Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio.

[Daniel]

Here's the annoying part: I've really been MEANING to start hitting the pipe again, thinking, you know, "THAT would be fun now that I'm unemployed for the first time in, like, my ENTIRE ADULT LIFE..." and I can just never FIND THE TIME to do it.

Note to self: Pencil in some unstructured pipe time. Slacker.

[janet]

yes, "hitting the pipe again" or "shooting up again" or any references to crack would be acceptable.

Since I typed that mini-rant I've seen "kool-aid" in THREE more pieces. So, I guess my head won't really explode, just hurt a lot.