Matching Tracksuits

fun in fours

election

Odd Support

Wednesday 27 February 2008

In France's 2002 election, socialists and other left-wing party members backed Jacques Chirac (who is, despite what many Americans think, on the right side of France's political spectrum) in order to avoid the far right-wing Jean-Marie Le Pen from winning. That's like communists voting for Bush.

Many in America seem unwilling to do something similar.

Two things:

First, many conservatives are upset with the McCain nomination:

"I'm really depressed today because this is the first time that I find myself in a position that I will not work for the nominee (McCain)," said a caller to host Rush Limbaugh's conservative talk-radio show on the verge of tears. (Reuter's)

Second, Michelle Obama, on the possibility of Hillary winning, said:

GMA: Could you see yourself working to support Hillary Clinton should she win the nomination?

MICHELLE OBAMA: I'd have to think about that. I'd have to think about that, her policies, her approach, her tone.

GMA: That's not a given?

MICHELLE OBAMA: You know, everyone in this party is going to work hard for whoever the nominee is. I think that we're all working for the same thing. And, you know, I think our goal is to make sure that the person in the White House is going to take this country in a different direction. I happen to believe that Barack is the only person who can really do that. (Source)

It seems odd to me that people -- Democrat or Republican -- would risk someone they vehemently oppose (i.e., the opposing party's candidate) winning because they didn't like their own party's candidate.

Out Before the Count

Tuesday 29 January 2008

If Giuliani is a prize fighter and the primary season is a title bout, Giuliani just bonked his head on the way out to the ring, knocking himself unconscious to the cheers of virtually no one.

Mike’s Personal Beliefs

Monday 21 January 2008

On his "Issues" page regarding marriage, Huckabee writes,

I support and have always supported passage of a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My personal belief is that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life. (Mike Huckabee for President - Issues)

If it's a personal belief, why literally make a Federal issue out of it?

One Vote

Tuesday 22 October 2002

Sunday 27 October 2002 saw the equivalent of mid-term elections in Poland. Locally, it was time to elect a new mayor. Unlike probably any other contest in the nation, there were only two candidates to mayor.

Murzyniak

First was the incumbent, Mariusz Murzyniak. Some said he was the favorite because of his experience in the office. Yet he's an “outsider,” hired by the previous mayor and the appointed mayor when the then-mayor was elected to the Sejm (Polish Congress) a few years ago.

Jazowski

His challenger was Bogdan Jazowski, a history teacher in the high school and director of the middle school. Some said he was the favorite because of his native status. Yet his lack of political experience have counted against him.

Most of the people I asked about it during the weeks running up to the election said there was no clear favorite. That night, after the election while the votes were being counted, a friend who'd been in the office where they were counting said it was too close to call.

The results the next day are somewhat staggering. “Too close to call” is a ridiculous understatement. Murzyniak, the incumbent, won by a single vote. One vote. It seems almost too bizarre to be true.

Recall the political wrangling after the 2000 election? Count, recount, re-recount. The difference there was a matter of several thousand votes. Here, one. One. And Jazowski’s reaction when he came into the teachers' room that morning and was asked how things were? A shrug of the shoulders and one word: “przygrałem.” “I lost.”

If one who’d voted for Murzyniak had stayed home – perhaps an emergency of some sort, or sheer laziness – there would have been a tie. If two had stayed home...

Or perhaps there are two Jazowski supporters out there who didn’t go vote because they didn’t think their vote would make a difference...

One class that Monday were working on passive voice, so I introduced the lesson by talking about the election, then writing on the board, “It is said that the election was won by one vote.” Gotta see a teaching opportunity in everything . . .

New Camera and More

Sunday 17 December 2000

Election 2000

Tuesday 07 November 2000

Today is Election Day. Today America chooses its next president. And to be honest, I couldn’t care less. No matter who wins, nothing essential is going to change in America. While Clinton likes to take credit for the current economic prosperity, there’s much more to it than his presidency that made it possible. It’s like Regan and Bush taking credit for the fall of communism, as if they accomplished what six or seven presidents before had all tried but failed.

I honestly hate to hear what F is going to be saying today. “I’ll kill myself if Bush wins.” Unless

  1. Bush gets to appoint two or three Supreme Court Justices in the next year;
  2. someone gets a case challenging Roe vs. Wade before the Supreme Court within the next year or so after that;
  3. they decide to overturn Roe vs. Wade; and,
  4. Fahy gets pregnant at that point or later and wants an abortion,

then nothing is really going to change in her life. We’re all solidly middle class folks and we’re not really going to feel anything.

Yesterday at work was hellish — especially in the beginning. I had the disgusting realization that my job consists of sitting in front of a computer all day long. That’s one of the main reasons I try to write in here in the morning now — otherwise, I won’t do it. I don’t really want to come home and flip on the computer when that’s what I’ve been doing for the last nine or ten hours. Anyway, I got in and my password wasn’t working, so I spent the first thirty-five minutes of my day waiting for someone from IT to show up and re-set my password so I could get something done. Add to it the fact that in general I hate my job and it’s not difficult to see why my day got off to such a shitty start.

I had a thought yesterday about going to Lipnica. I remember trying to figure out whether I should break up with K or not and it suddenly occurred to me — the desire to break up with K is enough.1 I was trying to justify it, trying to legitimate it, when it had all the legitimation it needed. Now I’m experiencing the same thing with this desire to go to Lipnica. I keep trying to think of some way to “sell” it to C, to convince her that it’s for the best and all that nonsense. Yet I’m just doing the same thing — I’m just trying to make it sound plausible, trying to make sure that I have a response to every objection she has. In other words, to make it seem as logical to her as it seems to me, to make her say, “Oh, I see. Well, in that case, you should go. Absolutely — no question whatsoever.”

Last night we went to see Wonder Boys then stopped for sushi at Gyuama’s on Boylston afterward. The movie itself was okay — it seemed to lack direction at some points and I found that to be a little tiring, but overall I liked it. Dinner was good — I was surprised at how filling the sushi was. But that was about the extent of our evening — fairly boring in many ways, I guess. There’s a lot we could talk about, but I just don’t have the guts to bring it up.

Things like what Mona and Shrikanth said when they came over to dinner Sunday don’t help: it’s a great place — you have to stay here for as long as you can. True enough, but I don’t want not to go to Lipnica just because I don’t want to give up a nice apartment. That’s the heart of the problem — I hate living in a place where nice yet affordable apartments are so hard to come by. I’m sick of living in a place that has such an inflated opinion of itself that a two bedroom place can cost $1,000 a month and leave me thinking, “Wow, that’s a good deal.

Time to get ready to go.

With 15% reporting, here’s the results:

Electoral Vote
Bush185
Gore193
Popular Vote
Bush52% (10,193,077)
Gore46% (9,085,897)

It seems that there’s a real possibility that the seemingly unthinkable will happen: the candidate more people want as president will lose. Is that true democracy? If Gore wins on electoral votes but not on popular votes, Fahy, Bishop and others will be thrilled — but if the opposite were to happen . . .

The electoral college is nonsense anyway.

Literally, moments later:

Electoral Vote
Bush186
Gore197
Popular Vote
Bush51% (15,041,768)
Gore47% (13,850,417)

And Nader seems to be getting the support he needed:

1 That was six years ago. I find that difficult to believe now. It seemed like it took six years to make it through the first year. Now I’ve no idea where Kathe is, and I don’t really care to be honest. I finally realize that you can’t hold on to every single relationship in your life. It’s only natural that you drift apart after some time.

Election Thoughts

Thursday 02 November 2000

I really get tired of the notion some like to express that life will not be worth living if Bush wins the election. Fahy said something about being “very scared for my life” if Bush wins, then made a joke about people having to “stop me from killing myself if Bush wins.” She’s solidly middle class living a fairly typical American life — her life will probably won’t be even slightly different if Bush wins. The most that will happen is she will have to pay more or less taxes — depending on whether you buy Bush’s “plan.” But it won’t result in drastic curbing of personal freedom; even though he opposes gun control, I doubt that his presidency would result in lots of people running around with guns “legally.” In fact, I bet if I asked her, “Just how exactly will your life deteriorate if Bush wins — give me three concrete examples,” that she might not be able to provide any real reason why she’s saying this except that she’s liberal and doesn’t like the idea of a Republican — any Republican — running the country. She’s playing the role of a liberal, middle class, liberal-arts educated, white, pro-choice, Democratic woman.