election day

Dear Americans: VOTE

Dana Hunter, , , ,

There won’t be normal blogging this week because I am godsdamned terrified.

I’m haunted by Brexit (CN: casual ableism). Remember how folks in Great Britain thought that staying in the European Union was a sure thing, so they either didn’t vote, or voted NO as a joke or protest, thinking they were safe – and next thing they knew, they were staring down a wrecked economy and emboldened racists? Yeah. That could happen here.

Don’t believe that Trump losing is such a sure thing that you don’t have to bother voting. Don’t believe it’s such a sure thing that you can safely vote for a third party candidate. Because there’s never a sure thing until the last vote is counted.

Vote.

Vote because we don’t only need to defeat Trump, we need to crush him and all he stands for. If we’re to have a hope of rescuing this country from the white supremacists and militias and all the other deplorables who want to burn it all down, we need to vote in such numbers that it sends a clear message to politicians who want to harness that bigotry: they are the ones who will burn. That strategy of appealing to racists and bigots and misogynists needs to fail so spectacularly that they don’t attempt it again for generations.

Vote, because if we’re going to stop global warming, we need people in office who actually believe it’s happening.

Vote, because we need to put as many progressives in power as we can, and where we can’t get the progressives we want right away, we at least get someone who leans far enough to the left to help pull us in the right direction for next time.

Vote, because we need someone with a solid liberal voting record sitting in the Oval Office, and that person is Hillary Clinton.

Vote, because the next president will decide whether the Supreme Court leans liberal or conservative, and the effects of that will be felt for decades to come. The damage a conservative court could do would not be undone for generations. Continue reading “Dear Americans: VOTE” →

Dear Americans: VOTE
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Blue AZ

jacob

Lookit my old homestead, would ye?


They let me down by voting McCain. They let me down by denying gay marriage rights. But damn if it doesn’t look like they won’t be letting me down for long.

El numeros:

District 1

Ann Kirkpatrick (D) 56%
Sydney Hay (R) 39%

District 4

Ed Pastor (D) 72%
Doug Karg (R) 21%

District 5

Harry Mitchell (D) 53%
David Schweikert (R) 44%
(Historical note: Harry Mitchell was the first Congressman I ever voted for.)

District 7

Raul Grijalva (D) 63%
Joseph Sweeney (R) 33%

District 8

Gabrielle Giffords (D) 55%
Tim Bee (R) 43%

The Cons held on to 3 seats out of all of Arizona. 3. And they got absolutely annihilated in every other district.

Beauty.

Blue AZ

Sinking In. The Numbers Help

jacob8 Comments

I’ve spent most of tonight staring in disbelief at post after post about our victory. It’s almost too much to believe. I should have gone downtown and marched in the streets with many other deliriously happy Obama fans, but I didn’t know about that little event until long after it was over.

It’s okay. I’ve been looking at some numbers. Some glorious, beautiful numbers.

First off, states:

Obama: 27 + DC
McCain: 20
Too Close to Call: 3

Arizona disappointed me, but Indiana pulled through, and it looks like North Carolina will as well. Watching a lot of Republicon strongholds fall tonight was awe-inspiring. That map’s turning bluer as we speak.

The electoral vote is delicious:

Obama: 349
McCain: 147

My darlings, this is what is known as an ass whuppin’. And it ain’t over yet.

Are you ready for your eyes to pop? Check out the current popular vote total so far:

Obama: 62,202,520
McCain: 55,207,708

Obama has already won the most votes of any presidential candidate in our history. I believe this is what we like to call a “mandate.”

And how about turnout? Not too shabby:

From the Politico …

More than 130 million people turned out to vote Tuesday, the most ever to vote in a presidential election.

With ballots still being counted in some precincts into Wednesday morning, an estimated 64 percent of the electorate turned out, making 2008 the highest percentage turnout in generations.

We have at least 55 Senate seats, with at least a hope in hell of reaching that magic 60 once the close races are called.

We picked up 17 House seats, with a few more too close to call: right now, we’re at 251-171, which I don’t have to tell you is a rock-solid majority.

We have our majorities. We have our mandate. Now it’s time for us to put them to good use.

Howard Dean’s fifty-state strategy paid huge dividends. Let’s keep that going. In 2012, I want to be able to drive from sea to shining sea passing through nothing but deep blue states.

Yes. We. Can.

Sinking In. The Numbers Help

Yes We Did

jacob4 Comments

PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA…. At 11 p.m. EST, the networks have called California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii for Barack Obama.

And with that announcement, Obama will be the 44th president of the United States.

Yes. He. Did.

Update: I’m not embarrassed to admit that I’m at a loss for words. Eleven months ago today, Obama told a group of Iowans, “You know, they said this day would never come.”

And yet, he we are. It’s an extraordinary moment to savor.

Yes, it is.

Yes We Did

First Victories

jacob1 Comment

Obama takes midnight voters by storm:

The first results are in for the 2008 general election, with the small village of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire again performing its tradition of having everyone turn out to vote at midnight and then immediately reporting the results.

And the count is a real shocker, as just read on CNN: Obama 15 votes, McCain six votes — in a place that has only voted Democratic once in the 50 years they’ve been doing this tradition.

He won Hart’s Location, NH by a vote of 17-10, too.

We’re off to a beautiful start, my darlings.

First Victories

This Is The Time

jacob2 Comments

Soon, polls will open. Americans will line up and cast their votes. Many of us will be voting for hope, change, and a future while making history.

In light of that, there’s no more fitting song for today than Savatage’s “This is the Time.” I spent a few hours tonight whipping us up a little inspiration:

This is the time,
And this is the place,
And these are the signs
That we must embrace.

The moment is now
In all history
The time has arrived,
And this is the one place to be.

I don’t think there will be another election like this in our lifetimes.

Carpe diem, my darlings. Seize the day for Obama, for America, and for us. Seize it for those who cannot:

Dear Americans, then, whom I have never met, and yet whom I love with all my heart. This is my plea to you. Do it for me. Get out the vote with every bit of strength you have.

Do what we cannot, myself and my friends and all the other Britkids from a thousand different backgrounds, who wait and hope. Because we may not be your fellow citizens, but we are your honorary fellow liberals. And we’re with you.

Seize this day for them, and for yourselves. This is our time. This is our place. This is our moment.

And remember:

Yes we can.

This Is The Time