I’m back, albeit in a limited capacity.1 One of the problems that I mentioned from last Saturday was an ill family member. Unfortunately, that family member has died. And today was his funeral. He was TheMan’s grandfather and was an exceptionally good man. Since he was also Millie’s father, his illness and subsequent passing meant the bat signal was sent out all across the land and relatives from the four corners of the U.S. came to stay for a few days. Except for Sunday and a big part of Monday, I’ve been with family every day this week. I’m exhausted.
At any rate, I was able to scan the news today (not a whole lot of the outside world made it to me the last few days) and noticed that Iowa is having primaries today. Today is a fucking Thursday. They picked today so that they could continue to be the first state in the union to hold primaries. On a Thursday.
Can someone please explain to me why we give a flying monkey’s butt about Iowa anyway? Why the hell are they and itty-bitty New Hampshire so all important in this process? I read that the total of Iowa’s registered voters doesn’t even equal the total population of some cities in other states. Is this right? Probably. So why the hell are the candidates chewing their nails over their primaries? I DO NOT get it. Honestly.
Oh, yeah. Why the hell did Hillary’s guy on the ground (I don’t care enough to find out his name because I’m here in limited capacity, dontcha know) argue with the results of an unscientific poll? Are they worried that the votes they paid for earned aren’t coming their way? Give me a damned break. I swear to all that is good and holy I WILL vote for MICKEY MOUSE before I’ll cast a vote for that woman. I can’t even stand it anymore. This is getting to the point that I almost, maybe thought of switching parties. I will not pick between her and McCain/Romney/Batshit-crazy Huckabee/Ron Paul2 *gag*. Nope. Not gonna do it.
Speaking of Mickey Mouse, doesn’t my main man Dennis resemble him in an older than dirt, but FUCKING AWESOME kind of way? Yuppers, I think so too.
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Sphere: Related Content- The title of this post has absolutely nothing to do with what’s contained herein. I’m just completely insane, is all. [↩]
- This guy scares the crap out of me. And so do his supporters. More on that later. [↩]
Site Tags: Go Dennis!, Hillary bites, Is the election over yet?, Ron Paul scares the shit out me
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11 Comments
First, condolences on TheMan’s grandpa. Also, on having to deal with bunches of family members. And on your toe if you really did stub it and aren’t lying like a slimy politician. I’ve been whining to Jeff about Iowa for two weeks now. It’s completely fucked up. First that this stupid little state gets to have so much influence, and second because their “caucus” thing is so dopey. Why can’t they just have ballot voting like normal people? But at least there’s corn there. I like corn. What in the fucking hell is New Hampshire good for? I guess skiiers [this word doesn't look right with either one eye or two] like it. Anyway, I can’t wait until we don’t have to hear about either of these two silly states for four more years. Hillary screwed up her Pakistan info, which makes me wonder about her ONLY qualification, “experience.” I thought Obama was too “naive” to be Prez, but so far I haven’t seen him get facts wrong. But Dr Zen and my father like Edwards, so maybe I’ll just vote for him and I won’t have to think about it anymore. Just kidding.
Thank the gods you have this typo-fixing thing because I made like eleventy hundred of them.
So sorry to hear about your family loss. That sort of thing is always tough. Many thoughts and prayers to you and your family.
In case you haven’t seen the results, Hillary placed 3rd. Obama won, Edwards second. I was thinking about the voter turnout and the primary process while watching the news hour last night. Someone mentioned whether it’s right that such a small portion of the population gets to pick a presidential candidate. But then it occurred to me that when you look at primary turnouts, you only get maybe 10 to 20% of registered voters coming out. Even the general election, if you get more than a 50% turnout, it’s a banner year. One of the biggest problems in our political process is that not enough people care enough to even get out and vote. You look at local election turnout and it’s less than 30%. Basically we’ve got a minority of the people in this country deciding who are leaders are. THAT’s what we need to fix.
Also, what happens in Iowa isn’t always an indication of who will be the candidate. Many a candidate has won in Iowa but not been the candidate. There’s still a LONG way to go in the process.
The problem with voting is the fact that it’s considered a duty in a country where duty itself is no big deal because it’s all about the individual, not the group. That approach would work in Japan, but falls flat here. I think that if voting were a right that you have to earn, like driving, more young people would want it. Make people take some tests to get a license and they’ll start lining up for it.
Making sure that all districts have sufficient means would also help. I can sympathize with people who would skip this election because they don’t feel the last two were on the up and up.
As for Ron Paul, I did some research on your objection to him. To be frank, I don’t see much evidence for it. The racist remarks I see mainly attributed to an employee who was promptly fired. It seems very similar to the thing with Edwards and Catholics. I know that ultimately they are responsible, but any organization can hire a few squeakers now and again. It seemed to be an isolated incident, rather than a pattern of behavior, as well.
Frankly, I don’t know why we have primaries at all. Why can’t we have multiple candidates, and any party, on the ballot? I’ve had people tell me that more than two options on the ballot is too confusing. How dumb is that? When it comes to dinner at a restaurant, people can choose from dozens of options, but more than two candidates for President causes mental shutdown?
I share your confusion about the whole Iowa/NH thing.. well… I know how it works, but I don’t see the sense in it… Still, you must have gotten a good bellylaugh out of seeing Hillary crash and burn, Jenny!
On a more serious and important note, I’m sorry to hear about your family’s bereavement.
So sorry to hear about your family member. I don’t even think I am going to vote. I HATE ALL the candidates!
I did wonder why Iowa got to set the pace and thought that maybe it was a traditional thing from George Washington days or something and stopped thinking about it. I do tend to explain away anything i don’t understand about your elections with it must be a George Washington thing.
I assumed the caucas thing around the states was just a way to gently whittle down the field but i see a Super Tuesday (or someday) is looming so i am confused again.
I’m so sorry.
Why is it that the most awesome country in the the world (only my opinion of course) should attract a pack of morons, sycophants, and ineffective old farts to lead it? It’s just sad. GW himself is a prime example and we elected him twice, mostly because the alternative was absolutely unacceptable. It makes you want to weep. Surely such a great country could find ONE DECENT PERSON who is also dumb enough to run for an office where you will immediately be blamed for every single problem since the dawn of time?
Miz UV,
Mwahahaha!!!
I don’t get the caucus thing or why Iowa rates. Unless we start using corn oil for our cars. Then it’ll make sense. Right now? Not so much.
Synwynd,
Voter turnout is really sorry no matter how you look at it. People just have “better things to do” or they’re “confused” or whatever. Take away that right and the people would wake up then. Right? It’s very sad for me, especially as a woman who would not be able to vote at all not so very long ago, to see so many people shrug it off.
Joe,
I don’t think we should be issuing voter “licenses”- ever. As it is now, though, in Ohio you’re expected to show proof of citizenship before you go to the electronic voting machine to cast a ballot. I really, really dislike that and am choosing to vote absentee. Which, of course, leaves me even more open to government intrusion, but I feel better for it. Unfortunately voting in this country is starting to feel a lot like wasting of the time because there are so many people behind the curtain tweaking shit to make sure their side comes out on top.
If anything, I think that voting should be mandatory for every adult in this country and that all electronic voting machines be thrown into the deep blue sea.
RE: Ron Paul. I saw that it was his “employee” writing in newsletter for his people under his name. A newsletter that Ron Paul now says he didn’t see and didn’t have a chance to approve before it was mailed. I say bullshit to that. That’s the typical fucking copout and I don’t believe it. Sorry. This explanation is just spin and doesn’t endear the man to my heart.
Go Dennis!
Cheezy,
Oh, you know I loved it. Of course, I only began reading reactions to her today, so I didn’t have a chance to blog about the booing. Mwahahaha!!! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that she receives the same reaction everywhere else.
Did you see where she threatened to go “dirty” now that Obama is winning? Is she smoking crack? She’s already done that and look what’s happened. Ha!
AntiBarbie,
I am a big proponent of voting, even if you don’t like the candidates. I plan on writing in Dennis Kucinich’s name even if he doesn’t win the nomination (a process I consider completely useless and arcane). It’s especially important for women to vote in this country, in my opinion, because we haven’t had the “right” for so long. And it could be taken away from us if the “right” people get in power.
I look around the world and there are so many places where women are still treated as chattel and don’t have a voice in their country’s politics, so I feel powerful and honored when I cast my vote. There were a lot of women that struggled and suffered to give me this right. And I honor them when I go into a voting booth. No matter how sick I am of the current political cesspool.
Lucy,
Don’t try to understand. It will just make your brain turn to mush. I don’t get it either. It’s a complete waste of resources and time, if you ask me. Of course, I’m not counting on bit ‘caucuses’ to get me in the White House. Heh.
Karen,
A country where money buys prestige and power. It’s not about how smart and qualified an individual is anymore. It’s about how many times they show up on the t.v. screen and spout awesome talking points. The decent people are too decent to campaign in such a way that would get them lots of air time (sucking up the dollars that could go to something better) and make them look a little better (no mudslinging or character assassination). The days of decent people rising to power are gone now. We mourn them.
“If anything, I think that voting should be mandatory for every adult in this country and that all electronic voting machines be thrown into the deep blue sea.”
I agree about the machines, but disagree about removing the freedom to not vote. After all, are we then going to pay the police to track down and ticket everyone who does not? How about the expense of figuring out who might have missed for a good reason, such as being hospitalized? No, if we are going to create more bureaucracy around voting, I think the licensing idea would be much cheaper and far less intrusive. I have doubts that democracy can work by force here or anywhere else, fewer doubts about people wanting what’s just been put out of reach.
As far as calling bullshit goes, that’s your right. However, since the folks holding that position are in the very vast minority as far as my research goes, you’ll have to forgive me for seeing that as being very similar to the “Jimmy Carter is an antisemite” stuff.
Ok then. How about making registration a requirement? That would be no more difficult to police that the requirement of men to register for the draft. I agree that neither way will raise the number of active voters in this country, to be honest, and it’s just wishful thinking on my part. I think that anyone that doesn’t take part in the election process is throwing away their voice and would love to see numbers way above 50%. I doubt, though, that anything will make that happen. That’s especially true for folks that remember November 2004 and what happened in many locations that invalidated their votes then. I won’t rehash all of that, of course, but it’s disheartening and getting rid of the rigged machines is the best way to go.
As far as Ron Paul v. Jimmy Carter, I don’t see the correlation. Carter was not running for president when he wrote his book and was in fact not criticizing a race of people when he wrote it. He was speaking out against a government entity, though many people connect the two for reasons of which I’m not entirely clear. Paul says “Oops, I didn’t know” about a newsletter that was sent out to his base of supporters. He is running for president now, which to me is the biggest difference between the two.
Either way, it doesn’t matter. I don’t trust him. He scares the crap out of me and I will not support him in any way, shape or form. Historical views are important to me and I see nothing in his history that impresses me.
Oh, I’m not soliciting support. Not at all. That’s HIS job, and I’m not voting for him myself, anyway. I’m just speaking to the the accuracy of that one issue, that’s all. He IS running for president now, but that doesn’t mean that every mistake he’s ever made should count against him. I’m sure you know from our past discussions on racism that if he was exhibiting a pattern of any sort I’d be against him. As it is, I see it, once again, as an even more tepid example (due to the fact that it was some time ago) of the recent Edwards newsletter thingie.
“That would be no more difficult to police that the requirement of men to register for the draft.”
I don’t know how they police that. Do they? My mom policed that particular duty with an iron fist. There’s nothing like a mother’s love. Anyway, is that really what we want to do?
You know, I think I can take two different debates and solve two problems. Instead of deer, elk, and rabbits, people who vote can be allowed to hunt those who do NOT.