Just your standard reminder to get out and vote today. If, like me, you’re voting in a new town for the first time, and can’t find the damn letter that listed which school you were supposed to go vote at, the Commonwealth has a website to help you.
That site will also give you a sample ballot of exactly who you’ll get to vote for. In my case, tons of offices have a single Democratic candidate, and that’s it. The state also has the full list of elections, as well as explanations of the ballot questions.
It’s been a while since I was excited about voting. Being a Massachusetts resident, my vote doesn’t usually feel necessary during presidential elections, but today I felt like my vote mattered. Unfortunately, it doesn’t (at this time) look like I will be able to buy me some booze in toy stores (isn’t that what the Package Store lobby was saying?). Oh well.
Man, I’m glad I decided to actually print the google map to the school I had to vote in last night. It’s buried in the goddamn woods out behind my house, in the direction of Saugus, roughly. And the road that google suggested I take turns into a one-way in the wrong direction once it gets near the school. Going around to hit it from the other side, you see a “dead end” sign, and it turns into basically just an elaborate driveway. Once I beat the troll in hand to hand combat, I got to drive on to the actual parking lot and vote.
So, am I the only guy who, when given the “today your choice is fish!” option of some random democrat or a write-in, chooses simply to not vote for that guy? Because that was the case for basically all of my local races.
Oh, hey, anyone run into those Diebold machines they were supposedly testing in some precincts yesterday?
And the Dems sweep the House, and at the very least tie the Senate… mmmm, that’s tasty spankage, Mr. Brain-Damaged President.
Not because I love the Democrats, but because I hate the Republicans.
You might say that really isn’t a noble way to look at it. But I mean, I’ll be damned if right now, at this point in time, I am going to waste my vote on an Independent or Green Party candidate and help someone pull a Nader.
Now we can get some Congressional hearings on Guantanamo, wiretapping, and all the other Unitary Executive bullshit.
And oh yeah, good-bye, Mr. Rumsfeld. By all means let the door slam you on the way out.
Actually Carl, a large number of people voted exactly that way, just because they hate the Republicans.
As for uncontested races, ya I just skipped ‘em. But, I have decided that next time I will just write-in my own name.
As for voting for a party, and not a candidate… I still think its stupid.
Oh, and all these counts of (R) v. (D) in the Senate assume Lieberman is going to vote Democratic party line, right, even though he is not a Dem anymore? You know, Lieberman who is for the war in Iraq, and for censorship in the name of family values.
I’d been wondering about that, but hadn’t checked to be sure yet. That is pretty fucking stupid, then. Even worse, it means that wanker is going to have enormous influence on fucking everything.
Some of the notable Committee Chair changes:
Budget Committee: Kent Conrad (D) replaces Judd Gregg (NH)
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee: Daniel Inouye (HI) replaces Ted “Series of Tubes” Stevens (AK)
Environmental and Public Works: Barbara Boxer (CA) replaces James Inhofe (OK).
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee: Joe Lieberman (CT) replaces Susan Collins (ME)
If the Democrats want simply to do the ‘right’ thing, they’ll wreack havoc through use of these committees to call hearings into all the lovely abuses of power the President and his cronies have subjected this country to.
If the Democrats want to survive as the majority, however, they’ll tread lightly and be careful in what battles they pick. What’s needed here is a scalpel, not a wheat thresher. Hearings into wiretapping and the Prez’s suspension of Habeas Corpus, as well as his apparent stab at the Posse Comitatus Act, should probably be on the list. I’d let sleeping dogs lie with the immigration scene, and focus some on healthcare.
Forcing us out of Iraq, delicious and overdue as it might seem, would be political suicide. But forcing the president into a timetable would be a good move. Hanging the so-called ‘nuclear option’ out in front of the Republican minority would be a nice reminder of how the worm can turn, but then that would be petty.
The question is one of subtlety. Do the Democrats hamstring Bush outright for his last two years and hasten his lame-duck status? The political deadlock would be a waste, in my opinion. Gentle pressure is what is needed here. Gentle, but very firm, pressure. Like when someone who knows what they’re doing twists your arm just so… enough to make you squeal in pain, but not enough to dislocate your shoulder and make you useless.
Oh beauty. Senator Allen conceded the Virginia election to his Democratic opponent, James Webb. A brilliant move, considering that if his ‘macaca’ comment and other racial slurs were a metaphorical slit of the wrists, prolonging the election agony would have been a shotgun blast to the face. Maybe he can come back in 6 years and no one will remember him.
Which puts 51 Senate seats in Democratic hands (okay, 49 Dem, 2 Independent). Not quite the drubbing the Republicans got in Congress, where the balance of power has shifted enough to give the Dems 234 of 435 seats.
But it still means that the entire Legislative Branch of the U.S. Government is now in hands not Bush.
It’s a good day.
A good day that keeps getting better:
Reuters.com Story
AHHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!