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Many other bloggers that I highly respect are saying what I've been saying for quite some time: the big issues in this election were not terrorism and national security. Not at all.

Joe at the Evangelical Oupost notes:

"It was embryo destruction, not the economy. It was partial-birth abortion, not terrorism. It was same-sex marriage, and not the war in Iraq. If you want to see what killed the Democrats chances of regaining the White House just look at the issues we’ve been discussing on this blog for the past year. Exit polls show that in many states, “moral values” was a bigger issue than either the economy or terrorism. One in five voters throughout the Midwest was an evangelical. In Ohio, the state that will put the President over the top, that number was 25%, with Bush taking 75% of the evangelical vote.

The mainstream media, of course, will be shocked by this outcome. They shouldn't be."

Joshua Claybourn noted the same thing:

"In my estimation, there is a stronger undercurrent driving this election; something more than terrorism or the economy. That undercurrent is a culture war pitting traditional values against more progressive ones. In 11 states voters approved constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage, making it a clean sweep for advocates of marriage's traditional definition. Churches and value-driven voters came out in droves, and when they did they voted overwhelmingly for the president. Karl Rove has always said that nearly 4 million evangelical voters didn't vote for Bush in the 2000 election and they had every intention of changing that."

I think the word for the day (and the next four years) is "unity". President Bush has a tough job ahead of him.

(Update 8:16 PST) NBC just reported that John Kerry called President Bush to concede.

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Me and my credentialed self are calling it a win. Take that for whatever it's worth. When it's official, I have some emails to shoot to a few commenters who've contended with me for 8 months that Kerry would win. I'm pretty good at gloating when it turns out that I'm right.

So it seems the youth did not vote. They only made up 17% of voters which is the same number as last year. But that's according to the pollers who talk to the drunken college students. Yep, the reasons for this apathy will be my column topic next week.

I did however, have a chance to put together what I feel are some of the best pictures of November 2nd > >

Continue reading "It's Bush">>>

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As lifted from a comment someone left on Dooce.com

"Have any of you actually been polled before? Exit polls? or Polls the months before the election? Where are these people who get polled? I don’t know of anyone who has ever been polled. Anyone? Anyone?"

Last month I asserted that the people being polled are drunken college students. Please. Somebody prove me wrong.

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Okay, I totally lied about my lack of voting day excitement. Seriously, this has been the most amusing day on the job that I've had all year, hands down. I generally make it a point not to speak on political issues in my place of work. Usually I find it unprofessional. That is, I won't bring up the subject voluntarily. But if you however, decide to start talking about who you voted for and why, and just commence to making stuff up, talking out of the side of your neck, don't think I won't have something to say.

In two separate meetings today, mini-debates broke out. These were not political meetings; these were business meetings. These were regular, everyday official gatherings typically marked by "Hi how's it goin'?" and "Can you believe the weather?" and "I'm so glad the Red Sox won!" and "How's that sore shoulder?" type of surface and superficial talk. Apparently, people take off their politically correct skin on election day. Throw out all inhibitions! Say what ever you want! Suddenly, everyone's a pundit and a scholar. Even little miss silent Nellie over there in the corner had something to say. In passing, people declared who they believed would be the winner. Others gave me their unsolicited opinion that President Bush should be shut down because, "The entire world hates America."

Umm, okay. Got the facts to back that one up?

"I mean like, I get totally bothered because like, I like have friends in France and they tell me most people in their country can't stand Americans."

(pause)

Since when does anyone care what the French have to say? Now if your friend was British, the claim might have some credibility. In which case, we'd just retort by insulting their cooking.

Yeah, no more workplace conversations about politics, that's for sure.

The news crews are outside doing something suspicious. Cannot confirm. I got an email from a newspaper reporter asking me for an interview, wondering if I felt the election would be predicted via weblogs. Forgive me in advance for lying and suggesting that Nykola.com just might be place to come for all the latest-breaking news. For the record folks, this is as close as I'll ever come to live-blogging (that is, sharing my random tidbits and streams of consciousness).

I feel left out as I voted absentee and have no harrowing tale of pushing my way through the crowds with my fist in the air to cast my vote. Perhaps I'll go down to the polls anyway just to hang with the crowd. Maybe do a few songs, tell a few jokes, sell movie-style concessions for inflated prices. Or perhaps I could run a special "Fashion Faux-Pas Election Day Special" where my camera captures the world's worst get-ups donned by Ralph Nader supporters. I did read somewhere that someone overheard the following spoken while in line to vote in Washington D.C.:

"I think all the ones with the white headphones are voting for Kerry."

Heh.

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As illustrated by my not so favorite sold-out Democrat blogger Markos Moulitsas at the "Daily Kos" who recently noted his polling experience:

"I voted for a bunch of Democrats and against a bunch of ballot initiatives (with a handful of exeptions). I still hate ballot initiatives.

I also hate non-partisan offices. How the heck am I supposed to know the best choice for the the local community college or public transportation citizen boards? Give me a party ID, and at least I feel like my vote is grounded in some sort of rationality.

Oh I dunno Kos. Maybe use your brain. Analyze the issues? Think? Yeesh. Political party thinking rears its pretty little head.

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Okie dokie. Time to get serious. After my much needed attitude check, I think I'm ready to acknowledge what is a very important day in the history of this country. And if I had forgotten, the lovely plastic "The NAACP Says Vote" signs scattered about the city were there to remind me. While some of my outside roles don't really allow me to publicly endorse a candidate, I've already stated my thoughts on what I feel is important to consider in this election. Then there's always that not-so-subtle donning of a particular pink t-shirt last month on a day that shall officially go down in history as "the day I was disowned by my family". But at least you know I have some style.

The only thing that separates today from every other day of this blessed campaign is that the whiners and complainers must finally align their actions with their words and be doers. And for sanity's sake, let us all pray that the aligning of the actions with the words is a peaceful (and legal) endeavor. And personally, I think that anyone who hasn't exercised their voting privileges today should keep their mouth shut as it relates to politics for the next four years.

Continue reading "My Dosage of Election Day Seriousness">>>

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(photo courteosy of Rion Nakaya)

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The Neglected Ones

I wrote this a few weeks ago, so it doesn't take into account Eminem's latest recklessness.

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I get quite a bit of traffic from UrbanDictionary.com. It seems they've quoted me on something good I said about their site. It was an "Ambra & Ebert" moment I guess. It still remains, one of my favorite online hang-outs. It's a completely user-submitted dictionary of slang, idiomatic expressions, cultural icons and redefinitions of words. I personally find it rather intelligent (save some foul language) and it's also a good pulse on the mind of the "younger" generation.

Recently, I happened upon the dictionary's entry for Bill Clinton. Well actually, make that 69 entries. It seems people have quite a few definitions for Mr. Billy. To be honest, I was rather shocked at the consciousness that I found in the in the majority of the entries. Here are a few:

(Entry #1)
Bill Clinton: 1. To inherit a good economy when taking office while passing a recession off while leaving office
2. To create sperm stains.
3. To smoke but not inhale
4. To not remember yesterday as president under oath, yet when term is over, the ability to write memoirs on your life.
5. To lie under oath

(Entry #4)
Bill Clinton: Immoral president, not the first black president despite popular belief (All of you guys that are saying that he's the first black president, is because you saw a stand up comedian say it, and the joke wasn't funny at all).

See: Liar.

(Entry #8)
Bill Clinton: The fall of Western civilization.

(Entry #16)
Bill Clinton: Bad Guy. Horrible President.

(Entry #21)
Bill Clinton: plain and simple the reason for 9/11

And who said my generation wasn't paying attention?

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I'm not even sure what to make of Bush's most recent interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" where he spoke out in favor of civil unions, The San Francisco Examiner reports:

"Some conservative groups expressed dismay Tuesday over President Bush's tolerance of state-sanctioned civil unions between gay people -- laws that would grant same-sex partners most or all the rights available to married couples.

"I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that's what a state chooses to do so," Bush said in an interview aired Tuesday on ABC. Bush acknowledged that his position put him at odds with the Republican platform, which opposes civil unions."

How embarrassing. Is he now mirroring Kerry's stance? This was only one of the many things I took fault with in the President's interview. This election should be one for the books. My only prayer is that it goes down peacefully (only in a dreamworld).

Oh and Andrew Sullivan endorsed John Kerry as the "right choice for Conservatives"? How predictable. Yeah, sorry to say, but I called his bluff a few months ago. This stuff is so tired...

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