11/7: My Election Day Not-So-Spectacular
Well this is great. Since 1996 I have always been nervous about each national election, whether it be presidential or mid-term. I kept thinking in each of these elections that the GOP would lose all of their congressional seats and get clobbered in the White House contest. Each time I have been proven wrong for the most part. In ’96 I knew Dole was going to lose, but I was surprised Republicans kept both the House and Senate. In ’98 I predicted the GOP would lose seats in Congress, and they did. However, the losses weren't as bad as I was expecting. In fact, I actually felt kinda smart because the conventional wisdom was that Republicans would gain seats. Then there was the 2000 election – heh. Thank you far-sighted Jews too stupid to properly vote via punch card. I was predicting in the 2002 election that the GOP would lose seats, which is what normally happens when the President’s party is in power during an off-year election. Wrong-o. Then there was 2004. Bush’s re-election. Republican House. Republican Senate. Each election I was expecting the worst, and each time I was proven wrong.
So now, for the first time since I became eligible to vote, I express some confidence that Republicans won’t lose majorities in the House and Senate (I don't expect them to gain seats; my head isn't that far up my ass) and every poll and pundit out there is telling me to prepare for the worst. Figures.
• Here’s reason #2310 why I don’t subscribe to the Shittsburgh Post-Gazette. As I was trying to find some information about local races, I came across this gem of an editorial regarding John Kerry’s recent, “Don’t study in school and you'll end up in Iraq fighting off insurgents,” remark. Now I’m not surprised that the PG came to Kerry’s defense. That’s totally understandable. Here is how the editorial started out:
Not funny: Kerry's botched joke draws an overheated reaction
Generals get accused of fighting the last war but they're not the only ones: Some Republicans think past political battles provide better ammo than today's fight. Witness the phony furor over John Kerry's botched joke.
During a rally at a college in Pasadena, Calif., Mr. Kerry said: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."
A reporter on the scene said the context of the remark was a series of one-liners about President Bush. A Kerry spokeswoman indicated the senator had departed from his prepared text, which was: "Do you know where you end up if you don't study, if you aren't smart, if you're intellectually lazy? You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush."
In the garbled way it came out, it can be taken both ways -- critical of the troops and of Mr. Bush. Not surprisingly, the administration was delighted to take it the first way.
In a rational world, Mr. Kerry might be given the benefit of the doubt. He is, after all, a decorated Vietnam veteran who led U.S. servicemen in combat in a way that few of his pious critics ever did. That didn't stop Mr. Bush's supporters from trashing the senator's wartime record in the 2004 campaign…
OK, now I'm a bit skeptical on whether or not Mr. Kerry served in Vietnam (I need to get verification of that rumor), but for the most part, there is nothing earth-shattering so far with this editorial. Then I came to this:
Sen. Kerry's remarks only reinforced the false image so carefully constructed that he is an effete, elitist character not to be trusted with national security.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. This is why I look to the “Opinion” section of a newspaper for my funnies and toss the comics aside.
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