The End is Near

*This image is from Ve's blog and used with his permission. The rest I can't remember where they came from.

The circus will be pulling out of town soon. I can't wait. This campaign has gone on far too long. I think the first candidates declared themselves late in the Mesozoic Era.



I irked one friend who was jumping for joy the day Obama declared himself. I refused to even consider any candidate before the calendar year in which the election would take place actually rolled around. I regularly infuriated Hillary's supporters. I left another friend stunned speechless when he was nearly orgasmic over Palin being named McCain's running partner. I ticked off a long list of her inadequacies as a running mate and said it was the most blatantly calculating and crass political maneuver I'd seen in at least a month. The entire campaign from start to finish has disgusted me completely.




I am deeply cynical about the whole process.

That said, I also feel it's a duty to cast my vote. I believe failing to vote dishonors the aspiration of immigrants who came here, who still arrive looking for freedom from tyranny and opportunities for improvement, and who contributed to the betterment of this country. I believe it dishonors the struggle of women and minorities who were denied the vote for long time after the founding of our nation. Ladies, we have not yet celebrated a century of gaining the vote. I believe it dishonors the men and women who have lived and died in harm's way to secure and maintain our freedom.


I have done what I can to be informed about the issues and I will be voting my conscience by write-in. I won't be voting for McCain or Obama.

This is a tempting write-in ticket but I'll actually take it more seriously than that.

As you know, I live in Pennsylvania which carries a lot of electoral weight. In my particular corner of the state I see ads targeting New York, Philadelphia, and rural Pennsylvania. The difference in the strategies depending upon which audience is being targeted is staggering. Quite honestly the manner in which they are addressing rural PA is insulting in the extreme. It infuriates me that both the Republicans and the Democrats seem to think the entire population here barely shares enough brain cells to form a synapse. The condescension is appalling. I've been plagued by pollsters and campaign calls for both sides. I've told the live human beings who call I don't want candidates' positions "fine-tuned" for whatever they perceive as my demographic tendencies. I want the candidates to have some actual conviction and tell me where they stand, then I'll tell them where I stand when I go into the voting booth. They don't seem to grasp those concepts. So now that this whole sordid mess is drawing to a close I'll use small words and simple concepts to get my point across to the pollsters and candidates who think polysyllabic words and big ideas are too tough for me to handle.