Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[PujolJunkie]

[cardsfansince82]

I'm reading about 4-10 hour waits in early voting in Georgia.
This is madness. It's like precincts go out of their way to
make the process as inefficient and painful as possible.

Why more people don't vote absentee/mail baffles me.

I'll say it again: the election process has to change and should
be nationalized.

I early voted in Las Vegas and I was in and out in under 20 minutes. But there's like 25 places to vote here that are open from 8AM-9PM and staffed with tons of people. The one I went to had about 30 voting booths. Everything went extremely smooth until one of the volunteers who was processing my vote saw my Cardinals shirt and said, "Go Cubs." Maybe I didn't vote afterall.

[Jocephus]

I'm reading about 4-10 hour waits in early voting in Georgia.
This is madness. It's like precincts go out of their way to
make the process as inefficient and painful as possible.

Why more people don't vote absentee/mail baffles me.

I'll say it again: the election process has to change and should
be nationalized.

i agree the process needs to be changed. im sure the founding fathers never really thought there'd be 300 million + people trying to vote....

and if voting is such an important task for citizens to partake in, especially federal elections, why isn't the day a "holiday" and people dont have to work so they can vote

we have plenty of other bullsh!t holidays, we can't add one more?

[ghostrunner]

I had about a 30 minute wait when I went to vote.

In fairness, this is probably the most people that have voted in any election for a long time. Lots of new and young voters. It's also been promoted by Obama more than any candidate I can remember. I'm not sure I even knew we had it here before this year.

You have to have volunteers to work during all these weekdays, which I'm sure isn't easy. I think the needs have been more than anyone anticipated.

I do think election day should be a holiday. That's a no brainer as far as I'm concerned.

[Radbird]

Colorado's early voting system seems to be working well. We got our mail-in ballots a couple of weeks ago. We mailed our daughter's up to her college in Wisconsin, and she mailed it back in. My wife and I dropped ours off at the county clerk's office instead of mailing them back. No lines, no worries. And, based on PJ's chart, it looks like a lot of Colorado voters have taken advantage.

[GatewaySnayke]

This is from The Onion almost eight years ago and was re-posted at Kos yesterday. The sheer accuracy of this thing removes all the satire.

Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'
January 17, 2001 | Issue 37•01

WASHINGTON, DC–Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."

President-elect Bush vows that "together, we can put the triumphs of the recent past behind us."
"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

Bush swore to do "everything in [his] power" to undo the damage wrought by Clinton's two terms in office, including selling off the national parks to developers, going into massive debt to develop expensive and impractical weapons technologies, and passing sweeping budget cuts that drive the mentally ill out of hospitals and onto the street.

During the 40-minute speech, Bush also promised to bring an end to the severe war drought that plagued the nation under Clinton, assuring citizens that the U.S. will engage in at least one Gulf War-level armed conflict in the next four years.

"You better believe we're going to mix it up with somebody at some point during my administration," said Bush, who plans a 250 percent boost in military spending. "Unlike my predecessor, I am fully committed to putting soldiers in battle situations. Otherwise, what is the point of even having a military?"

On the economic side, Bush vowed to bring back economic stagnation by implementing substantial tax cuts, which would lead to a recession, which would necessitate a tax hike, which would lead to a drop in consumer spending, which would lead to layoffs, which would deepen the recession even further.

Wall Street responded strongly to the Bush speech, with the Dow Jones industrial fluctuating wildly before closing at an 18-month low. The NASDAQ composite index, rattled by a gloomy outlook for tech stocks in 2001, also fell sharply, losing 4.4 percent of its total value between 3 p.m. and the closing bell.

Asked for comment about the cooling technology sector, Bush said: "That's hardly my area of expertise."

Turning to the subject of the environment, Bush said he will do whatever it takes to undo the tremendous damage not done by the Clinton Administration to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He assured citizens that he will follow through on his campaign promise to open the 1.5 million acre refuge's coastal plain to oil drilling. As a sign of his commitment to bringing about a change in the environment, he pointed to his choice of Gale Norton for Secretary of the Interior. Norton, Bush noted, has "extensive experience" fighting environmental causes, working as a lobbyist for lead-paint manufacturers and as an attorney for loggers and miners, in addition to suing the EPA to overturn clean-air standards.

Bush had equally high praise for Attorney General nominee John Ashcroft, whom he praised as "a tireless champion in the battle to protect a woman's right to give birth."

"Soon, with John Ashcroft's help, we will move out of the Dark Ages and into a more enlightened time when a woman will be free to think long and hard before trying to fight her way past throngs of protesters blocking her entrance to an abortion clinic," Bush said. "We as a nation can look forward to lots and lots of babies."

Continued Bush: "John Ashcroft will be invaluable in healing the terrible wedge President Clinton drove between church and state."

The speech was met with overwhelming approval from Republican leaders.

"Finally, the horrific misrule of the Democrats has been brought to a close," House Majority Leader Dennis Hastert (R-IL) told reporters. "Under Bush, we can all look forward to military aggression, deregulation of dangerous, greedy industries, and the defunding of vital domestic social-service programs upon which millions depend. Mercifully, we can now say goodbye to the awful nightmare that was Clinton's America."

"For years, I tirelessly preached the message that Clinton must be stopped," conservative talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh said. "And yet, in 1996, the American public failed to heed my urgent warnings, re-electing Clinton despite the fact that the nation was prosperous and at peace under his regime. But now, thank God, that's all done with. Once again, we will enjoy mounting debt, jingoism, nuclear paranoia, mass deficit, and a massive military build-up."

An overwhelming 49.9 percent of Americans responded enthusiastically to the Bush speech.

"After eight years of relatively sane fiscal policy under the Democrats, we have reached a point where, just a few weeks ago, President Clinton said that the national debt could be paid off by as early as 2012," Rahway, NJ, machinist and father of three Bud Crandall said. "That's not the kind of world I want my children to grow up in."

"You have no idea what it's like to be black and enfranchised," said Marlon Hastings, one of thousands of Miami-Dade County residents whose votes were not counted in the 2000 presidential election. "George W. Bush understands the pain of enfranchisement, and ever since Election Day, he has fought tirelessly to make sure it never happens to my people again."

Bush concluded his speech on a note of healing and redemption.

"We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two," Bush said. "Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there's much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation's hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it."

"The insanity is over," Bush said. "After a long, dark night of peace and stability, the sun is finally rising again over America. We look forward to a bright new dawn not seen since the glory days of my dad."

[Radbird]

The Onion is often spot on with its satire, but you're right, Snayke, this is frighteningly prescient.

[Mary1966]

In Washington state, we have gone to all mail-in except for two counties, King (Seattle) and Pierce (Tacoma). I would not mind seeing all mail-in everywhere.

[Jocephus]

mccain got another big endorsement today....dick cheney

[obucard]

mccain got another big endorsement today....dick cheney

Would you buy a used war from this man?



Quite possibly the most evil man in US political history.