Yes we did!

My thoughts are all over the place this morning as I bask in Barack Obama's historic victory. I've said it here many times and I'm going to say it again, Obama was not my first choice to be the Democratic party's nominee, but in the end he was the best choice. No other person in the Democratic party but Obama could have ignited the passion of so many people.

I never thought we'd ever see an African American man be elected President in my lifetime. I thought that we as a country were too small to get past skin color and that we'd keep electing white guys until well after I was dead. But this man Barack Obama changed all that and I'm proud to say that I voted for him and I hope do so again in four years.With his election and the gains the Democrats are making in the House and Senate races I'm on a high right now. I may not be able to sleep tonight but I could care less. This is a huge political win for us, for your kids, for blacks, for whites, for the whole world. I'm proud of my country for being the first western Democracy to elect a black man to it's highest office, especially this black man. I'm proud that we rejected the politics of fear, hatred, and division. I'm proud that McCain's shoddy 19th century campaign of vile smears, lies, distortions, and half truths was rejected and that we can all move on and begin to work to remove the stigma of the Bush years.

There's more I want to say about the campaign and this historical event and I'll get around to saying it in due time, but right now I mainly want to savor this win and to shout with all my might:

Congratulations President-elect Obama! Thank you for restoring my faith in my country!

One more day!

One more day until the big election. So please, if you have not done so already, get out and vote. If the lines are long, wait them out and vote. Vote because lives hang in the balance. Vote so we can throw the bums out and start over. Vote because this asshole has been giving us citizens, us progressives, us liberals, us folks who love freedom, equality, peace and justice the finger for the past eight years:
Vote for some of this:
If enough of you vote on election day then they can't possibly turn all of you away. They can't possibly supress all your votes. If we all act as one then we can put a family we can be proud of in the White House:
This is the most important election of our lives. Vote Obama/Biden tomorrow.

This just in...

...this past Halloween a tall scary looking black man dressed up as a Marxist socialist was seen in the streets of Chicago teaching his daughter how to swindle hard working Americans out of their candy.
In other news, John McCain shouted angry epithets at children who dared to tresspass at one of his many homes. He was overheard muttering, "Grrr, fire bad! Kids bad too!"

Hey McCain...

When you've lost the redneck vote

you might as well hang it up.

**********

Speaking as someone who has lived in the south since 1974, I 'd never thought I see the day when people like bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley and NASCAR team owner Junior Johnson not only support a black man for President but they also cut commercials for him as well. Like they used to say in those Virginia Slims ads, we've come a long way baby.

(Fez tip to Rev. John for the photo.)

Passing the torch

Obama's infomercial was nothing short of brilliant.

If you saw it and were not moved by it then your heart is made of stone. Or you're that Asian Ann Coulter wanna be Michael Malkin.

How many of you undecideds got off the fence after seeing that bit of political ad brilliance?

Here's everything you need to know about Bush McCain

He's against unions and he's against raising the minimum wage.

Bush McCain/Palin wrong for workers, wrong on the economy, wrong for America.

Vote Obama/Biden!

This just in...

...another tall black man was spotted striking another white person.

Will the McCain campaign push this story to the media?

(Photo shamelessly stolen from Yes We Can Hold Babies.)

Hey you...

...yeah you.

You know who I'm talking to here. You need to calm down and quit crying.
I know you're all apprehensive and worried about the election. You think the Republicans are going to steal another one. You know what? YOU'RE WRONG. Dead wrong. You're just making shit up to worry about. People have had it with Bush and Bush McCain. They've had it with conservative misrule and greedy power mad priggish pseudo religious Republicans. The right kind of people, and by that I mean progressives, liberals, people of color, gays and lesbians, and clear thinking independents, and forward thinking Republicans are going to band together and we are going to elect our first ever black President. We're going to vote in such numbers that our votes can't be discounted or thrown out. We're voting early, by absentee ballot, by any means necessary. We're going to win. So please, I beg you to stop whining, to stop spreading discontent and negativity, and to do something positive to help us end the Republican reign of terror. Offer to drive the elderly to the polls on election day, call your friends, neighbors, and family and remind them to vote.

Seriously, you know I love you and most of the time we're on the same page on most things, but you've got to stop your fucking whining right this minute or I'll crush your head.
I am not kidding, I will crush that melon you call a head if you don't stop scaring people with your doomsday bullshit.

Stay classy you right wingers!

Here's a truly sick quote from a right wing blog:

Obama dropped everything in the last two weeks of a heated Presidential campaign to visit his sick grandma in Hawaii today (any grandma worth her salt would have said, "don't be silly, win the presidency and visit me in two weeks).

I knew these people could not contain themselves. I knew from the second I heard he was going to visit his ailing Grandmother that they would claim all sorts of crap. I figured it would be that he was going out there to make sure that only he was in the will, but they've gone even lower than that. They're claiming he's going out to Hawaii to quash his old birth certificate that shows he was born outside of the USA, which I find really funny. The man who was born in the USA, no matter how they parse it Hawaii is in the USA, is being challenged by supporters of the man who was born outside of the USA, Bush McCain was born in Panama on a US military base.

If Sen. Obama hadn't gone to see his ailing Grandmother and she died while on the campaign trail they would have claimed he was cold, callous, politically manipulating, and unconcerned with the lives of those around him. They would have said that he cares more about getting elected than he does about the woman who helped make hm what he is today. But in their sick twisted eyes he's not only damned if he doesn't, he's damned if he does because evidently only they know what sick grandma's worth their salt would say.

I wonder if those right wing bloggers ever get tired of being the moral compass for our country? Do they ever get tired of being the only ones who do the correct thing? I hope their heads explode when Obama wins this thing in a landslide electoral college victory.

Swag Update

The fabulous Little Merry Sunshine sent me this sticker:

Yay Little Merry Sunshine! Yay blog swag!

My voting history

More than a few months ago Distributor Cap wrote a post about his voting history and today I give you mine. I'm not proud of the fact that I skipped a few elections, but anyway, here's how I've voted since 1980, the first year I was eligible to vote:

1980-John Anderson (Independent)
1984-Did not vote due to the fact I was too stoned and too drunk. It was my first senior year in college, what do you expect?
1988-Did not vote because I had just moved to Roanoke, VA and I didn't get my registration changed in time.
1992-Clinton/Gore
1996-Clinton/Gore
2000-Ralph Nader
2004-Kerry/Edwards
And I am glad to say that today, 10/20/2008, my 46th birthday, I took advantage of early voting here in my home county and I cast my ballot for Obama/Biden. I'm beyond elated that I voted for the men who are going to lead us out of the mess that George W. Bush and and John McCain have gotten us into. I am also glad to tell you that the line to vote early was a long one today, it was nearly an hour before I finally got in to cast my vote, and according to the voting officials the lines have been long ever since early voting began in TN last week. Long lines mean heavy turn out and heavy turn out means a Democratic victory.

If you can take advantage of early voting where you live then I encourage you to do so. If you have to wait until election day, then please make sure you get out and vote. One of the guests on Bill Moyers show the other night said that the best way to make sure that the Republicans and the Libertarians don't steal this election is to have a heavy turn out, so get out and vote people and make sure you encourage others to vote as well.

Endorsements for McCain and birthday wishes for me have come pouring in in the last few hours

The evil clones of Oliver Willis that the RNC has made have refused to endorse McCain as of yet but they have approved this message, "Happy birthday Dr. Monkey, you old white dude you."

The O'Keefe brothers shouted during a lull in their constant fighting that they endorse McCain but they refused to wish me a happy birthday. The little Irish bastards, I'll get them, I swear I will!

Jan, the disembodied head lady, just wishes she had a body. She could care less about me or McCain.
Offset duplicator has come out for McCainbut early '60's photo copier has decided to just wish me a happy 46th birthday.

Rocky Hansen, Juvenile Deliquent of the year, has come out for McCain.
"McCain bought me a pack of smokes. And he bought me some of that hard lemonade shit. I'm buzzing like crazy on the nicotine and the alky-hall. The old fart also said that if he got elected he'd get me a hooker so that I could touch her boobies and stuff. So hell yeah, I'm endorsing him. What have you ever done for me monkey breath?"

So take that Obama campaign, not so big with your Colin Powell endorsment now are you?

A Monkey Muck exclusive

I have managed to scoop the entire world, I obtained the notes Bush McCain made at last night's debate. His hand writing is a little messy but most of you will be able to read what was going through the old fart's mind during the debate. I now present the notes without any editing whatsoever:

Now we know why the old coot is so angry, he hasn't had a good dump in long time.

Hang in there America, the end is finally in sight and election day is coming in a few weeks. If any of you can vote early, then I'd advise you to do so because I think lines on election day are going to be long. I'll be voting this Thursday or Friday because early voting opened here in Washington County today.

Who's ya Daddy?

When our Idiot in Chief speaks about the economy the market drops. When his pal Bush McCain offers his two cents on the whole mess the market tanks. When Obama offers up a sane sensible plan to help both main street and Wall Street the Dow Jones gains almost 1000 points. Boo ya. Who's ya Daddy now America?

A sure sign Obama is going to win

The area of Tennessee where I live is very conservative, there has not been a Democrat elected to Congress from this area since the Civil War. The statewide election strategy for a statewide Democratic victory is win big in west Tennessee (Memphis), hold your own in middle Tennessee (Nashville), and don't lose too badly in east Tennessee. Given that type of climate no small business in this area would ever put sign up expressing support for a Democratic Party candidate, until this election that is. I nearly fainted when I saw this up at a local business near my house:
When businesses in one of the most conservative areas of the country put Obama/Biden signs in their front windows then it's, as we say down here, all over but the shoutin'. It's going to happen people, we're going to kick the Republicans asses in a few weeks but we can't get complacent, get off your butts and make sure you vote and remind every person you know to vote. The more votes we have the less likely they will be able to steal this one from us.

"That one."

My impressions of last night's debate:

• Bush McCain's outrage over the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was funny. He still thinks their failure is what has led to the current economic meltdown. He and his lobbyist advisers don't have a clue, or more likely won't let themselves admit, that all this has been caused by deregulation and lack of vigorous governmental oversight. His running mate is still shrieking in her shrill faux populist accent, "Government, get out of the way!"
• I, like most Americans, cringed when he called Obama, "That one."
• Obama looked cool and calm through out the whole debate. Bush McCain by contrast looked flighty and extremely rude. While Obama gave his answers Bush McCain kept moving around behind him as if to distract viewers and the times when he interrupted Sen. Obama were not only intolerable they showed what an impatient petulant old fart he is.
• I laughed out loud when Bush McCain said he knew how to "fix" Social Security. He said several times that it is going to be easy to "fix" it and that he knew how. The problem is he didn't go into specifics, he just claimed that he knew how to fix it. I'm not sure what he's got in mind but I damn sure know how to fix it and I'll tell you my plan for making it solvent until the end of time: under the current system you only pay SSI tax on the first $96,000 (or something close to that figure anyway) and after that you pay nothing on the rest of your income. I would remove that cap so that all incomes no matter how high they got would all pay the same SSI tax rate. Bingo, problem solved.
• Tom Brokaw hated not being part of the debate more than he was. His little remarks about how little time they had were annoying as hell. If you had so little time Tom, then why did you waste more of it by carping about it?
• They just had to stick a question in there about supporting Israel. Holy shit, is there anyone in this country who doesn't think that we won't attack Iran or someone else if they fuck with Israel? Give it a rest already, it's foregone conclusion. How about next time instead of asking about protecting Israel you ask about protecting us from greedy rapacious corporations who want to devour all the wealth and natural resources they possibly can? How about a question or two about the growing gap between the haves and have nots? How about a question on poverty?

This picture from last night's debate really sums up for me the essence of this race, Obama is the clear strong favorite, the candidate of the future who happened to win today. And Bush McCain is the fuzzy old man who has been left behind, just like his failed discredited conservative policies have been, as the country as moved on into the future.

Which Bush McCain will you vote for?

I found this over at Pulp Friction. Thanks for posting it first Karen!

There's no debate...

...that Bush McCain was extremely disrespectful of Sen. Obama and moderator Jim Lerher last night. Lerher asked him time and again to address Obama specifically but he refused to do so. And his refusal to look at Sen. Obama showed that the old man is either afraid to face his opponent directly or he's just being a petulant childish man once again. I don't know about you but I want a President who will look our friends, allies, and others in the eye when he negotiates or deals with them.

It seemed to me that James Carville, the master of repeating talking points over and over until weak minded people start to believe them as truth, had coached Bush McCain on his debate style. McCain kept repeating his talking points over and over and he did his best to even stuff them into answers where they had no business being.

My advice to Obama is that at that next debate he stop saying that the old fart is 'right.' The old man is not right, he dangerously wrong and he gave every indication that he'll keep the bull headed 'diplomacy' we've had for the past eight years.

What are you doing to help your country in this time of financial crisis?

I'll tell you what you're doing, unlike Sparky and I, you aren't doing a damn thing. We, on the other hand, are keeping all your sorry asses afloat by selling our condo and buying a house. And let me tell you people I'll be damn glad when it's all over with.

We've spent our entire summer either getting our place ready to sell, looking for a new place, and stressing out over doing both those things. We got tossed out of our place when prospective buyers came by to see our condo and we had many people tossed out of their homes when we went to look at their houses. Finally when we agreed to sell our place to our buyers we then had to worry about finding another house to buy after one that we made an offer on had major problems with it. Thankfully we found a great place and we move in on Tuesday.

While I will never put the address of our new homes on this blog and I also will never put a photo of the outside of the house on here, I will tell you that it's a great house. If someone would have told me that we'd end up buying this house when we started out all this months ago I would have told them they were crazy but here we are with a great house in a super neighborhood. We are both excited as anything to be moving out of the condo we currently have and into the new place, in fact we got so excited that we couldn't stand it yesterday afternoon so we drove by the new house and as we drove past it we noticed that one of our new next door neighbors had an Obama '08 yard sign in their yard. Sparky and I both squealed with delight when we saw it. I'm never going to tell on this blog how much we got our new house for because I know some smart ass will leave a comment that says something like, "You couldn't buy a show box for that price where I live." But I will say this, we got a good deal on what to us is a lot of house.

In just a few days we'll be out from under the condo association, take possession of our new place, and move in. And when we become masters of our own home destiny then all this stress, all the worry, all the bull shit, all the hard work we did getting ready to sell our condo, all the hard work we did packing up our stuff will have been worth it because we will be in the last house we'll ever buy, barring either of us winning the Powerball and or Mega Millions jackpots that is.

So that's what we're doing to help the economy, we're buying a house, paying movers, and buying some stuff to go in our new place. We're doing all we possibly can, now it's time for you slackers to do your share too.

Self aggrandizement first, country second

So old man McCain wants the campaign to stop so he can go help bail the country out of the problems his deregulation hath wrought. How noble of him. How very noble.

Except it's not. It's a ploy and we all know it.

He wants us to say, "Oh gosh, what a selfless old man. How kind that he's putting politics behind and working to save our country." Well, if I was dropping like a rock in the polls in every swing state then I'd want a break too. If the bump I got when I made my cynical politically calculating choice for Vice President was was wearing off and people were noticing how inexperienced, unintelligent, and downright creepy she was, then I'd want some time off too. If my campaign bungled everything it touched then I'd want take a couple of days off as well. His selflessness looks now like timidity. If the shit hits the fan, and I apologize for using the word "fan" in front of you all, is he going to take a day or two off if by some miracle he gets elected? I can hear him now, "Oh no! The Russians are being mean to me and Congress won't pass my bloated budget and my the lobbyists who ran my campaign are mad as well, it's time to suspend my Presidency so I can have a nap. And for god's sake, don't let that idiot Palin touch anything while I'm sleeping. Hey, you know when I was a POW I didn't get much sleep. That's how the Viet Cong rolled."

Holy crap. Was this old fart the best thing the Republicans had to offer? The man who was admonished by his US Senate peers in the Keating 5 scandal? The man who has always been for deregulation except for when his chances of becoming President slip? The who won't let his running mate speak to the press or campaign with out being by her side? Holy fuck, this man is not ready to be our President, he's ready for a nursing home or a shuffle board court. And that's some straight talk you can take to the bank my friends, unless your bank has gone out of business in the latest financial meltdown that is.

Vote Obama/Biden and let's get our country back on track. Enough of the libertarian conservative Republican religious right wing bullshit. They've almost ruined us once more, it's time to put some intelligent grown ups in office again. We've had enough of petulant rich white guys who shoot from the hip and make decisions on the fly.