What I'll miss when the campaign's over
I can't think of 10 things that I'm going to miss as America's endless treadmill of a presidential campaign is coming to an end.
But the fine folks at the Fort Worth paper have compiled such a list for me. (Via Twitter from Howard Weaver.)
I can think of many more things that I won't miss, but I have come up a few things I'll be sorry to see go.
1. Sarah Palin. OK. She may not go. She could be VP. But even if she is, it won't be the same. I don't think she's ready to be president, but she invigorated both the McCain candidacy and the whole race. Whether she winked or attacked or couldn't answer a question about what she reads or what the VP does, she was exciting to watch in the same way it is exciting to watch Dick Cheney hunt.
2. North Carolina mattered. For the first time, I think, in my lifetime, candidates not only cared about winning N.C., they had to care. I can't remember how many times McCain, Obama, Palin and Biden visited the state. After tomorrow, I expect we'll go back to being just another Southern state, but for four months, we were somebody.
3. People cared. 80% of Guilford County's registered voters might vote! People waited in line to vote early as long they waited on Election Day four years ago. Excitement about the electoral process. Who knew?
4. Change happens. When there's peace and prosperity, who needs change? OK, that one's off the table. These days, everyone campaigns on platform of change, but this time, I don't know, call me, naive, I think that with either candidate change will happen. Conversely, who else is sick of the word "maverick?"
5. Wonk heaven. Yeah, government policy stuff doesn't sell newspapers. Offshore drilling? Earmarks? Tax policy? No, no and no. Still, for people who watch C-Span or City Council on public access -- me -- this election has been as heavenly as waving a Saks credit card in front of Sarah Palin or posing an open-ended question to Joe Biden.
6. Lunacy run amok. Obama's a Muslim? Obama supports terrorists? Neither is a native American? Flag pins? Saluting the flag? Palin in a bikini? What? At first, I was unsettled by the amount of bogus information circulated as fact -- and that some people bought it -- then I just gave in and laughed. That so many people would consider their fellow Americans as dupes and tools had to be laughed at. By the way, I disowned the people who sent me those e-mails.
7. The amazing disappearance of Congress and President Bush. Of course, they didn't disappear, except that, where have they been? The election sucked all the air out of DC and Americans discovered they hadn't missed anything. Yeah, for a brief few days when the economy tanked, Washington politicians got the cameras back and see how that has worked out. Mr. President, let's make Congress more like the N.C. legislature -- a part-time job.
Update:
8. How could I forget free election stuff.
9. Impassioned election letters. Now we're back to complaints about parking and drivers.
Seven. Nine. That's more than a few. (Just call me Joe Biden.)
Feel free to add your own.
Comments (9)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
You are no Joe Biden.
Posted on November 3, 2008 9:50 PM
The one thing I won't miss is the predictably biased reporting of this liberal, DNC mouthpiece.
Also what won't be missed is the incessant bashing of the most popular governor in America today, and possibly ever. I'm trying to recall another 80+% approval rating two years into their term. She's just another in the long line of liberal media attempts to marginalize a successful Republican. When compared with the never ending SNL character Joe Biden, she looks like a Rhodes Scholar. Biden must have born with his foot in his mouth, and all attempts at removal have obviously failed!
To call the N&R a "news"paper is laughable. It's, in reality, a DNC Newsletter.
Posted on November 4, 2008 3:37 PM
I won't miss the fact that most people on this blog can't engage in civil discourse about anything politics-related. It's like Romper Room. And it's ridiculous.
Posted on November 4, 2008 4:07 PM
Doug, don't be so hard on yourself!
Posted on November 4, 2008 4:25 PM
I'll miss nightstick-wielding, Obama-supporting Black Panthers stationed at polling places to keep white voters from exercising their constitutional rights.
If Obama wins, we can look forward to more of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU
Posted on November 4, 2008 6:07 PM
Don't worry, Doug. I give all commenters the attention that I think they deserve.
Posted on November 4, 2008 6:38 PM
Harris, you mean like Palin does porn movies.
That what I call a serious newspaper.
Posted on November 5, 2008 12:45 AM
John,
When , a former deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania, Phil Berg, raises a legimate question, one that deals directly with the Constitution, I fail to see how that could be lunacy.
Share with us here why you consider this lunancy? I must inquire of you, did you ever take the time to read any of the court documents?
Have today's journalist and editors gotten so content with relying on snoopes, factcheck, that they fail to do their own research?
One other thing, I do not vote for one particular party. Over the years I have voted for both Dem. & Rep. candidates for Pres. and other offices. This is NOT a political, race, or gender issue. It is strictly a constitutional issue.
Quite frankly, I sincerely hope that it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he (Obama) is a "natural born citizen" and this issue can be laid to rest. Maybe his grandmother was mistaken and he wasn't born in Kenya, maybe the records of Indoenesia, (where he was enrolled in school as a child-which required that he be a citizen of Indonesia, and Indoenesia did not allow dual citizenship) were wrong, maybe, maybe, maybe.
It is Obama's refusal to just offer up the requested documents of birth, school, college loans (that would have given information on his citizenship),etc. that add layers of questions.
John, it greatly concerns me because........Pres. Bush has done a real number on the constitution, from the Patriot Act, SPP,to FISA,, ..to whatever other un-constitutional presidential directives he cooks up between now and when he leaves office.
I would just like to make sure that the next guy....AT THE VERY LEAST.....comes into office legitimately.
It is a sad day when folks raise sincere questions about important issues and the media just tries to brush them aside. Asking questions does NOT mean that one has bought into anything.....it simply means that the question deserserves a serious look.
Posted on November 5, 2008 7:36 PM
John,
Upon much reflection, ...I had to ask myself why I was so upset by what "may" be yet another assault to our constitution. And you know what.......it is just that...it is YET "possibly" another assault.
But this one, if true, is no where near as dangerous as the ones that have occurred over the past two decades.
I've decided that there are more important constitutional issues to be concerned about than the Obama "citizenship" issue. I do wish it had been addressed and answered long ago, but, it wasn't. It would serve no useful purpose now to prove/disprove the validity. It would only serve to create great unrest....in a country that does not need that added to its' struggling agenda.
Sometimes we get caught up in the "legality" of an issue without looking at the potential impact, which is exactly what happened to me. I love this country and am saddened greatly at the great "lack" of interest or care the vast majority of its' citizens demonstrate.
I do wish people would wake up and realize that day by day our freedoms, which so many take for granted, are being removed by one insidious act after the other. I would lay a bet that if ask most Americans do not know what the Patriot ACT, SPP, or FISA are even about, but they know all of the details of the latest hit sitcom or television drama.
I can only hope that Pres. Elect Obama will work to dismantle these un-constitutional acts, such as the as listed above. My hope is that he will respect the constitution and be loyal to the oath that he will take, to protect this country and the constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
Let's hope and pray that the un constitutional presidential directives stopped with the Bush adminstration.
Posted on November 8, 2008 1:08 PM