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Six Days . . .

November 2, 2006 1:20 AM

he elections are in six days. That means that, in six days, we get to see if Wisconsin will be the first state in the country with voters intelligent enough to reject a constitutional ban on gay marriage. While I'd love to believe that the people of my state are not ridiculously homophobic, I doubt that we'll be able to pull it off.

I don't understand why people support this thing. No one, not a single person, has been able to explain to me how allowing gay people to marry would hurt anyone, let alone straight people who are married or would like to marry. It just doesn't make any sense. On the other hand, you've got people who want to marry someone they love but aren't allowed to simply because the two people are of the same sex. Seriously, does that make sense? I hope Wisconsinites decide it doesn't.

Of course, November 7th will also decide who gets to control the House and the Senate. While the Democrats are in some very close elections throughout the country, I just don't think that they can get the six seats they need to take over the Senate. They might be able to pull off the House, but even that seems unlikely.

And John Kerry sure isn't helping. Here's video of the infamous comment:

Kerry claims that he meant to say

I can't overstress the importance of a great education. 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.
Who knows if that's the truth. But, whatever, the Republicans were quick to pounce, and their comments were as predictable as they are effective: "See, we told you the Democrats hate our troops." The whole thing is a fucking abomination.

There are three individual things going on here that piss me off:
1. John Kerry's an idiot. Even if he had delivered the line as he says he meant to, big fucking whoop. Making fun of Bush is not only childish, unprofessional, and petty, it's also passe. Kerry shouldn't have even attempted this stupid joke.
2. Bush and the Republicans are playing it up. Look, saying John Kerry hates the troops is absurd! The man's a veteran and he's been supporting the troops since the day he got back. But, whatever, Bush thinks it's acceptable to attack whenever he sees any comment that, taken out of context or given the right spin, makes his enemies seem like America-hating baboons. It's cheap, it's pandering, and it's just too fucking predictable.
3. This is the thing that really gets me: Some people are eating this shit up! Seriously, are people so myopic that they don't understand that a) Kerry's an individual, not some Locutus of Borg-style mouth piece for the fucking Democrats and b) the meaning of his statement is getting distorted? Fucking a.

Tell you what, though. Colbert was funny last night. Here's the Tony Snow quote:

The President is determined not to leave Iraq short of victory, but he also understands that it's important to capture the dynamism of the efforts that have been ongoing to try to make Iraq more secure, and therefore, enhance the clarification -- or the greater precision.
Just so you know it's real, it's from the White House's own webpage.



7 Comments


f. x. vazquez said:

There is actually another take on the whole Kerry thing. Some people think it might be helpful for democrats because, no matter how much the republican party talks about it, it still puts focus directly on Iraq. They may say that Kerry insulted troops by saying that the students will be "stuck in Iraq", but it still reminds the general public that, yes most soldiers are in fact "stuck in Iraq", and really would rather not be fighting a war that goes nowhere or get called back for a third tour of duty, while back at home people act as though we are not in war time and no sacrifices are asked of the American people. Now I do understand the last sentence was long, but I felt it had more pop if I made it a long and sloppy sentence. Now I would like to end on a totally different note and say to you, Ismael, if you haven't switched to firefox, you really should. If anything just for the spellchecker. Lose the IE and switch to the cooler browser. You'll be glad you did. Snaps.

November 2, 2006 9:11 AM



Ismael Tapia II said:

That's an interesting take, Mr. Vazquez. I hope that you're right and that the net effect will be to focus the populace on the Iraq clusterfuck.

The counter-spin, though, is pretty obvious: "Yeah, Iraq's a clusterfuck, and that's exactly why we need strong, united, Republican leadership. Plus, told you the Dems hate the troops."

Also, dude, I changed to Firefox a while ago, and this cite actually looks best on Firefox, although the scrolling lyrics load more slowly.

Finally, welcome back. It was a sad place without you.

November 2, 2006 3:34 PM



tRJ said:

On the marriage thing: people support it because it's been called a "gay marriage ban." And because people don't bother to educate themselves before they vote, they a) don't realize that gay marriage doesn't currently exist in Wisconsin and b) the amendment affects far more than gay marriage.

But the whole issue has turned into an attack on gay marriage and, by proxy, an attack on homosexuality. I would wager that many people voting "yes" are not actually voting in support of the wording in the amendment, but because so voting is a little attack on a lifestyle they disagree with.

I am not as optimistic as you that Wisconsin will vote the amendment down. The whole reason it's been put to a vote is because a majority of the state legislature already approved it. And I can say, from my travels throughout the state, this thing has strong support in places that aren't Madison.

November 3, 2006 8:54 AM



Elise said:

I have to say that I am very disappointed in your lack of skepticism about a video clip provided by the Republican White House. It never occurred to you that it might be cleverly edited? The full clip has a bit before his comment where he is clearly discussing President Bush's shortcomings, NOT the troops. Then it has a bit immediately after where the students in attendance laugh, clearly understanding it is a joke about Bush, NOT about the troops.

I grant that it was a bad idea to make a joke about the president, especially one that could so easily be taken out of context, but don't be so dismissive of Kerry's defense. In the context of the whole clip, it is more than plausible.

November 7, 2006 3:22 PM



Elise said:

Ok, I am partially dumb, but I'm a woman, so you are required to forgive me (as your expectations of my intelligence should be lower). Upon a more careful re-read of your post, I do see that you weren't automatically dismissive of Kerry's defense...but generally I have some base objection to putting up a clip that is misrepresentative, and then not explaining the details of why.

November 7, 2006 3:26 PM



Queenie said:

It’s really great that people are srhaing this information.

July 10, 2011 7:41 AM






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