Did You?

My voting center had
The. Best. I Voted Stickers. Ever.
Hurray for first time in person voting!

I had to get up at 5:45 a.m.
(it was dark)

I had to wait in line for nearly an hour and a half.
(at least 30 minutes of that was outside)

I may be on some international news broadcast tonight. . . .
(a news crew was filming us waiting in line)

I got several free things because of my sticker.

(thanks for lunch, California Tortilla)

I voted.

Did you?

Can it Just be Wednesday Already?

There are two things I hate about the end of October (actually most of October) and the beginning of November.

The disgusting abundance of Christmas/Holiday stuff out before Halloween and the disgusting abundance of political ads.

Seriously. 

Fortunately for me, the election is tomorrow and starting Wednesday morning, I'll be able to watch TV again without gagging every three seconds from a new political ad.

I. Can't. Wait.

The nearly unbearable bombardment of political disgustingness has been way worse than usual this year, mostly because I have the misfortune to live in a battle state and in a metropolitan area (that's right Marylanders, I know allllll about Question freaking 7). 

I have literally experienced entire sixty minute prime time television shows where there have been about four non-political commercials. My favorite is when there is an ad for a democratic guy saying that his republican counterpart cut tons of money for this or that program, which is then immediately followed by the aforementioned republican guy saying that his aforementioned democratic challenger cut the same (or similar) amount of money for the same program. 

Thanks. The other guy cut funding. We get it. What will you do for us?

I'm still waiting.

But until you're ready, from now on (in the months of August, October, and early-November) I'll be exclusively watching TV via OnDemand, the mercifully commercial-free PBS, and the less influenced channels like HGTV and Food Network, which have about an eighth of the number of rude experiences per commercial break.

Because, really? How many of these ads do anything other than lie?

I'd rather not let my vote be influenced by that rubbish.

Really?

Now I must admit that while I'm sort of apathetic when it comes to politics and I'm not completely satisfied with the direction our government has been moving in lately, it really scares me when I read things like this...

Donald Trump is seriously thinking about running for president.

Really? That's almost as scary as Sarah Palin's supposed presidential aspirations.

After yesterday's elections created an overwhelmingly Republican House and only slightly Democratic Senate, the republicans and tea-partiers are touting their victory, claiming that the AMERICAN PEOPLE have taken back the country. Last time I checked, democrats were American. I know I am.

But hey, over the last two years democrats have been dragged through the mud, stopped at almost every turn, and every decision they've actually been able to make has been criticized. So, who would want to be one anymore anyway? If you're a democrat, odds are, you won't be able to get anything done. After all, Sarah Palin thinks we're un-American, un-constitutional, and just plain unfit to be alive.

So, as much as I hate how red our country just got, all I can hope is that something, anything, gets done in the next two years. Anything, that is, except more stalemates, bickering, name calling, and all the other petty things that come part and parcel with politics. I'm willing to accept almost anything at this point as long as we take care of some of our problems.

But, if we elect the Trumpster or Sarah Palin as president in two years... I may completely lose my faith in people.

Just Stop Slinging Mud Already.

I have a beef to pick with the politicians of America.

It has nothing to do with the economy, taxes, health care, or even what they are wearing or how they do their hair. I have a problem with the way they campaign.

Why, oh why, do they (or their campaign dudes) insist on playing and replaying television ads that attack their opponents? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem when one guy's campaign ad shows the bad things that his opponent has done politically, but only if he also says how he could do better.

What I have no tolerance for are ads that completely pummel the opponent for something that does not in any way reflect the his political decisions. As a voter, I don't care if your opponent has had an affair or written a book or accidentally broken the leg of his best friend from Kindergarten. That's his problem, not mine.

I've lived in Virginia my whole life, but until last year, it was never really a big state for political competition. We are a republican state... or were...

But that changed when statistics maniacs and political gurus decided that VA would be a swing state in the presidential elections, perhaps even one of the most important. The result? A wave of political ads and endorsements for Obama and McCain. Obama ran a pretty clean campaign, while McCain played a little dirtier... as a result (combined with his politics of course) I liked Obama better. So did Virginia.

This year we chose a new governor. Because Virginia has some crazy law that a governor can not serve a second term, we had to choose between two new guys, McDonnell (R) and Deeds (D). The onslaught of TV ads began around May. Apparently this was a very important election. It was going to be Virginia's way of either supporting or denouncing their decision to vote Obama into the white house last November. If Deeds won, then we were affirming our love of the Democrats and everything Obama, vice versa for McDonnell.

Over the course of the campaign trail, Deeds was consistently on the attack. He used negative ads, twisted McDonnell's political records, and even dug up some thesis McDonnell wrote about how women are basically baby makers and that's it... maybe you heard about that? I know I sure did... daily.

McDonnell's campaign was more positive. I guess it was mostly because he was constantly being attacked and had to keep showing that he didn't actually suck at life. But, he campaigned effectively and as a result, was usually ahead in the polls. He used his ads to show that he was a good guy, to outline his politics, and to say that he was the better candidate, not because of how bad the other guy was, but because he had plans and a vision for our state and our failing economy. Even when his ads highlighted the bad things Deeds had done in his career, it was sort of positive and McDonnell used that to show what he would either fix or do better.

Personally I think that a different message was sent on November 3. Virginians elected McDonnell, not because we hate Obama, many exit polls across the state showed continuing support for him. And not because we think that McDonnell is the guy who will fix all our problems.

I think we just hate negative ad campaigns.