John McCain misses out on some great stuff, because he does not do e-mails. Here are some examples that have come my way recently.
I was sharpening my chain saw when they called me from Washington, D.C., to ask me how to fix the economy. This request focused my thoughts…. cutting half a cord at least, to keep the wood stove going through October. The economy, yes: $700 billion is more than enough money to buy every able-bodied American a chain saw, a solar-powered generator and a stake in a communal well and windmill. That would probably only cost about $100 billion, and you can use the other $600 billion to buy everybody their house outright. Now everybody can own their house and be green and self-sufficient, and can go back to whatever they were doing before the world ended: watching TV.
Read the complete version of what Andrei Codrescu says from there. NPR listeners will be familiar with his unique voice. New Pine Lake neighbor Maia Rahman sent the Codrescu musings. A school teacher herself, Maia has two beautiful and very intelligent daughters, ages 5 and 4, who have immediately become favorite friends of my grandson Chance when he visits. Maia’s husband Mohammed has opened the LUNA NUEVA, Authentic Mexican Bar & Restaurant, 150-B Euclid Ave., in Little Five Points.
Wayne Gibson of Brookhaven e-mailed the following:
PBS has an online poll posted asking if Sarah Palin is qualified. Please do two things -- takes 20 seconds.
1) Click on: http://www.pbs.org/now/polls/poll-435.html and vote yourself.
2) Then send this to every single Obama-Biden voter you know, and urge them to vote and pass it on. The last thing we need is PBS saying their viewers think Sarah Palin is qualified.
Tina Simms, "Community organizer and proud of it," writes from Perry:
Since no one from Gallup or Rasmussen has called to ask my opinion, I thought I would just volunteer it. There has been a lot of talk lately about the possibility of a "Bradley effect" in the coming presidential election...i.e., white people telling pollsters that they are going to vote for Obama and then stealthily voting Republican when they get in the booth. As a Georgian who has been a Democrat since I was 18 (and white for 71 years). I don't think this will happen in Georgia or other Southern states. Instead, I think more Georgians than expected will vote for Obama-Biden in the privacy of the voting booth. We will see people whose neighbors think they are Republicans going to the polls and stealthily voting for Obama-Biden. :-)
For the past week I have been volunteering at the Democratic booth at the Georgia National Fair. It has been quite an interesting and informative experience. Over and over I heard statements like these from white voters who stopped by our booth :
"I'm for Obama but I can't wear an Obama pin to work because my co-workers would be mean to me."
"I don't have an Obama yard sign because somebody will pull it up."
"I put up an Obama yard sign and my neighbor ran over it with his pickup truck."
"We've voting for Obama but we're not telling the people at our church."
Our Democratic booth seemed to take on a quasi-confessional aspect.
People would come up to our table and say "I'm glad you're here" or, quietly, "Obama's the best candidate...I've already voted for him." Many were older couples or young men and women.
It is a shame that some Georgians feel they will be ostracized for voting Democratic. On the other hand, it surely is good to know that so many have decided to vote for Obama. :-)
Yes we can!
Georgia may be a big "November surprise"!
Sometimes I also receive e-mails from the other end of the gene pool, occasionally premised in hate and bigotry. For those, John McCain does not need to do e-mail. He has his campaign rallies.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
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Republicans are showing a lot of anger lately because their man is behind in the polls. As I sat at the Democratic booth at the Georgia National Fair in Perry, I had a surprising number of McCain-Palin supporters come up to our booth and make unpleasant remarks about our candidate. "I'm going to pray for you because your candidate is a baby-killer."
"We don't like Obama because he mocks the Bible."
"He's a Muslim and a socialist and he was born in Kenya."
"Lord help us if he gets elected."
One old guy came up to our booth and demanded, "What's his middle name?" I said (straight face) "His middle name is Archibald."
I could go on and on reciting Republican pleasantries that I heard during my week of volunteering, but that's a enough sample. I won't even mention the snorts, turned down thumbs, head shakes, and scowls.
Yesterday I sold an Obama button to a tiny old black woman who was about 80 and weighed about the same.
She was pleased with her button and obviously said so to a fifty-ish white man . Almost immeditely he was shouting in her face, "Tell me one thing he's done! Just tell me one thing he's done!" I got up from the booth,and intervened by pointing the man the way to the GOP booth and telling him not to be picking on li'l ole ladies. Then I put my arm around the tiny lady and directed her back toward our booth.
His response was "She started it!"
Reminded me of a playground fight.
Among the many reasons I do not do politics in public places. To be sure, this is a very serious matter. Witness that McCain himself has tried to take it all back, for which he was treated to a round of boos from his own campaign crowd. MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow put it in the right context that some McCain supporters were chanting "bomb Obama." Maddow asked, as in "bomb the church in Birmingham in which 4 little girls died" or "or bomb the Jewish Temple on Peachtree in atlanta?" Playing with fire can burn down the whole house.
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