Electile Dysfunction, The 2006 Midterm Remix: Red States Lose
I woke up yesterday morning and swore the world had gone crazy. But not a bad crazy, more like a contented, delightful crazy.
On Election Day, there were two times I had set to mind to go out and voter before I actually did. I first thought I hit the polls when the first opened at 6:00 am, because I haven't been getting to sleep much before dawn lately, but after watching the last few episodes of season 4 of Scrubs, I collapsed in bed for the next six hours. I was going to go again around 2:00 pm, after watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. But then after watching them on TV and seeing them on the cover of Rolling Stone I got in the mail, I decided I simply had to wear my "Stewart/Colbert ‘08" shirt when I voted, and there was no way I'd go without it (even though my mom said that the people at our local election precinct wouldn't appreciate the joke). Unfortunately, it was somewhere within my laundry bag, so I had to wait until it was washed and dried. Finally, a little bit before I went to Trivia, I made my way first to the library and then to the apartment building a few blocks down the road where we go to vote. Although I was slightly nervous for the rest of the country, the polls seemed like everyone in the big spots would win in this blue state paradise of New York. Of course I kept it liberal, choosing the Clash's "Know Your Rights" as my voting soundtrack.
After partaking in the apolitical-but-oh-so-salacious Nip/Tuck, I put on the Daily Show/Colbert Report Midterm Midtacular and watched the results come in. I smiled after seeing that Rick Santorum was knocked out on the Senate and thought that next week Dan Savage would leave the advice-seeking fetishists behind in his Voice column next week. Naturally, all the New York politicos that were expected to win did handily, so welcome Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson (who I believe is from around my district - Harlem, stand up!), and Attorney General Cuomo, and welcome back Senator Clinton and embattled Comptroller Hevesi. That said, I was quite involved with elections of all kinds in all states all night, keeping tabs on the New York Times' website and CNN.com, watching things turn red or blue (or pink and light blue in some cases). By the time I went to bed around 1:20 am, the Democrats had handily won control of the House (they needed 15 new seats take it, and they ended up getting something in the mid-twenties) and control of the Senate hung on three more states: Montana, Missouri, and Virginia. Montana seemed in the bag pretty much, Missouri looked doubtful, and Virginia was too close to call, although it leaned Democratic. I went to sleep with crossed fingers.
And then when I woke up in the early afternoon, I turned on NYTimes.com to check out the results and found out something else entirely: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was, to borrow a Bushism, cutting and running - he and the rest of the media say "resigned," but I believe my phrasing works just as well. This was responded to with and amused "Oh, snap!" And to add on to my joy, I checked out the election results and saw the last few states had turned blue, and that even though Virginia wasn't official, the Democrat Webb was ahead by enough and the self-hating half-Jewish racist known as George Allen refused to concede but knew he was up against the ropes (I have heard that Webb has said some reprehensible things too, but not being a registered Virginian voter, looking at what he, or even his opponent, said isn't my call. I don't even like politicians anyway, honestly). This would give the Democrats a small, but significant, 52-48 majority in the Senate! This "thumpin'" (this being exactly the way the President described it) warranted from me a modified Harlem Shake and a need to play some crunk rap song (perhaps Trillville's claim that one couldn't never ever "get on my level"), although the actual refrain in my head was this old school rap instrumental I can't quite describe in words. Though I read on the internet last a community post someone entitled "Takeover, Son!" with a CNN article in the body saying that the Democrat's congressional takeover was for all intents and purposes official (apparently, he's going to now, making it actually official); I know Jay-Z had a some called "Takeover" and so maybe that would be appropriate music too.
All amusement aside, I know that come January, even though the Dems now rule all, winning both houses of Congress is just a start: there's still a lot of work to be done, much of it trying to fix up the some of the mess from the previous Republican regime, and of course Bush still has two more long years of executive privilege (to screw America up, perhaps?). But in the meantime, put on that old school rap song and do a little victory dance. For now, we celebrate.
On Election Day, there were two times I had set to mind to go out and voter before I actually did. I first thought I hit the polls when the first opened at 6:00 am, because I haven't been getting to sleep much before dawn lately, but after watching the last few episodes of season 4 of Scrubs, I collapsed in bed for the next six hours. I was going to go again around 2:00 pm, after watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. But then after watching them on TV and seeing them on the cover of Rolling Stone I got in the mail, I decided I simply had to wear my "Stewart/Colbert ‘08" shirt when I voted, and there was no way I'd go without it (even though my mom said that the people at our local election precinct wouldn't appreciate the joke). Unfortunately, it was somewhere within my laundry bag, so I had to wait until it was washed and dried. Finally, a little bit before I went to Trivia, I made my way first to the library and then to the apartment building a few blocks down the road where we go to vote. Although I was slightly nervous for the rest of the country, the polls seemed like everyone in the big spots would win in this blue state paradise of New York. Of course I kept it liberal, choosing the Clash's "Know Your Rights" as my voting soundtrack.
After partaking in the apolitical-but-oh-so-salacious Nip/Tuck, I put on the Daily Show/Colbert Report Midterm Midtacular and watched the results come in. I smiled after seeing that Rick Santorum was knocked out on the Senate and thought that next week Dan Savage would leave the advice-seeking fetishists behind in his Voice column next week. Naturally, all the New York politicos that were expected to win did handily, so welcome Governor Spitzer, Lieutenant Governor Paterson (who I believe is from around my district - Harlem, stand up!), and Attorney General Cuomo, and welcome back Senator Clinton and embattled Comptroller Hevesi. That said, I was quite involved with elections of all kinds in all states all night, keeping tabs on the New York Times' website and CNN.com, watching things turn red or blue (or pink and light blue in some cases). By the time I went to bed around 1:20 am, the Democrats had handily won control of the House (they needed 15 new seats take it, and they ended up getting something in the mid-twenties) and control of the Senate hung on three more states: Montana, Missouri, and Virginia. Montana seemed in the bag pretty much, Missouri looked doubtful, and Virginia was too close to call, although it leaned Democratic. I went to sleep with crossed fingers.
And then when I woke up in the early afternoon, I turned on NYTimes.com to check out the results and found out something else entirely: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was, to borrow a Bushism, cutting and running - he and the rest of the media say "resigned," but I believe my phrasing works just as well. This was responded to with and amused "Oh, snap!" And to add on to my joy, I checked out the election results and saw the last few states had turned blue, and that even though Virginia wasn't official, the Democrat Webb was ahead by enough and the self-hating half-Jewish racist known as George Allen refused to concede but knew he was up against the ropes (I have heard that Webb has said some reprehensible things too, but not being a registered Virginian voter, looking at what he, or even his opponent, said isn't my call. I don't even like politicians anyway, honestly). This would give the Democrats a small, but significant, 52-48 majority in the Senate! This "thumpin'" (this being exactly the way the President described it) warranted from me a modified Harlem Shake and a need to play some crunk rap song (perhaps Trillville's claim that one couldn't never ever "get on my level"), although the actual refrain in my head was this old school rap instrumental I can't quite describe in words. Though I read on the internet last a community post someone entitled "Takeover, Son!" with a CNN article in the body saying that the Democrat's congressional takeover was for all intents and purposes official (apparently, he's going to now, making it actually official); I know Jay-Z had a some called "Takeover" and so maybe that would be appropriate music too.
All amusement aside, I know that come January, even though the Dems now rule all, winning both houses of Congress is just a start: there's still a lot of work to be done, much of it trying to fix up the some of the mess from the previous Republican regime, and of course Bush still has two more long years of executive privilege (to screw America up, perhaps?). But in the meantime, put on that old school rap song and do a little victory dance. For now, we celebrate.