Well, f**k

[truepenny]

Wisdom is not looking like the defining characteristic of the American populace.

I remember this feeling from 2000, the feeling that over half my country was inhabited by pod people or aliens or something, people who can look at the same situation I'm looking at and see it in complete reversed polarity. It's worse now, as I was saying to Bear yesterday, because we know. We've had four years to watch, and yet somehow, over half of us are looking at the picture and still seeing ...

Well, I don't know what they're seeing. Apparently my eyes don't operate in that spectrum.

It's frustrating, and it hurts, and it makes me want to shout at something.

And by "something," I mean the state of Ohio.

ETA: Never mind Ohio. What the FUCK is Kerry thinking? What the FUCK?

Comments

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

I can't get *particularly* enraged at Ohio. Ohio alone wouldn't matter if Bush hadn't gotten 51-52% of the popular vote in general. I'm with you on the rest.

A wise and gracious leader would take a split vote as a sign to focus on conciliation and unity, but we already know that isn't what we've got.

Didn't get the House or Senate, either, fuck it all.

[kelliem.livejournal.com]

To be fair, it's not just Ohio-- it's 28 other states as well, including my own, though my *county* was solidly for Kerry. But it is frustrating and it hurts and I share your desire to shout at something.

[nwhyte]

I recommend shouting.

Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!

That feels better. Though I admit not much.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm not shouting at Ohio, metaphorically, because it's their fault. I'm shouting at Ohio because its their damn twenty votes that are going to make or break this election. And because the officials are saying it may take up to 11 days to count the ballots, and I'm thinking, We're living in the third millennium for fuck's sake, what is with you people?

And then it just degenerates into balrog noises.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Ohio's being singled out mostly for being the deciding factor and for being excessively dilatory with their results.

I hate not knowing. Hate it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm with you: the disturbing thing is that we're seeing entirely different countries here, in two big groups. We're looking at entirely different spectra. I don't know how to fix that. I don't know how to show, say, my grandparents what I'm seeing. That's a pretty big problem.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

The man is conceding. What the /hell/?

[owlfish]

Exactly. That's no way to win a race. WAIT for the votes to be counted.

[curiousangel.livejournal.com]

Ohio state law requires them to take ten days to evaluate all the provisional ballots. It's a measure designed to give everyone a chance to consider their options, and to avoid an overly-hasty rush to declare a total that might wind up being overturned later.

In 2000, Ohio validated about 90% of the provisional votes, according to the Ohio Secretary of State.

This year, they reported a grand total of 155,337 provisional ballots, and the difference between the (unofficial) regular vote totals was 136,483. 90% of 155,837 is 139,803, and nobody believed (given the geographical distribution of the provisional ballots) that Kerry was going to get enough of those (estimated) 139,803 ballots to make up for the amount he was behind in the rest of the count.

It was close, but he decided to spare the nation the headaches that would have come from contesting the count, since he didn't believe that he could have won in the end. It's hard to argue with that, unpleasant as it may be.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

That does at least make sense.