Letters to the Editor
captainlarab
Published Letters: 541 Editor's Choice: 41
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Scenes from a DC polling station
[Read the article: Is Hillary Clinton's campaign in trouble?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Speaking of small places that no one cares about, I just got to work a little while ago after standing in line for an hour in freezing cold at a small elementary school in Northwest DC. Let me tell you, none of us in line were about to pass up what may be the only opportunity in our lifetimes as DC residents to actually affect a national Presidential campaign. When it comes to the general election, we have 3 electoral votes up for grabs and the popular vote tends to go 90% democratic, so it's not even worth showing up except to vote for your councilmember. But today, we have more delegates at stake than the entire state of Vermont.
I have *never* seen a line like that in *any* vote for *anything* in D.C. proper. We thought that by cutting it closer to 9:00 we'd miss the rush-hour crowd. Not a chance. My partner's first reaction was "I should have brought a paper." As we split into the A-K and the L-Z lines, a dozen cell phones emerged from a dozen coat pockets, and murmurs of "Looks like I'm going to be a bit later than I expected" were heard throughout the crowd. This is Northwest DC, definitely the educated, Prius-driving, Whole Foods-shopping kind of crowd with whom Obama generally does well. Clinton had, at best, one sign for every 15 of Obama's all through the neighborhood.
A woman way in front of me with a giant poodle tied him to a post as she finally entered the elementary school. He immediately began howling mournfully for her, and we all took turns comforting him as we relayed news of his emotional state up through the line ("Hey, your dog is a big baby!"). The news coming back from the front of the line was that they were already running low on paper ballots. At 9:00 a.m. Gee whiz, have these people been on an island? Have they not heard the phrase "historic voter turnouts" at any point in the past 2 months?
Finally, I entered the elementary school and got in out of the cold (not to mention the wailing dog). Now, as we waited yet again to be checked off the list of registered voters, we eyed with curiosity the Democratic, Republican and Green ballots. The Dem ballot listed the following: "Richardson, Edwards, Kucinich, Clinton, Obama, Uncommitted, and Write in:_________." Nothing else on the ballot, no councilmembers, no nothing.
"Who the hell would wait in line for an hour to vote for 'Uncommitted'"? I said aloud, to chuckles from behind me. "I'm just here to show everyone how committed I am to being uncommitted," came a response.
"Who is Cynthia McKinney?" said the woman behind me, who noticed her on the Green Party ballot. "Oh, she's the former Congresswoman who slugged a Capitol police officer," I responded helpfully. "Ah," she responded, "so maybe she's running on some sort of 'tough on terrorism' platform?", while making a punching gesture.
Finally, the ballots. "You want paper or electronic?" the volunteer asked, noting with a worried tone, "We're encouraging electronic." I decided to give the electronic a go, seeing as the paper ballots were running low. Whoa, big mistake. Note to file: if you're encouraging electronic, they really ought to have more than one electronic polling station. So, I stood in line again, only to have to deal with a touch-screen contraption that is not quite up to par with, say, the automatic checkout line at Giant. I suggested they might want to start handing out stickers in that line that say "'I voted...I think.'"
All in all, though, a very envirogating day, with lots of humor and good cheer. Wow, my DC vote actually matters! What's next, a vote in Congress?
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The Exelon thing
[Read the article: Clinton won't release tax returns yet]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Exelon thing bothers me, but here's what I think you need to know:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.hancock25jan25,0,4656523.column
And here's some info on Obama's general track record on environmental issues:
http://www.grist.org/news/muck/2004/08/04/griscom-obama/index.html
Tell me what it is that Clinton thinks Obama needs to "reveal"?
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Wait till you see the vote tally in DC
[Read the article: Obama takes Washington, D.C.]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Here's my prediction: It's going to be so lopsided you're going to burst out laughing when you see it. Obama's two best demographics are highly educated people earning in excess of $100,000, and African-Americans. Here in DC, that's pretty much all we got!
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Worth reading for this quote:
[Read the article: Blood-and-guts politics]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"The old-guard feminist establishment has also rushed out of cold storage to embrace Hillary Clinton via tremulous manifestoes of gal power that have startlingly exposed the sentimental slackness of thought that made Gloria Steinem and company wear out their welcome in the first place."
Love it!! Camille, I somehow missed out on this whole generation of feminist thought until I went to law school and spent 3 years hashing out this ideology with my feminist-scholar roommate. Prior to that, I had spent 4 years as a closeted lesbian Army officer; clearly, nothing this "old guard" had to say had any resonance for me in my experience there.
Yeah, my law school roommate exposed me to all that MacKinnon/Dworkin stuff too. Some of it was interesting, but whoever came up with that theory that lesbianism is the highest expression of feminism, or whatever, is clearly living on another planet (I'm assuming this was a theory they developed some time after ostracizing Kate Millet for coming out as bisexual). And MacKinnon, with the boyfriend who's screwed, like, 700 women? I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Hillary Clinton would end up a feminist icon with this crowd. I want what they're smokin'.
Agree with previous posters, however--Camille, you've really got to get with the program on the whole global warming thing. I have a friend at NASA who can show you some great footage of icebergs breaking loose in Antarctica, if that's what it takes. If this is an Al Gore thing for you, then check out the Leonardo di Caprio film the 11th Hour. I think it's out on DVD now.