|
I had to go to the bank and the post office this morning. In about half an hour I will take my wife to the polls, and stand outside the electioneering line pumping up Kerry supporters.
I did, however, pass by three polling places while I was out. Lines are very long. There are lots of cars in the parking lot, and quite a few Kerry stickers are in evidence. There are Shrub stickers, but not as many.
At one of the polling places, somehow the Republican signs had been mashed flat, pulled out of the ground or otherwise minimized. No effort had been made to right them. Nor were the Democratic signs tampered with--except for the Kerry sign, where someone had added a second one under the first.
I passed by a Shrub plywood-size sign (both the Cumberland County Repugs and the Cumberland County Democrats purchased the plywood for their signs from me. The Democrats got 19/32" sheathing--a good solid backing that will hold up well so they could save it for the next election. The Repugs bought 7/16" oriented-strand board because they wanted the very cheapest thing they could get. It's falling apart now.) that was bordered in Kerry bumper stickers.
At the bank I was in line with five other people. I asked the guy behind me (who was black--this does come into play) if he'd voted. "No, not yet but I'm going to. The lines are really long now." I asked him if he knew about the early voting. "Yeah, and I fucked up--I should have." Who ya votin' for? He looks to the left, then to the right, then almost whispers "Kerry." The other four people had happy looks on their faces when they heard that. I shook the guy's hand and told him he had nothing to be ashamed of, that Kerry will make an excellent president. He said he was voting on economic grounds; I told him he could vote on security grounds too. I told him about BCCI--he hadn't heard about that.
At the post office, I was standing next to a person with a B/C sticker on her shirt. "Have you voted yet?" No, I'll do it when I get out of here. "Why are you voting for Bush?" Because Kerry voted to cancel a lot of weapons systems. "Is that the only reason?" Yes, we needed those weapon systems. "Do you know who asked him to vote against them?" No. "The Secretary of Defense during Bush's father's term." Who was that? "Richard Cheney." You mean Vice President Cheney? "Yes, ma'am." She started asking questions about different things the Bushites had said about Kerry. I answered them until I had to go to the window. Later, I was sitting in my car writing myself a note, and I noticed the lady coming out of the post office. The B/C sticker was gone.
Bush is going to get his ass handed to him in Cumberland County.
|