Oh, you simply have to laugh.
Yes, you do.
I live in the town next to the home of the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate here in Massachusetts.
The election is today and the polls close at 8 PM and so far all we know is that more folks than expected came out to vote.
I’m one of them.
I was sitting on the sidelines here with zero interest, thinking it a cake walk for the democratic candidate until I got wind that all sorts of religious right wing groups and big money from the republican party nationwide was funding the Republican candidate’s campaign.
“Up for Grabs” should be changed to “Up for Cash” because I’m not kidding, the recession must be over in Massachusetts after the money that has been spent here on campaign advertising.
The Republican’s daughter, who was a former American Idol contestant, made one of the robo calls yesterday. Today, the democratic’s candidate sister or sister in law called and said, “Hi, Martha’s nieces went to the polls with me this morning.”
I got calls asking me if I needed a ride to the polls, did I know where my polling place was, and I had the feeling if I said yes I need a ride to the polls, the car would have pulled into my driveway a minute later screeching to a halt.
I went to my polling place (I drove myself!) at 10:30 AM and they said it was like a presidential election there were so many folks showing up compared to the primary. The parking lot was filled at 6:30 AM and was jammed for two hours.
There appeared to be more republican sign bearers on my walk up to the high school gymnasium but when I had voted and had to verify my name before depositing the vote into the machine, when the lady heard “Coakley”, she gave me a little extra twinkle.
So, my conclusion is: it’s horse race with the “dems” leading with a twinkle.
And, PS people: ain’t this the best looking wrench you ever saw? If one has to be thrown, I’d go with this one, another beauty from my father’s tool box, of which this is a series, but then, you know that, right? Here’s a few of his other tools:
©Pat Coakley 2010
PHOTOGRAPHS CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION
**Select images from this blog and my wider archive can be purchased at www.patcoakley.com
that is one beautiful wrench. as for the republicans, skata as the greeks would say, big fat bummer. who what how when where did that happen? sheesh. maybe its still the ‘woman’ thing. the woman thing and the money thing. i thought we were all past that tho. sheesh. i soooooo thought wrong. hello?
i do have to say that i saw an ad, whoever designed it made martha look dark and foreboding. it was like a film noir. martha in some dark underpass doing her thing but lots of back-of-her-head shots and lighted in such a way as to look kind of green in damp streetlight.
democratic campaign managers of the future take note and do not hire the same media agencies that the trusting martha coakley had ‘in her service’. dont approve ads that make you look either silly or scary. if you dont have enough funding, get art school students to produce your ads.
it would then have at the very least some original visual interest.
tipota, you have the honor of being the one who communicated the results of this election! I turned off everything last night and simply read Alice Munro. So, medears, we are stunned but not out. Let’s face one fact that no artist, however gifted could have overcome, our candidate appeared to have ice water running through her veins. I saw a photo of her voting at the polls early yesterday morning. She looked like Darth Vader…all dressed in black complete with knee high black boots! Now, c’mon! We have to laugh, we really do.
The vote of the people is a hard thing to analyze, and usually not at all based on logic and rational thinking. While voting with one’s heart or gut is not necessarily wrong, this still seems such a sad day for the world — especially if indeed this is a sign of the direction we are heading. I only hope that the leadership reads this correctly as a cry of the people for inclusion, rather than as a rejection of a progressive agenda. The real tragedy will be if the democrats think this means they must turn even further to the right. That would be a real monkey wrench.
I worry that we are going to be held hostage by everyone’s version of the rightness of their individual agenda whether progressive or its opposite. For example, if I have to let go of universal coverage right now in order to get millions who do not have coverage now, covered? I’m letting the progressive agenda take a back seat. Go ahead, shoot me. But, I’m still OK with doing it. On the same idea, it is shameful to me that not one republican senator sees moderation somewhere in this heath care bill as is. Not one if I understand this correctly. Hostages exist in democracies not just third world countries..