We were exceedingly drunk, and in a fine, upbeat mood. We were flushed from Democracy. We had done our part.
Covington and myself were joined by close friends and family at the Cock and Bull to watch what we were hoping was the beginning of a return to sanity. Beers were quaffed. Shots were drank. The election was on the plasma above the door. The exit polls were coming in, and it was looking good. Kerry was ahead. Maybe, finally, we can start rebuilding.
We repaired back to my place, and continued to celebrate. Things went, as you know, very wrong from there.
The next day, I had cancelled class, but was continuing to subcontract, so I needed to go paint two bedrooms and a hallway in Ivorydale, in a house that some junior exec had lived in way back when, one of those hacienda style homes from the thirties. There was an old, creme colored RCA radio, the kind my grampa had in his garage, and it was only AM. I had to listen to Limbaugh gloat, then Kerry's concession speech, and then, more right wing gloating, of the most horrible, malicious variety. They felt they had been vindicated: "See, Bush did win one". Something was wrong with this picture. I've never been more ashamed as a citizen of these United States. I didn't feel so united just then.
Reports began to trickle out about voting irregularities in Ohio: From bogus "Terror Alerts" in Warren County to votes magically appearing in the Bush column, but everybody instead tried to figure out "How did we fuck this up?".
Two years on, maybe we didn't fuck it up. Maybe our news media should have looked a little deeper. Maybe we were robbed afterall.
Thanks to Covington for the links on this.
And now Bush is at 35% approval, even in Ohio:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS01/306020012
And now Bush is at 35% approval, even in Ohio:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060602/NEWS01/306020012
Holy shit! I just heard about this last night, but I thought it was an old issue. I was told the article catalogues exactly how the Blackwell Bunch screwed us, and then we just talked about how crazy it is that nobody seems to give a damn. I can't wait to read this.
ReplyDeleteBTW, nice Thompsonesque style.
ReplyDeleteMy experience was similar to yours. Several of us spent the day volunteering in various neighborhoods in Cinti. We were tired and soggy. But we were at the Crazy Fox -- surrounded by good friends and comforted by a pot of chili Amy brought -- and the early results looked good. Hell, even Bunning was losing. And then the wheels came off. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Hamilton County Board of Elections. I'd run Steve Brinker's campaign for Hamilton County Recorder, and until the last 30 minutes or so, we held the lead. Anderson and Colerain Townships killed us.
ReplyDeleteAnd then I saw the reports on what was happening nationally. I went to the Covington Waffle House with my buddy Greg Matusak and cried a little.
Then I went home and tried to sleep.
WF
I was at the Campbell County courthouse fulfilling my last official duties for the Enquirer, calling in election returns. Of course, I didn't expect Bush to lose locally, but I was keenly interested in the Mongiardo-Bunning race and Davis-Clooney race. I went to bed late that night holding on to faint hopes that Kerry could win, but my wife woke me up around 5 a.m. to say that we'd lost. I was ashamed of my nation that we could be so fucking stupid.
ReplyDeleteI ended up riding out (or prolonging, hard to say) my depression by smoking pot every day for the next six weeks or so, and developing a hard-to-shake case of bronchitis. Thanks for nothing, America.