“A politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation.”
Last night was cold, but this morning the sun has made an appearance making me think Mother Nature is feeling apologetic for the last few days and for the storm expected tomorrow. When I woke up, earlier than usual, the house was cold. The furnace, programmed for leisurely mornings, for sleeping-in mornings, hadn’t yet warmed the house. I put on my slippers and my sweatshirt and we all, the dog, cats and I, went downstairs, and I right away turn up the heat and put on the coffee. When I went outside to get the papers, the air felt brisk.
Voter turnout is always greater on a sunny day.
The first election which caught my attention was in 1960 when John F. Kennedy ran for president. He was a local boy, the senator from Massachusetts, so he was my candidate. I watched the debate. I remember how bad Nixon looked. I remember only one issue from that debate: the islands of Quemoy and Matsu. I think their names have a neat sound so they stuck in my brain all this time as did the drawn maps of their positions relative to China. I remember the wooden pointers both men used. Kennedy and Nixon, of course, disagreed as to their importance. I have no idea about those islands now.
I was proud to wear my Kennedy buttons and still have the three of them. One is of a smiling Kennedy with his name across the top, another just says Kennedy for President. My favorite is a huge white button which says, “If I were twenty-one, I’d vote for Kennedy.”
I remember, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,” which was Barry Goldwater’s catch phrase. I thought its portent was scary. His bumper sticker, though, is still a favorite of mine: AuH20=1964. I wonder how many people were flummoxed by what they thought was math.
It seemed to take forever until I was old enough to vote, but, finally, the summer before my senior year in college I turned twenty-one. I voted for the first time in 1968. My choice was ever so easy. Never could I vote for Richard Nixon. Besides, I really did believe Hubert Humphrey would have made a good President.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusicTags: China, Election Day, John F Kennedy, Matsu Islands, Mother Nature, Richard Nixon, Voter turnout, voting
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November 6, 2012 at 12:25 pm
Ok, confession, I’m flummoxed and studied math.
What is “AuH20=1964”?
Dear American voters, please vote and safe Big Bird!
Your faithful overseas Sesame Street fan will be eternally grateful.
Grateful for Big Bird and also the relevant issues.
I’m ready for a loooong TV night…. Sleep is overrated.
November 6, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Birgit,
It is really chemistry and, as I said, not math. Au is the chemical symbol for gold and H2O for water so the bumper sticker said Goldwater=1964. I thought it was clever.
I too hope every one gets out and votes. I’m going to get ready and leave now. I want to save PBS and Big Bird too!!
I figure a nap will help me stay awake!!
November 7, 2012 at 8:01 am
Thank you so much, America !
Also the acceptance of gay marriage in 2(?) more states was a pleasant surprise. At 4 am (10 pm your time) I could finally fall asleep with hope. Now I’m listening to a TV discussion, in which direction the Republicans may go.
November 6, 2012 at 12:54 pm
That was a great bumper sticker 🙂 🙂 It took a second or two until I figured it out though 🙂
We barely managed to stay above 32F this morning and even got sok´me sun during the day but now it rains again. I should have gotten used to it by now but I’m soo tried of it now 🙂
I would most likely have voted just like You since we do have the same political views. But I have to say that I must look up who Hubert Humphry is 🙂
I hold my thumbs and croos my fingers all the time until we know the results!
Have a great day!
Christer.
November 6, 2012 at 3:53 pm
Christer,
I though it was really clever. The only other bumper sticker I thought even more clever was after Nixon had resigned, and I saw one which said Nixon has a staff infection.
We’re expecting rain tomorrow, a pretty big storm, a nor’easter.
Hubert Humphrey was a great senator. He was Lyndon Johnson’s vice president, and his mistake was not to distance himself from Johnson soon enough. if he had, he would have beaten Nixon.
My fingers are crossed as well!!
November 6, 2012 at 12:59 pm
And so my buddy is on the plane and will be at Romney Headquarters in Boston MA this afternoon….what do you think says I…we see it as very close says he. So he will be at the epicenter this evening and I will be looking for his family including two young daughters.
Turnout in Michigan seems to be heavy with one hour lines almost everywhere when the polls opened at 7.00 am The President of the United States stood with our automotive industry and I expect that his loyalty will be rewarded. Ann has a couple of Cadillacs (who doesn’t ?), God bless her but I dont think that it will be enough.
Meanwhile back in mundane world I located the only copy of “Live at Hull” at the Novi Best Buy and poodled down there at lunchtime to bombard them with coupons certificates and drive the price down to $11.80. Best Buy wont be around after the Christmas Holidays and I will miss them
November 6, 2012 at 3:49 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I hope your buddy from the plane will have to handle a bit of heartbreak. I’d say that is my fondest hope. I lived through Governor Romney and that was enough.
The women at the polls said the morning was crazy, but it was a quick in and out when I went at 2. There were no lines at all, but I live in a small town.
They are predicting a huge turnout for Massachusetts, and I would be surprised if the state went for Romney. We are, after all, the only state which voted for McGovern!
I too will miss Best Buy. The Cape has few enough big stores.
November 6, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Its excellent that Romney’s HQ is in your State and not mine ! Should the Governor of Mass be the next President of the United States, I think that the adventure for my friend will just be beginning after literally years of effort and commitment
November 7, 2012 at 12:04 am
My Dear Hedley,
This state has been home for many presidential candidates, most of whom I hope would win. Mr. Romney is not one of them.
November 6, 2012 at 4:12 pm
No lines here in Mont Vernon NH either. In protest of the voter id law here, I left my id in my truck (I left my ego there too). I had to sign an affidavit saying I am who I am (Popeye??), and should receive a letter from the NH Sec. of State verifying that I did indeed vote. This id law is a solution in search of a problem. If voters have to pay any amount of money at all (taxi fare, fee for a birth certificate, etc.) in order to get a valid id, then the law is unconstitutional–it’s a poll tax.
As I said before, we lived thru 8 years of Shrub, so how bad can 4 years of Vomitt be??
November 7, 2012 at 12:07 am
Bill,
Are you sure you are who you are?
I showed nothing. No one asked as Mass. does not have an ID law. Good thing too s I would have left it in my car as a bit of a protest as you did.
4 years would have been horrific! Thank you, American for the re-lelection of Mr. Obama!!
November 6, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Hi Kat,
I went to vote just before 8AM and it was more crowded than I have seen it in a number of years. I had to wait 15 whole minutes to get a booth but 4 minutes of that was because the poll worker who signs me in is slower than molasses running uphill in January. On Pluto. Really, really slow.
I haven’t heard anything since then because I was in the massage treatment office all day and there’s no real world in there. 😀
And Bill S., it’s not 4 years of Vomitt that we need to worry about; it’s the scary people he has around him and the scary people in Congress with whom he agrees.
Anyway, everyone, enjoy the prognostications, predictions and analyses.
November 6, 2012 at 6:23 pm
“…poll worker who signs me in is slower than molasses running uphill in January. On Pluto. Really, really slow.”
You have a wonderful way with words, Caryn.
November 6, 2012 at 6:32 pm
Thank you. Except for the Pluto part, it is not original to me though I don’t know where it comes from.
November 7, 2012 at 12:09 am
Hi Caryn,
The people at the polls have to be at least 70 years of age by tradition.
My woman left her place and the man next to her had to handle both lists which he did handily.
I was out tonight, and then I came home and watched the results. I’am sitting here with a smile!
November 7, 2012 at 9:15 am
I couldn’t watch. In my imagination I had this picture that if Romney won with a Republican controlled Congress, somewhere in the dark a demonic spirit with a vague resemblance to Dick Cheney would stand up and shout, “Ahahahahahaha!!! It is OURS!”
Yeah. I know. Drama.
I finally tuned in the news at 6:45 Weds AM and was relieved.
November 6, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Like you I remember the Nixon Kennedy debate and I remember how poorly Nixon looked. As a result of his appearance in that debate the industry of selling the President began. There is a very interesting book called “The Selling of the President 1968” by Joe McGinniss. It is about how the Nixon campaign hired advertising agencies to advise his campaign and sell him to the public in 1968. It worked and is still the major part of every election campaign.
I voted last Monday durning early voting to avoid the rush today. Regardless of the outcome of the Presidential race the races for control of Congress may be more important. Hopefully, the Democrats can hold on to the Senate and maybe reduce the Republican majority in the House of Representative. The scary people are the right wing looney bins called ‘T party’ members. Paul Ryan is one of their ilk. He requires all of his staff members to read Ayn Rand who’s philosophy is, I got mine and the hell with everyone else. As I said yesterday, If Romney wins it’s a win for the many billionaires who spent millions each in advertising to buy his election since all the election finance reforms were defeated by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United decision.
November 7, 2012 at 12:14 am
Bob,
2968 was my first election and I found it painful when Nixon won. He was anathema to me.
My state does not allow for early voting so the crowds hurried to the polls today. There was no rush in my little town after 11 o’clock, and I was happy for that.
The “other side” was scary, no question about it. I have been on edge since the advent of the tea party, but I am quite happy at the results in Massachusetts.
November 7, 2012 at 2:35 pm
I see you stayed up, like Peg, to see the late results. My beauty sleep was more important, and there was nothing I could do about the election at that point anyway. But listening to the news this morning (Wed.) was a real treat. When I went to bed, Virginia was listing toward Romney and his son Paul; Florida was and still is contested. Why don’t we just dynamite the Florida border and let them float out to sea?
Here in NH we have a historical first: two women senators (former gov. Shaheen, and Kelly Ayotte, who was Romney’s mouthpiece here); two Congresswomen; one female gov., and I think the only dem. female gov. in the nation. Four are democrats, and then there’s Ayotte. So our whole Washington delegation is female–life here will never be the same.
November 7, 2012 at 4:35 pm
You are blessed. 🙂
November 7, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Amen to that, Caryn!!!
November 7, 2012 at 4:42 pm
Bill,
Of course I stayed up to hear the news. I couldn’t have fallen asleep wondering. They would never have found out by 8:30, your usual bedtime!!!
Given the changing demographics, the Hispanic population in Florida will keep it in the fold.
I heard all about New Hampshire on NPR when I was going to Boston. I thought that was so very cool! Life will never be the same in the Granite State: it will be better!!!
November 7, 2012 at 6:09 pm
I voted at the polls and then went to a local gathering to see who won, both nationally and locally. Of course I am thrilled that Obama won. I remember when they announced the results one year for president on the radio, before I voted. I was on a bus, and we all looked at each other in shock ( not because of the winner) but they going thru each of minds was “why vote?” Here there is what I call a poll tax, as now for the first time we have to pay for absentee ballots. Our ballot was so thick it cost about a dollar and sixty cents. At any rate, it looks like our pool bond lost, because we need a 2/3 vote for bond measures– there is a small chance, very tiny, that because the absentee and provisional votes haven’t all been counted that we could win. We could be hanging till Friday.
Hanging and Waving,
Lily or Lori
November 7, 2012 at 6:44 pm
Lori,
I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to vote. Back then it was 21 and I got to vote against Nixon which thrilled me.
I too am thrilled that Obama won, and here that Elizabeth Warren beat Scott Brown for the senate. Also, medical marijuana passed here-no surprise in this liberal state!
In my town, we still use written ballots-use the pen to blacken the circle.
November 7, 2012 at 7:19 pm
“Leave Free or Die State”?
November 7, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Absolutely, Spaceman
November 8, 2012 at 7:43 am
You got it wrong–it’s “Live, freeze, and die.”
November 8, 2012 at 10:15 am
Ha!!
November 8, 2012 at 3:40 am
Auh20=1964, now that wouldn’t be a bumper sticker for GOLDWATER when he ran for Pres. would it??? I’m not into geology stuff
November 8, 2012 at 10:16 am
Morpfy,
It is as I explained to Birgit. She didn’t get the chemical references.
November 8, 2012 at 3:43 am
Yes, HH and son was my first vote also. Not so much for what I thought of the individual and what they could do, but that I had a friend so hung up on JFK that I couldn’t stand him. LOL! Lousy reason for a first time vote. But in truth, elections were a big deal at our house and the month or so before the big day the radio was always tuned into the runners lines of BS (I am try to be as nice with today’s candidates, but find that to be harder to do as time rolls along).
My grandfather was really into Ike and I so remember that first election of Eisenhower’s that I tend to measure all other candidates by it. I really don’t remember anything that was done during his terms of office, other than the term Commie Pinko (Spies, my very own added term).
I’ve always tried to pay attention to what is said and to take voting seriously, except the years I was over seas and MA (my home state) made it practically impossible for service members to vote, which was about 3 elections as I recall. Always thought I should have put more effort into it or finding another state to be a resident of, but I never did.
And I am consistent in my voting. It seems I always manage to pick more losers than winners. This year being no exception.
Carl
November 8, 2012 at 10:21 am
Carl,
My father was a democrat then he started making money and woke up one morning a republican. That was the day he declared war on my brother, sisters and me, all avowed democrats.
At first, I chose all losers. Jimmy Carter was my first winner. In this past election I hit the jackpot in almost all races.
When I was in the Peace Corps, I had sent for an absentee ballot. The town sent it the slow way, and I received it a couple of weeks after the election. I guess they didn’t get the need for airmail all the way to Africa.
I remember Ike as president and I remember Kennedy and Ike on inauguration day as Kennedy just didn’t look right in that top hat.
November 8, 2012 at 7:44 pm
Im thinking the most of “Free or Diers” are in the Great Plains and Big Sky states.
November 8, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Spaceman,’
Given the survivalist and the end of the world preppers who seem to flock to those states, you are probably right.
November 8, 2012 at 9:28 pm
I’d say it’s more along the lines who like the freedom of rural areas. Still a bit of a frontier, low population, etc. Minimal government and other folks deciding what one should or shouldn’t do. I can sympathize with why that would appeal to some people. Minutemen sorts
November 8, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Spaceman,
There are areas where it is easy to go off the grid, and I figure those rural places you mention are perfect for getting lost.
I certainly understand how attractive that can be.
November 9, 2012 at 9:09 am
Had a married couple from Provo, Utah, whom I had not seen in ages stay here a couple days two weeks ago as a way-point. Both now semi-retired; she is a minister & they spend a couple months a year on the road doing a roving ministry. Rested them a couple days, gave em a hundred to help a little in the pilgrimage.
Their neighborhood is mostly Mormon and not knowing much, I asked and learned a lot about the Mormon religion. They have attended various LDS services and functions. She thinks her neighbors were great and she thought highly of Mormon’s overall approach to life & service. Now understand that her own theology is very fundamental, and without going into a lot of detail, she had a strong opinion that the Mormon faith is not Christian and, hence, patently heretical. Nonetheless they were voting for Romney though quite troubled in doing so.
November 9, 2012 at 9:35 am
Spaceman,
When I was in Ghana, I was surprised by the number of LDS churches. Ghana has many traditional beliefs, is heavily Moslem in places as well as Christian, but I hadn’t realized the inroads LDS had made over the years until I saw the young missionaries in their white shirts, black pants and ties walking in Accra. The personal touch had made a difference.
It is too bad that religion was their deciding factor in the vote. I understand it but am still sorry they couldn’t vote the man instead of the religion.
November 9, 2012 at 1:38 pm
They liked the principles of the LDS church, but not the theology of the LDS church. I personally consider politics as a secular matter.
I made my decision (Romney) on who I thought would be more adept in organizing the various interests to raise employment levels. He was Governor up that away, what’s the consensus on his skill on getting factions to work together?
November 9, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Spaceman,
Romney repudiate too much of what he did here as governor when he was a moderate liked by people of both parties. The health care bill he got passed is working really well and has not been a drain on the economy.
He flip flop too many times and alienated members of his own party. His conservative stance was bitter tasting to many people, especially women.
I think where he has ended up politically would have been too divisive.
November 9, 2012 at 4:23 pm
That’s pretty much how I see it too, but I think he was a moderate at heart and would have naturally gravitated back that way. Most campaign talk (abortion, immigration, etc,) is drivel and nothing hardly becomes of it. Perhaps I am blind to it, (men can be that way), but I didn’t particularly see anything about Romney that suggested he would not have dealt with women (or anyone else) in a fair and respectable manner. He seems like an extraordinarily honorable fellow. I certainly would not support a candidate who I thought was biased like that.
Obama’s conundrum is the country is about as divided as it can possibly be and I’m not terribly confident that he do much productive given that situation. So that rounds the circle and gets to why I think Romney was a better choice.
Oh well, thanks for listening. Off to to Gander Mountain, need some practice arrows. Later, toots…
November 9, 2012 at 5:53 pm
Have fun, Spaceman!!