I'll be brutally honest inside where I complain about the Ohio Democrats, say positive things about the Kerry supporters on the street, complain about conservatives, and say both negative and positive things about the media. If you're one of those people that only want sunshine and happiness, there's no need to click here. If you'd like to see what I think is going on in and around Columbus and my perception of the world at large, click here.
Volunteering for the DNC in Ohio
There was a diary here recently where a person had good things to say about the Ohio office of the Kerry campaign, and bad things to say about the one of the Cleveland offices. Unfortunately, I've had a bad experience with the Columbus office. Basically, I signed up for the roadtrip, even though I already came to Ohio due to business (family and politics were factors too.) I talked to someone on the phone from D.C., who told me I'd be better off just calling the local DNC directly. I talked to someone there, who was probably either on drugs or drunk, and was incapable of even taking down my phone number correctly. He wasn't really in a position to tell me what I could do to help the campaign other than giving money, or who I should ask, just that he had to fill out a volunteer sheet or something with my information and someone would get back to me. Well, nobody has gotten back to me, and the whole process started about three weeks ago or longer. That's not a good sign.
Before this is written off as an isolated incident, my wife had a similar situation when she got in touch with them, although the guy she talked to didn't seem stupid, just unhelpful.
Volunteering with ACT in Ohio
I signed up for ACT, because they seem to have their "ACT" together from what I saw of their events. I plan to actually show up for some of these without talking to people on the phone because they are organized events that one can just show up to. However, I wanted to get in touch with the local office, as the email I got when I signed up informed me to do. Unfortunately, whatever phone number they have listed is not in service. That sucks, but at least their site is much better than the Kerry site or any of the DNC stuff. I may be able to participate without depending on undependable people.
Bumper Sticker Update
Columbus has a lot of both Kerry and W bumperstickers, and the number of W ones has increased quite a bit. I think that the Kerry ones may still have a slight lead, but it could just be the places that I've gone to. In fact, I ate at a restaurant (the food sucks though, unfortunately) called something like the Starlight Diner, which had Kerry/Edwards bumperstickers all over the place. It was like it was a dailykos restaurant. Unfortunately I won't go back because the food wasn't good. However, the bumper stickers do give hope. I also picked up the habit of being nice to W bumpersticker people if they try to get in front of me or whatever, because I have the feeling that if they see that Kerry supporters (I have a K/E bumpersticker next to my Texas plate) are not all rude whackos from California, it might give them something to pause and think about. I'm probably wrong, but no sense in pissing people off.
Hotel News War
The hotel I am staying in while in Ohio has free breakfasts (not really free, but part of the hotel cost) and there is a TV in the room. It is a daily battle to get there before the neocons that go there and flip it to Fox News. I usually put it on CNN Headline News, which is often bad too, but they're no Fox. Anyway, it's annoying and I notice that I always end up in a bad mood when Fox is on. I'll flip it if nobody else in there, but often there are about ten people with their eyes glued to that pollution and I am too polite to just change it (besides, it goes back to the "liberal wacko" thing.) I am happy to tell my wife how the Fox people are lying and what the truth is in a loud enough voice for others nearby to hear. :-)
Local News
I watched the local news a few days ago out of curiousity, but even the local CBS affiliate is very pro-Bush. Just out of boredom I decided to time how long they gave to each side. For example, they gave a good few minutes or so to a trip that Cheney made to the state, showed footage of him talking, and interviewed a few of Cheney's fans. Edwards also made a trip to the state, which was shown by about 10 seconds of footage of Edwards while the anchor talked over him.
Bad News on Iraq
This weekend it seemed like the truth about Iraq was about to come out and Bush was going to be crucified on the media over this. There is still discussion over how Iraq is getting worse, but it's still pretty apologetic for Bush. I hope it changes, but I don't have much hope. Still, if enough undecided voters or ignorant people hear some of the truth it might be enough to get them to vote against Bush.
Conclusion
Anyway, that is enough for now. I'd like to say Kudos to Kerry for his good speech the other day and his appearances on TV shows that Americans actually watch. I also am happy with all the commercials from Kerry, MoveOn, the ACLU, and other groups here. I think it's about damn time they started putting the heat on Bush. Hopefully it's not too late.