There are 196 More Sleeps until the midterm elections.
We've been having fun around here on most weekends lately arguing about 'stuff'. By my count, we've seen three Flame Wars in as many weeks. At least this last one involved policy questions, but still. Anybody else getting the feeling we've already won this fall?
This past weekend, I had a minor crisis of confidence. I was at a party of about 18 people. There were 10 or so die hard Republicans, 2 of us die hard Dems, and the rest who generally don't give a rat's ass. Politics only came up once, but it was my least favorite topic. I heard - 'Sure these guys in charge are bad, but at least it's not Hillary or the rest of the Dems'.
This time, it came with an old twist.
'Yeah', said one, 'she's disgusting. I still can't get over how she got away with being involved with the death of Vince Foster'.
And it hit me. Dispite all our efforts to get through to these people, they still believed what they wanted to believe. Facts be damned. I wasn't able to set things straight at the party, something I generally try not to do given my minority status here in the Southland. But I did my research yesterday and sent out some emails to a couple of folks at the event. Nevertheless, I remain somewhat discouraged at the daunting task still ahead of all of us. And also, I must admit, I was a little discouraged in reading up on the details again. You see, while the facts are that Vince Foster committed suicide, Hillary doesn't quite come out as a very sympathetic person in the whole ordeal.
So in addition to being frustrated by the task ahead, I also started to wonder - Is this all worth it? Are the folks I'm supporting really all that much better than our opponents? Is it all a waste of time? You know, the fun self-questioning stuff all us liberals like to beat ourselves up over. I felt I knew the answer, but in any case I decided I would play a quick game. Do you want to play too? If so, grab a pencil and some paper, and let's play 20 questions.
The good news is there aren't really 20 questions, but there are 20 answers you'll need to jot down. The first 13 spots are to rank the following people in order of who you would like to be our next president. The list is the 13 I think are the most likely to have a chance to win, but don't worry if you don't see someone you think should be here. It doesn't matter for the purpose of the game, nor does it matter if you think some of these folks can't win. Here they are, 12 men and one woman for luck:
1) George Allen (R)
2) Jeb Bush (R)
3) Wesley Clark (D)
4) Hillary Clinton (D)
5) John Edwards (D)
6) Russ Feingold (D)
7) Bill Frist (R)
8) Al Gore (D)
9) Rudy Giuliani (R)
10) John Kerry (D)
11) John McCain (R)
12) Mitt Romney (R)
13) Mark Warner (D)
Suck it up, and put them all down, even if the thought of some makes you ill. OK, now that you've ranked them, answer the rest of the questions.
14) Of the above list, how many are you confident would make the country better? What percentage are democrats? (Sorry about the 2 parter and the math)
15) Is it important that we change direction with the next president?
16) Do you believe a third party candidate could possibly emerge to win the next election and make things better?
17) Based on all the answers so far, is it important to elect Democrats this November?
18) Do you agree with Markos that apathy is a real danger for Democrats this fall?
19) Do you need to be inspired to support Democrats 196 days from today? Comments?
20) For fun, which ranking did you have the toughest time deciding?
I'm going to post my answers in the first comment below. If you think this excercise was worthwhile, please post your answers below as well. It helped me regain my energy and focus after a tough weekend. If it helps generate some discussion and serves as a reminder of the importance of the next 196 days, I'll be a happy camper.
Cheers!