As we approach the final stretch of this election it seems as if the GOP is doing everything it can to turn this campaign into a vile, hateful thing.
Reading about GOP insanity day in day out is enough to lower anybody's spirits, so here's me attempting to raise yours.
The past 8 years of Bush's reign have been utterly miserable for everyone involved, and that's precisely why his visit to Belgium inspired one of the most hilarious political actions I've ever taken part in. Give piss a chance was our way of telling Bush to, well piss off and now, 3 years later, it's still the most fun I've ever had with politics.
I think we first heard about Bush's impending visit in januari 2005, I can distinctly remember being very angry with the man at the time and wanting to show the world I was. Enter animo.
Belgium's young socialists had known Bush was coming for some time and they'd prepared accordingly. Now at this point Bush was faced with demonstrations all the time so we decided to try something a bit more original. In the weeks leading up to the visit over 5000 stickers were distributed amongst members and spread over urinoirs across the country(quite a big number for such a small state).
This is what they looked like:
In case anyone's wondering the Dutch words at the bottom (Bush is hier niet welkom!) mean, they translate to : "Bush is not welcome here!"
I had a blast sticking these to urinoirs all over Brussels, the look on people's faces when they saw a little girl exit the men's room was particularly satisfying. And it was worth every second of the tongue-lashing we received from the older and more mature members of our party afterwards.
Now, three years later, reading through diaries about hatred and fear, I think our actions back then have become relevant once more. You see, the reason we reacted so strongly to Bush was the way he and other republicans chose to treat France and, to a lesser extent, Belgium.
In the years after the start of the war we were bombarded with visions of flags burning and reports of freedom fries and other such nonsense. We were told the American people considered us traitors and cowards.
So when Bush came to Belgium we could've thrown pies into his face, we could've rioted and screamed and we could've been just like the republican masses.
We weren't.
I can understand how angry those personal attacks on Barack Obama make you, trust me, I feel the same. But, we are not republicans, we're better than that. We've always been better than that and we always will be. Make no mistake, I'm all for fighting, but let's fight them our way. Combat lies with truth, hatred with love and sheer idiocy with the mocking ridicule that is the only thing McCain and the caribou barbie deserve right now.
We should be happy. You should be ecstatic. So many people have been working and praying so hard for this, so don't allow the republicans to spoil it for you. Not now, not when we're this close!
Take a deep breath and remember: "they may have lies, but we have the truth. They may have hatred, but we have hope. And where they have their talking points, we have an actual, functioning brain."
To paraphrase Barack Obama:
We may not throw the first punch, but on November fourth, we'll throw the last. And that's the only one that really matters.