will you share the moment?

Here's a must read tale from NC: A conservative Republican does GOTV for Obama:

My wife made me canvas for Obama; here's what I learned

Charlotte, N.C. - There has been a lot of speculation that Barack Obama might win the election due to his better "ground game" and superior campaign organization.

I had the chance to view that organization up close this month when I canvassed for him. I'm not sure I learned much about his chances, but I learned a lot about myself and about this election.

Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again.

[.]

I am the dreaded swing voter.

So you can imagine my surprise when my wife suggested we spend a Saturday morning canvassing for Obama. I have never canvassed for any candidate. But I did, of course, what most middle-aged married men do: what I was told.

[.]

At the Obama headquarters, we stood in a group to receive our instructions. I wasn't the oldest, but close, and the youngest was maybe in high school. I watched a campaign organizer match up a young black man who looked to be college age with a white guy about my age to canvas together. It should not have been a big thing, but the beauty of the image did not escape me.

Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood.

We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, "Who is it?"

"We're from the Obama campaign," we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk.

Grandmothers kept one hand on their grandchildren and made sure they had all the information they needed for their son or daughter to vote for the first time.

Young people came to the door rubbing sleep from their eyes to find out where they could vote early, to make sure their vote got counted.

We knocked on every door we could find and checked off every name on our list. We did our job, but Obama may not have been the one who got the most out of the day's work.

[.]

I learned in just those three hours that this election is not about what we think of as the "big things."

It's not about taxes. I'm pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected.

[.]

I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.

My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.

Know Hope.

 

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

I don't know how many people were there but most of the stadium was full and the field level was full of people standing, local news call it at 27,000 and it was at least that if not 30k.

The podium was set up in the end zone.  Cincy Mayor Mark Mallory was there, as was Ohio Governor Strickland.  I had a cance to talk to some folks from nearby Hamilton Ohio, as well as a Arvin Meritor worker from my neck of KY, young white guy there with his wife.  The man told me flat out he drove up here because he believes McSame is going to cost him his job.  He has time to vote, turns out his hours have been cut to 3-4 days a week.

Obama himself was a very impressive public speaker.  He's been to Cincy a couple of times actually, because the Obama folks believe Hamilton County could decide Ohio this year.  I believe it.

They're going to vote on Tuesday.  The guy, Brian, told me he had never voted before.  He never cared enough to do so.  Now he does.

It's going to be amazing.

If my brothers in NC, one 27 and already cynical, one 32 and married for a year, neither one active in politics, neither one has bothered to vote fbefore either, just like Brian.

They are both for Obama.  Hell, one of them stood in line for 4 hours to vote early.

We gotta run up the score, folks.

More at Zandar vs. The Stupid.

Do I have any faith in the Democratic Party to push fiercely for proper reconcilliation of a contested election? NO. Their track record is dismal and cowering.

I hear "this time it will be different . . ." but I have every reason to be 100% skeptical. Will mister nice guy Obama who shuns conflict enter into the greatest conflict in his life when the Reps go ballistic at midnight November 5th? This is the lack of fighting spirit many of Obama's detractors on the Left have been concerned with. He hasn't shown he's a fighter, and we've been worried about that from the beginning of his ascendancy. Nov 5th is the real contest, now that the game of the presidential elections was changed and brought into a new dimension with Bush v. Gore in 2000. It's the power structure's private election/selection process, taking away even more legitimacy from the American people's voting power.

It goes like this: 1. Primary season -- 21 months of spend spend spend on Media buys and campaign consultants + 2. Post-convention spending spending spending on Media buys and consultants for 3 months + 3. Post Election Day spending spending spending on lawyers and pundits and consultants = final purchase of the Presidency.

No?

The third section is a private concern, using our courts, paid by our taxes, to adjudicate the Upper Classes' bitter fight over who's next going to copiously steal from the Treasury.

Welcome To America. It's Not a Democracy.

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org

Time to start nail-biting.

Share. Share resources, share delight, share burdens, share the healing. Sharing will bring us back from mass suicide. www.share-international.org