As an antidote to all the political despair of late:
Who are you the most proud of voting for in your voting history? Local, presidential, etc.
Me? My eternal political boyfriend, John Kerry.
A.
25 thoughts on “Weekend Question Thread”
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Wellstone.
I remember being so proud of my vote for Gary Hart in 1984 – it was my second national election, but my first vote for a Democratic candidate. Been a Democrat ever since.
I was really proud of Max Nofziger for finally making it to the Austin City Council in 1986, coming a long way after being homeless.
Even though I didn’t vote for him (his campaign was dead by the TX primary), I am prouder of my support for Howard Dean in 2004 than probably all my other political choices.
Dean was still in the race for the MI caucus in 2004, so I was lucky enough to get the chance to vote for him.
I enjoyed voting for Clinton in ’96 when I was in the military–most of the people on the boat thought he was the devil with a drawl and a hard-on.
I’m gonna be happy to vote for Russ Feingold in three days, too. Ron Johnson can suck on my shit. That fucking dicksmack deserves to be run out of town on a rail. Any town. Every town.
Obama, in the democratic primary and in the general election. Because I’m old enough to remember a New Orleans still struggling with desegregation.
Ditto what Ray Ward said. Also, my kiddo was conscious that electing Obama was damned important.
Go Jude. RoJo can rot. Every vote for Feingold over the past 18 years has been a good vote.
It was long over by Wisconsin’s primary in 2004, but Dean was still on the ballot that September, and as an enthusiastic Dean supporter since March or so of 2003, it still felt good to cast that vote. (Kerry the following November, not so much.)
Edwin Edwards against David Duke in 1991 when the whole world was watching.
feingold of course, but i voted for jesse jackson in 92′.
Feingold (“He knows Wisconsin like the back of his hand”) and Tammy Baldwin…on the flip side, I’m embarrassed to say I forgot to vote in the 1990 off-year elections, but figured Bob Kastenmeier would never lose to blow-dried Scott Klug.
I’m pretty sure I haven’t missed a chance to vote since.
Wayne Morse Oregon Senator. One of two men to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. Also, a steady opponent of the war.
Yes, he was not totally honest and he did favors for contributors that wasted billions of dollars. When push came to shove he was there for Americans.
Obama. A decent, thoughtful man, and one of our smartest Presidents. He had to overcome all the normal opposition, plus race.
I ponied up for Russ, Tammy and a homeless guy running for mayor. However, most proud:
Ross Perot.
I know it sounds fucking insane now, but in 1992 as a first-time voter, it just felt like this guy could do something different and amazing. I also admired the hell out of Stockdale.
It’s amazing how things change over years. He ended up being insane and then he ended up doing well later in life. Go figure.
Gore. I remember sitting with mr. jezebel in the parking lot of a Toys R Us when the Supreme Court coup was announced. mr. jezebel pounded his fist into the dashboard of my (completely innocent) GTI so hard he left permanent dents. I stared, stunned, out the window and contemplated a world gone wrong beyond what I had been willing to believe possible. I had tried to be an informed voter up till that time. From that point forward, I became a passionate one, and a political junkie.
Then Kerry. mr. jezebel and I went out as poll watchers for that one. mr. jezebel had a raging fever and horrible flu, but we were out nevertheless. Had a few altercations with GOP thugs in black SUVs from out of state, trying to intimidate voters in Philly neighborhoods. We were so happy to be out there, felt so much energy. Something inside us both took an awful beating by the end of that night.
Then Obama. We were out there again, not as poll-watchers this time, but as Obama campaigners. A long, very thoughtful process for both of us as to whether to back him or Hillary. We both chose him in the end, with some mixed feelings but complete enthusiasm. We both cried, watching the results come in, seeing Ohio go blue and realizing that he had won. We cried, knowing that whatever horrors lay ahead, we had gone from Jim Crow, to MLK’s dream, to a black president in a single generation. Whatever followed, that is the stuff hope is made of.
Obama has disappointed in some really distressing ways, delivered in others, frustrated the hell out of me in others, reminds me daily of the flaws in our political process that have our democratic republic experiment on life support and may yet do it in. But I still believe he is competent, and that he is trying his damnedest to do his best. I don’t always agree with what he does, and sometimes I just want to shake some sense into him, but in the end I can’t ask much more from a human being serving as President than that.
First, George McGovern (I was behind him 1,000 percent). And then Barack Obama when he ran for U.S. Senate.
I, for some reason, happened to watch his speech at the 2004 convention when he was running (I hardly ever listen to political speeches; after being in the news biz for so many years, I have an extremely low BS tolerance), and I was dumbfounded. I wandered out into the kitchen told my wife I was pretty sure I just watched a future President of the U.S., even if he was black and had a funny name.
Nader in 2000.
Harvey Milk a couple of times in San Francisco, before the tragedy. I always have been and always will be proud of those votes.
Obama twice.
Feingold, Obama, Gore, Kerry, Tom Barrett for Rep, for mayor, for Governor (he’s a decent and good man), and I voted for John Anderson in 1980 — silly me! Seemed so idealistic and independent… sigh. Oh, and our former state rep, Sheldon Wasserman — a decent man and also a practicing ob/gyn who supports choice. He also worked full time at his practice while still putting in the full time as state rep. Like Jimmy Stewart as a doctor.
Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Finally, decades after my grandmother won the right to vote, I walked into my local community center and pushed the button to vote for a woman for president. I cried like a baby.
Obama. Yes, he’s disappointed me too, on occasion; but when I consider how much he’s accomplished in the face of the childish and recalcitrant GOPer opposition, not to mention their outright racism, I’d vote for him again in a heartbeat.
This year, it’s back to voting against racists and other morons, and I’ll proudly cast my ballot against Jan Brewer, and every other dickhead GOPer who supports SB1070.
Al Franken. (I moved to Minnesota from Iowa after Wellstone’s death, otherwise Al might have had some competition in my list.) I liked voting for Harkin in Iowa too, but he’s kind of a doofus — one of our doofi, but still.
Bill Clinton in 1992. I thought it was the end of the Reagan legacy. My bad.
I’d say Barack Obama. I know things haven;t worked out all that well, but at the time I felt we were at a critical moment in history, and four more years of W. (which is what McCain was), was something the country just couldn’t take.
And yes, it was nice that a black man become president. Was a watershed moment–a racial milestone for this country, which it needed.
Obama. It was the happiest vote I ever cast.