I don’t think Hillary has ever seen herself as a movement leader. Not an MLK but more like LBJ, the insider who can get the nuts and bolts in place so that the outsiders’ dreams may become a reality. She has relied on her mastery of interdependent issues and coalition-building skills to gain respect—never trusting charisma or that she even had it. At the convention, she tried to get people to focus on the policies, not on her. It took Marcia Pappas to speak a truth I think Hillary never quite dared believe for herself: “I was in it for you, Hillary. It was about you.”

Besides, no one has ever been elected as an independent, not even Teddy Roosevelt who’d already done well in the top job. Like it or not, a woman candidate needs the backing and the infrastruc¬ture of one of those wings of the corporate party. If Hillary had ever entertained the notion that this grass-roots movement was going to carry her—well, more than a few peeled off and some say never again. Very precarious being Hillary. Very precarious being a woman in her position.

When die-hard supporters write about feeling betrayed by Hillary’s campaigning too hard for him, I think, oh, no, here we go again. The endless meetings we endured during the early 70s to deal with the “horizontal hostility” that we didn’t really understand or know how to handle—and still don’t. It’s so huge and so deeply ingrained. As women, we direct our aggression toward the safer target: other women. Even women who were abused often blame the mother who didn’t (or couldn’t) protect her, more than the father, stepfather, or boyfriend. That women dis-identify with the caste of women, are divided from each other, and direct our anger toward one other is the make-or-break territory for feminism—and arguably the biggest barrier to electing a woman president.

Yet none of these pragmatics captures my global response to these latest attacks on Hillary. The Right’s hatred and projections are predictable. The male-identified faux-feminists and the misogynist males of the Left who sank Hillary have shown their true colors this season. But when some of the faithful lose faith, it dredges up an ache in my soul. All that we have endured for five millennia merges with the specter of this new movement (to which Hillary’s candidacy has given birth) crashing once again on the rocks of women’s internalized oppression. Our Warrior Queen was checkmated. Will her child slip away as well?

Yes, I know how awful it was for each of us to see her campaigning so long and hard for him (as she always said she would), but how much more dreadful for her to go through this!! Knowing about the caucus fraud, knowing that the Party to which she was ever faithful never had her back, experiencing betrayal after betrayal from those whose careers she and Bill had made or had propped up—knowing all this and much more, she soldiered on with grace the likes of which I have rarely seen.

Her June speeches (and even her convention speech) gloriously buoyed us up while masterfully never conceding or endorsing him. I thought at the time, thank you, thank you for giving us this. You knew we couldn’t stand that right now. You kept faith with us. I wrote a piece that it was not Hillary’s job to unite the Party or win it for the loser, but I knew that if he lost, she would be toast. Scapegoating women is how men evade responsibility and justify their power.

How did she stomach what she felt she had to do—for her future, for our future, and in all probability, because of all kinds of threats? I think her choices were made for what she sees as the greater good of his country in these perilous times as well as for her own political viability. Do we really want to tear that down? Men (except those in ideological movements) don’t do that to each other. Shall we, who don’t have all the pieces, second-guess her?

Perhaps most galling of all, her post-primary choices mean that, although her campaign did lodge complaints about caucus fraud, she is not able to speak the truth about the primaries publicly. Nor, as I have written elsewhere (here and here), can she tackle the misogyny on her own because she needs a Greek Chorus to amplify, interpret, and spin with, for, and about her. Holding that silence is way beyond what most, and probably all, of us truth-tellers could handle.

Hillary doesn’t have the luxury that we do to be the principled outsiders naming the truth about the underside of her opponent’s campaign—the “real campaign.” It is vital that we all be the voice that she cannot speak. We must build a truth-based narrative about her, and replace the false dominant narrative about what happened during this campaign. A tall order, but essential to her future, the future of other women candidates, and our own.

Let us not turn our pain, disappointment, anger, despair, and heartache into attacking this extraordinary woman for the choices she made because they don’t fit our outsiders’ fantasy. Let us not participate in the scapegoating of female candidates—the behavior we have taken such exception to when done by others. Let us not do what women under patriarchy have done for their survival and crumbs for centuries—turn their anger horizontally rather than vertically—which keeps us divided and subordinated.

Let us train our fire where it belongs: the misogynist behavior of her abusive opponent, her Party, and the media, and the androcentric socio-political system which places women in impossible situations and pits them against each other. Patriarchy thrives on divisions it foments among women. Let us not fall prey to that. Let us catch ourselves when we fall into it, and do the hard work to stop it so that we don’t self-destruct as the Second and Third Waves did.

Oh, yes:

In his first television interview since the election, Mr Obama told CBS he would pull troops out of Iraq, shore up Afghanistan, and close Guantanamo Bay.

“I’m going to make sure that we don’t torture,” he said of the prison camp.

Well, good. No one should torture. That concept has been fully established, so that isn’t exactly groundbreaking. McCain would have done the same thing with Gitmo, by the way. But to spy on your own citizenry through FISA is A-Okay, even though it violates the US Constitution. Clearly, he has no problems with THAT since he VOTED for it.

Anywho, I’m no authority on morality - oh, wait a minute - yes I am! Yep, majoring in Ethics (Philosophy) as well as five years of graduate work in Ethics and theology, an internship, a residency to become a minister, and actual work as a minister as well as an honest-to-goodness moral upbringing really comes in handy sometimes! This would be just such a time, I think.

So, for Obama to make this claim to restore our “moral stature” is just laughable. I mean, really - to claim one wants to “rebuild the country’s moral stature” implies one has a MORAL base from which to do that work. I have seen blessed little evidence of that from Obama in the past two years. Heck, even longer than that, if you include how he got into the IL Senate - by screwing over the very woman (Alice Palmer) who got him into politics in the FIRST place. Well, that just goes to prove the point - he has had a “morality” problem for a while, it would seem.

There is no way I can touch on everything he has done during this entire election season, but one has to begin somewhere:

Tainting President Bill and Senator Hillary Clinton as racists. I am pretty sure that’s a violation of one of the BIG TEN: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” And that is just the beginning of the the lies Obama spread against Hillary Clinton over the past two years, though that is not just career damaging, but psychologically damaging. No matter HOW much one might know a smear is false, something of that magnitude has an effect, especially when one has spent one’s entire adult life fighting against that very cause? Yes, it is laughable, but it also tarnished them both tremendously. Yeah, what a stand-up guy. That is just ONE of the areas in which he went far beyond standard election campaigning. This false, yet lingering, attack on both of their CHARACTERS, using such a profound issue in this country, was so, so far beyond the pale of decency. Yet, not only did he use it, but he used it time and time again, then extending it to ALL Americans who did not support him. That is not the least bit “moral.”

Nor is it MORAL to demean and belittle women. To treat them as less than, as less worthy, as not on the same level, is not exactly reflective of good character. And to diminish a woman’s accomplishments all the while stealing her work and claiming it for one’s own is not ethical in any way, shape, or form.

Then there is the vast amount of caucus fraud perpetrated by Obama’s minions from Washington State to Texas. Texas alone with its 2,000+ documented complaints of caucus fraud - from intimidation, bullying, and threats, to physically being blocked out of the process. There is absolutely no way that the level of caucus fraud seen this year was a fluke, that it was not organized by the Obama campaign itself (does the term, “Obama Youth Camp” mean anything to you?). The caucus fraud that occurred was the ONLY reason Obama was even close to Hillary Clinton, who won all of the big states besides Obama’s own.

Which leads me to this the whole delegate issue. Even with Obama’s cheating at the caucuses, he and Clinton would have been only four votes apart except for one thing: taking lawfully cast, certified votes from Clinton and giving them to Obama, which he seemed to think was “fair.”

Now, I realize knowing the law does not a lawful, ethical, or moral person make. But honestly, wouldn’t one HOPE that the president-elect had any ONE of those characteristics? Is that really too much to ask? Evidently…

Ahem. And then there is ACORN. Oh, holy cow - where to even START on ACORN? Their voter registration fraud was OFF THE CHARTS this year. It couldn’t POSSIBLY have had anything to do with Obama paying them over $800,000, could it? Or that Obama actually WORKED for ACORN? Suffice it to say, ACORN was a boon to Obama, especially if voter fraud didn’t cross his moral barometer. Clearly, since he did not speak out against them, it did not seem to prick his conscience at all. Not even ACORN being investigated in sixteen states stirred him to say something against his unofficial election arm.

And how about Obama’s lack of oversight on Afghanistan? Ho can anyone claim a moral high ground when he has held NOT ONE MEETING of the Committee that oversees Afghanistan, Europe, and NATO? Do you know that Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the entire world? That families in Afghanistan are selling their CHILDREN, both boys and girls (though the girls are often “sold” as BRIDES to pay off a debt) to be able to survive?? Where has Obama been? How he can he make ANY claims to “moral stature” when he has lifted NOT ONE FINGER for Afghanistan? Not one. In fact, he USED Afghanistan as a campaign issue, which makes his inaction even worse in terms of his own character. He used them, and did absolutely nothing FOR them. Not one damn thing.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Threatening, bullying, cheating, and lying have been the hallmarks of Obama’s campaign this year, and HE is going to be the one to restore our moral stature in the world? Uh, yeah, no. He does not have the moral fortitude himself to pull that off. Not even close. Looks like four more years of Bush after all (like I’ve been sayin’…).

And speaking of poor management, Congress is considering an additional $500 Billion bailout, though this one would NOT be repaid. Its destination would be infrastructure. Not that we don’t NEED work done on our infrastructure, but is this really the time, when we are already a gazillion dollars in the tank? Hmm, I think not…

Well, I’ll be dog-goned. SOMEONE is holding ACORN accountable for their vast voter registration fraud! Who it is might not be the first place you would think of, though. Turns out the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, overseen by the Catholic Bishops in the US, has decided to NOT provide the $1 MILLION dollar gift to ACORN for which they had been planning based on the fraud this election. Oh, and that and the little issue of CORN founder Wade Radthke’s brother ripping off a cool mil himself from ACORN(I saw this on the morning news, but here is a LINK, too). Well, that’s a start, right?

Next up is Rainbow Rage! Oh, yes, this is such a warm, fuzzy tale. The Obama Way has infiltrated the GLBT community in California, oh yes it has. I am so proud…Here’s the tale:

Now that’s the way to win hearts and influence strangers, eh? Now I recognize that this woman is PRO Proposition 8, which is, naturally, very disturbing to me. BUT - as they said in that awesome movie, “The American President“:

“America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours…”

With no pushing, no bullying, and no spitting, no matter HOW much you might disagree. THAT is the American way, not this thuggish behavior that has become all too common, all too accepted…This is not the way we should be going on this issue, or any issue.

There’s another piece to this. Perhaps you have already seen Bud White’s EXCELLENT piece on Misogyny at No Quarter, but this seems to be a continuation of the Caucus behavior we saw this year from Washington State to the Lone Star State - big men bullying women. Actually, this is pretty much what we saw from Obama and his minions to Hillary, Sarah, and all women. I guess they have really paid it forward, haven’t they? Wow.

And from that respected news source, The Onion, I bring you this (hilarious) story, “International Con Man Barack Obama Leaves US With $85 Million In Campaign Fundraising:”

In a devastating blow to millions of unsuspecting Americans, newly elected president and international con man Barack Obama fled the country Wednesday with nearly $85 million in campaign funds.

According to FBI investigators, Obama’s sudden disappearance was discovered at 6:15 p.m. when the former Illinois senator failed to arrive at a gala event in Lincoln Square, prompting several aides to rush back to his campaign headquarters. At 6:23 p.m., flight logs at O’Hare International Airport confirmed that two passengers, a male carrying two silver briefcases and dressed in a perfectly tailored Brioni tuxedo, and an African-American female wearing a fur coat and speaking in a thick Russian accent, were seen boarding a private plane.

Obama’s campaign office, sources said, was completely vacant aside from a discarded Abraham Lincoln portrait, behind which was an emptied safe that his aides claimed never to have seen before.

In addition, three unconscious Secret Service agents were discovered at the scene, along with two lit cigarettes still burning in an ashtray, and Obama’s daughters, who authorities now believe were taken from an Alabama foster home six years ago.

Poor Joe - this was really his one big chance to get into the White House since the vast majority of Americans never wanted him in there. He had this to say about Obama’s disappearance:

“He completely suckered me,” said a visibly dejected vice president-elect Joe Biden, who estimated that he raised over $10 million for Obama. “I trusted him. Change, ‘Yes We Can,’ a new kind of politics, bringing the nation together, valuing an open dialogue about the issues—I trusted all of it.”

Yeah, you and the other alleged 51.99% of people (at least that’s the number ACORN promotes), Joe.

Oh, you know that sounds plausible! I recommend you go read the rest of the story (it’s funny), but I will reprint for you here Obama’s farewell letter here:

Honestly, I’d be happy to pay him $85 million to NOT be the President. This might even be a bargain. Heck, it’s a whole lot less than Dodd and Crew wanted to give ACORN from the bailout. Yep, now that I think about it, I think this would be a perfect ending to this election saga! Bon voyage, Obama! Now THAT would be some real, “Say WHAAAA?” News, wouldn’t it?? Feel free to make it so! I sure won’t be complainin’…

Shame on you! Gee, I don’t know what else to say. Your behavior is disgusting.

Furthermore, it is un-American. It is antithetical to the U.S. Constitution and to everything our Founding Fathers and revolutionary heroes fought and died for.

You deserve to be fired immediately, and put on trial.

You are trying to silence dissent through intimidation. I am stunned that “liberal” Democrats are behaving like this. They cried out for the right to dissent when they were the minority — now that they’re a majority, they are thuggish brutes.

Okay! But are ya sure? ‘Cause I mean, how do you know? Do you do a count, or what kind of a routine do you have here?

From the big paper, that Star-Tribune paper in Minneapolis:

Coleman camp to deploy lawyers, observers for recount

Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign is concerned that an effort by Al Franken’s campaign to have 461 rejected absentee ballots counted might be an indication of further “shenanigans,” a Coleman lawyer said today.

The Coleman campaign has received dozens of calls from supporters reporting other “disturbing” incidents, campaign attorney Fritz Knaak said at a news conference. …

Pretty soon, this could get kinda ugly here, ya know. Like this, ya might’ve heard about this case here in, what was it, 1996?

And I guess that was your accomplice in the wood chipper. And those three people in Brainerd. And for what? For a little bit of money. There’s more to life than a little money, you know. Don’tcha know that? And here ya are, and it’s a beautiful day. Well. I just don’t understand it.

Nope, I just don’t understand it.

You know, this is my idea of the sweet innocence of Minnesotans:

is it any wonder that the film Fargo ranks #114 in the top 250 movies of all time at IMDb.com?

It’s not right that the Democratic election officials in Minnesota are as stupid and bungling as Jerry Lundegaard, the character portrayed so well by William H. Macy.

Norm Coleman is NO prize. But, honest to god, Al Franken as a U.S. Senator? Good lord almighty. Let’s hope that the judges in Minnesota put a stop to the nonsense going on there.

OPEN THREAD!

A lot has been written about this, I know, but after getting TWO crappy articles from my sister with blatantly FALSE attacks on Governor Palin, I feel compelled to say more about this. And no, I’m not referencing the assholic articles she sent, but at least one came from a source I turned her on to a while ago: Alternet.

When their articles started attacking Senator Clinton non-stop, I quit my subscription to them. Judging from the articles my sister insists upon sending me, they have gone WAY over to the Rabid Voldemort side, with lots and lots of women-bashing to make their point. I am sure you can find it easily enough, if you really want your blood pressure to rise that much.

I’m sick of it. And sick of the blind acceptance of all attacks on Palin (or Clinton, for that matter), especially of the misogynistic variety. Heck, that seems to be most of them.

The kicker on all of this is my sister attacking ME for not supporting Obama when I was a founding member of my city’s first NOW chapter. I am not kidding. Not that SHE ever marched for Equal Rights, like I did, or helped women through Operation Rescue lines, but since I would not give my allegiance to Voldemort, all of a sudden, I am no longer a feminist. Because feminists can only support LIBERAL women, which I did not know until just a few months ago. Gee, was I ever living in a fantasy world before!!

Anywho, I am sick of all of the blatant lies smearing Gov.Palin after the election. So is one of her oldest friends:

Governor Palin has been slimed by the Obamabots up one side and down the other, with tremendous assistance from the MSM and those “anonymous source” (read: COWARDS) who are are full of more manure than my horse. A good-hearted No Quarter reader, Geo, provided this LINK to send the governor a letter of support after the election. So, here’s mine:

Dear Governor Palin:

As a former “yellow dog” Democrat (5/31 when the DNC took lawfully cast votes from Clinton and gave them to Obama was the last straw), I want to thank you for your participation in this process. Your presence on the trail with John McCain was invigorating. Even though I disagree with some of your policies, I respect your right to have them, and your willingness to engage in discussion on them. As someone who fought for the ERA, who engaged in (lawful) protests for women’s rights, I was marching for ALL women, not just liberal women who think exactly like I do. I am proud of what you have accomplished in your life. You are a role model to our young women.

I have to say, though, to see the continuation of the misogynistic treatment Senator Clinton received turned on you was horrifying. It made it quite clear that it was not your POLICIES to which people objected, but your GENDER. This year was a real eye-opener to me, and what I saw was shocking. To have your MANY accomplishments demeaned and belittled, even though YOU are more qualified than the president-elect, says a lot about where this country is in terms of women. Even more shocking was the way women were all too happy to jump on that bandwagon, mocking what you have done with your life, or not, focusing on rumors the MSM was awfully quick to get out there without any investigation, and mighty slow to correct, if they ever did, rather than what you have done for your state. A sad state of affairs, I have to say…

And to now try and blame YOU for John McCain’s loss rather than the registered Republicans who did not turn out, or look more closely at the RAMPANT voter fraud in states across this land, is outrageous. You were a breath of fresh air after Senator Clinton was drummed out by the DNC elite, who cared not for the will of the people. You brought some hope to those of us who lost our party this year when they ceased to be democratic. You inspired us, and for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

All the best to you, Governor Palin, as you continue serving your state, and wherever else your life takes you. Hopefully, we will see more of you on the National Stage! All the best to your lovely family as well.

Sincerely,
The Rev. Amy

If you are so inclined, and sick of the way Voldemort and crew treated this woman, as well as the MSM, send her a shout out. Like me, you don’t have to agree with her policies to respect the person and her accomplishments. Sadly, that kind of respect has been sorely lacking in this campaign of sexism and race-baiting, but it isn’t to late to let her know that you are better than that.

Can I just say how sad I am at the state of women in this country in the 21st century? When I was younger, and apparently, more naive, I thought we would be so much farther along at this point. I never dreamed we would have it worse than we did back then. Un-freakin-believable.

Thanks, Voldemort, for exposing the reality of sexism, misogyny, and internalized misogyny. We couldn’t have done it without you, or is it BECAUSE of you? Yeah, I think it’s the latter, too.

And how about those race relations? Bang up job on those, too. What a healer. What a Uniter. What a flim-flam artist. What gullible people we have in this country. What a long, long way we have to go…

The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008.

“Many people were fooled (including this student of politics although less so than many others) by this year’s increase in registration (more than 10 million added to the rolls), citizens’ willingness to stand for hours even in inclement weather to vote early, the likely rise in youth and African American voting, and the extensive grassroots organizing network of the Obama campaign into believing that turnout would be substantially higher than in 2004,” Curtis Gans, the center’s director, said in the report. “But we failed to realize that the registration increase was driven by Democratic and independent registration and that the long lines at the polls were mostly populated by Democrats.”

Some experts also note that national turnout trends may mask higher turnout in swing states with more intensive attempts by both campaigns to get their supporters to the polls. Several large states, including California and New York, had no statewide races and virtually no advertising or get-out-the-vote efforts by either presidential campaign.

According to the report, several Southern states — North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, and Mississippi — and the District of Columbia saw the greatest increases in voter turnout.

Overall turnout was highest in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, South Dakota and North Carolina, according to the report.

In 2004, 122 million Americans voted in the general election.

Hmmm…I wonder if the lower turnout in the Western States could have anything to do with this: Audio.

NEWS ALERT
Dispicable Voter Suppression Calls Hitting Republican Households in Western StatesSan Diego, November 4 (6:15 PM) - Dispicable voter suppression calls started hitting Republican households in California around 5 PM PST. The message left on the answering machines of
Republican households reads s follows:

“This is a breaking news alert! Early returns show Barack Obama will win Florida, Ohio and Virginia, closing John McCain’s only path to the White House. Obama landslide is virtual certainty. Early returns also show Democrats will have large majorities in both houses of congress,
regardless of final results from western states like Colorado and California. This was a breaking news alert.”

Tony Krvaric, Chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego County called the messages “dispicable”, and called for local Democrat leadership to immediately denounce the tactic, and demanded to know who paid for these calls. “Clearly, these calls are designed to depress Republican turnout here in San Diego County.”

Oh, and it wasn’t the youth vote that won this for Obama. As usual, they didn’t turn out as promised.
Young voters not essential to Obama triumph
Analysis shatters exit-polling myth, but shows black voters were vital

The purported “surge” of younger voters did happen, but it occurred at the same time as the number of voters of other ages also increased.

“Basically, the age distribution of voters looks the same as it did in 2004,” Arumi said. In 2004, 9 percent of the electorate was aged 18-24; on Tuesday, the percentage grew by one point to 10 percent.

Perhaps if the *anonymous insiders* of the MCCain campaign that continue to trash Sarah Palin, had done a better job getting their party to the polls, they wouldn’t need to be blaming her for their failures.

Oh, and just because this issue over Africa is driving me friggin batty, here is a comment from Palin’s aide Meg Stapleton:

“Regarding another stinging criticism, Stapleton claims that the Fox News report Thursday — that quoted unnamed sources inside the now defunct McCain campaign, saying Palin didn’t know Africa is a continent — was taken out of context.

Stapleton says that during a briefing session, someone asked Palin to explain the McCain-Palin stance on an issue, and as she was responding, “in the middle, she said, ‘country of Africa’ and somebody instantly wrote it down, and said, ‘Oh, my God, she thinks it’s a country.’”

But Stapleton insists, “She knows it’s a continent. It was just a human mistake, just like Obama saying 57 states. I don’t think anyone ever doubted that Obama knows there are 50 states.”

And no one in the media reported on Obama mentioning there were 57 states. Or that he saw dead people, or that his father’s casket was draped in an American Flag, or that his uncle liberated Auschwitz, or… Yes, we had a fun field day with those gaffes on the internet, but they weren’t reported in the news. But, the media has no problem trying to make Sarah Palin out to be a complete idiot.

Governor Sarah Palin did nothing wrong.

Or how about Georgia where the fraud looks to have involved over 100,000 people. Yes, ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE. Registered to vote in Georgia, as well as FL or OH.

But hey, let’s not talk about this stuff anymore, okay? That would be a real downer, a killjoy, a buzzkill, and just plain racist. So, let’s just not mention it, shall we? It is only our democracy at stake, but no worries - we have our first biracial president, so all is right with our world!

Oh, no, instead the MSM will spend countless hours talking about what kind of puppy the Obama girls are going to get, and about Obama meeting with the Actual President (which I say that way since so many of the Obamaborg seem to think he is instantly president - does NO ONE take Civics classes anymore?), and his getting his national security briefings. How could I forget? His choosing his cabinet. Oh, yes - that is a fun one - and this is a little shout out to all of my female university teaching family - how about that Lawrence Summers as possible Treasury Secretary? Remember him? The one who had to leave the presidency at Harvard because of his SEXIST TREATMENT OF WOMEN???? Just more of the same from Obama.

Oh, there are a few women’s names bandied around for his cabinet positions, but not as many as the men, that’s for sure. I guess Dr. Lynette Long was right on target when she reported this:

“I want gender parity. I want Obama to go on National television and announce the he will select a female running mate and that half of his cabinet will be women.” He was silent for a second and then sheepishly replied, “We can’t do that?” “Why not?” I asked. “We are over half the population?” “We can’t do that! What if there isn’t a competent woman?” I was stunned. “There are 300 million people in this country, and you can’t find a handful of competent women for the cabinet?” I chided. “You want affirmative action. I don’t believe in affirmative action.” “That’s my offer, take it or leave it.” He left it and guess what, he hasn’t called me any more.

Obama doesn’t believe in supporting women. I’ll use a recent NYT article as evidence. It cited that Obama has 300 foreign policy advisers. The times posted pictures of the top twenty-one of them. Two were women. That’s less than ten percent. So much for parity. So much for the politics of change.

Yeah, and I haven’t heard any woman’s name floated for any part of Obama’s cabinet, have you?

Here’s why I am so damn cranky today, besides all of the ranting above: the Democrats are acting EXACTLY like the Republicans did in 2000. EXACTLY. Ignoring all of the fraud, claiming the “losers” need to get over it, Obama is a Uniter and a Healer, and will make America proud again. Blech. What a crock. This man has not even served a full term in the Senate, and the vast majority of his time there has been spent CAMPAIGNING! Since when is that sufficient experience for the highest office in the land? Even assuming there was no caucus fraud, or Convention fraud, or RBC fraud, or voter fraud, even assuming ALL of that, Obama is WOEFULLY inexperienced, unqualified, and unprepared. Not to mention homophobic and misogynistic. Oh, and ARROGANT as all hell. What a guy.

I understand that many African Americans are ecstatic that “one of their own” is now the President-Elect. But as Patsy from the “Our View - withPatsy and Sugar” on NoQuarter Radio said last night, Obama did NOT grow up like the vast majority of African Americans in this country, he did not grow up in their community. I guess it really doesn’t matter that he is bi-racial, and raised by the white side of the family. Why let facts inform the fantasy? Shut up already! Ahem.

Finally, there is the whole “the voting was of RECORD proportions!” meme being spread far and wide by the Obama Propaganda News. How else to say this? Well, it’s a crock of hooey. The difference between this election and the last one? One percentage point more! Oh, dear goddess, He really IS the Messiah! WOWIE ZOWIE!!!!! Uh, yeah, no, not really. It is not a record turnout, as it turns out. Just one more notch in the “reality” surrounding the candidate, uh, President-Elect, who has rewritten his history whenever it suits. Unfortunately, it suits him a whole bunch.

See, just like Bush in 2000. Only this time the shoe is on the other foot. The Democrats could care less about the irony of it all, the fraud of it all, as long as they won. It really is upside down world now…And it makes me cranky as hell.

Paul’s video reminds me of this anxious-making scene in West Wing:

That West Wing scene is described thusly:

The beginning (a.k.a. cold open) of The West Wing, season 4, episode 7, titled “Election Night”

The video comes from absherman13’s YouTube channel.

Paul’s description of the first video is simple and direct:

(Nov 4, 2008) — Self-reported voter fraud in PA.

I’m sure we must suppose that this was a rare occurrence, right?

It was probably just a prank, like the one that Toby pulled off on Josh, right?

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Special thanks to CJAnimate for sending me the first video.

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P.S. One of the highlights of the 2000 election was going to a rally “starring” Martin Sheen and Dule Hill from West Wing. They were not actors that day. They were patriotic Americans, and both spoke so very eloquently for Al Gore. As I said, that was one of the highlights of the 2000 election, which made me all the more angry and sad in the lowest of the low, agonizing days that followed in November 2000.

Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown (Indianapolis) to control the crowd.

The line was long and the crowd was angry at times.

“I want my money today! It’s my money. I want it right now!” yelled one former campaign worker.

A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and said people signed up to work three-hour shifts at a time. Three hours of canvassing got workers a $30 pre-paid Visa card.

The workers showed up to get their cards Wednesday morning at 10:00 am.

“There was a note on the door saying 1:00 pm and then at 1:20 pm everybody was like why is nobody here. They just got here and they’re trying to get it organized,” said Heather Richards, a former campaign worker.

Well, golly gee willikers - what a surprise! People are having a hard time getting Obama to fulfill his obligations! You’d think with the gazillion dollars from illegal contributions he received, he would have plenty of green to spread among his people, maybe even some bonuses for jobs well done for the 375 workers who came to get paid. If you thought that, you’d be wrong!

Eventually people did start getting paid, but some said they were missing hours and told to fill in paperwork making their claim and that eventually they would get a check in the mail.

“Still that’s not right. I’m disappointed. I’m glad for the president, but I’m disappointed in this system,” said Diane Jefferson, temporary campaign worker.

“It should have been $480. It’s $230,” said Imani Sankofa.

“They gave us $10 an hour. So we added it. I added up all the hours so it was supposed to be at least $120. All I get is $90,” said Charles Martin.

“I worked nine hours a day for 4 days and got paid half of what I should have earned,” said Randall Waldon.

Some people weren’t satisfied with filling out a claim form for money they felt was still due to them.

“They say that they gonna call you or they going to mail it to you, but I don’t know. We’ll see what happens,” said Antron Grose.

“Talking about they’ll mail it to us. I ain’t worried about that, man. They’re not going to mail nothin’,” said Martin.

Seems Johnny Mac was right about the Redistributor in Chief - he wants to redistribute YOUR funds, not his! So, you just keep sitting by that mailbox and phone - I am SURE they will be rushing to get you the money for which you worked. Ahem. (And given this, I wonder how well the Obama camp is going to do issuing those 1099s in January?)

And if I was the woman in this video below (from No Quarter Election Thread), I sure wouldn’t be holding my breath:

If Obama is having, um, difficulties actually paying his employees wages earned, I’m not sure why this woman thinks Obama is going to do ANYTHING for her, much less pay her mortgage and her gas. Wow - it is just hard to fathom the gullibility of some people…

And in more news in the “Welcome To The Real World” round-up, the passing of Proposition 8 in CA and Amendment 2 in FL were a rude awakening to many. Here’s the thing - while all those Hollywood types (talking to YOU, Ellen) were singing Obama’s praises, they, like so many others, ignored that the bottom line of his pandering message was that HE IS AGAINST SAME SEX MARRIAGE. He has said that time and time again including in his wishy-washy message that he doesn’t think Prop 8 should pass in CA, but that he is against same sex marriage all the same. So, guess what? It passed, because a lot of his constituents, especially African Americans and the evangelicals he courted, are against same sex marriage. Had any of those mindless people BOTHERED to actually look at his “words, just words,” they would have known that.

But no, Cher, and Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon, and Wanda Sykes, and all of those people wanted to go with the cool guy, so they, along with the REST of Democrats, turned a deaf ear and blind eye to the shenanigans Obama was using in caucus states and that the DNC used to take votes away from Hillary, both in FL and MI, as well as the COnvention. I don’t think the constituents SHE courted would have voted FOR Proposition 8. Oh well - the GLBT community, and women, have all been thrown under the bus for the ascension of THE ONE. Hope you’re happy now because you helped to make it happen!

Oh, wait - those people in CA aren’t. But all those folks protesting there can just get over themselves - they have no one but themselves to blame for the passage of Proposition 8. Had any of the big wigs there stood up and cried foul over the RBC’s decision, or DEMANDED a fair, DEMOCRATIC Convention, I doubt Prop 8 would have passed. So, tough, all you Hollywood folks who oohed and ahed over The One in Denver and had no qualms with the DNP violating its own rules - you did it to yourselves. Hate it for ya, Ellen (and Portia),and the other 18,000 people affected by this, but hey - maybe you shouldn’t have been pushing Obama so much during your show. And maybe all you people should have actually done your freakin’ homework on what was happening in the election.

While I am at it, over 62% of Floridians voted FOR Amendment 2 voted FOR Amendment 2, to Constitutionalize discrimination in their state. In other words, a whole bunch of Democrats voted for that, too. Thanks so much, all you wonderful folks - in both states. What a healing uniter Obama is, isn’t he?? Hey, that’s what they keep claiming, so it HAS to be true - just not for women in general and GLBT people in particular. Whatever.

Anyway, who cares about social justice for GLBT and women now that we have the first biracial president-elect? Who cares about ACORN using TAXPAYING DOLLARS to commit massive amounts of voter fraud, and how they will surely get even more money from and ALL Democratic government (I mean, really - if they were already getting millions of dollars before, as well as new-mortgage kickbacks, and Chris Dodd wanting to give them BILLIONS of dollars from the bailout repayment, who the hell is going to stop them NOW?)? Who cares that their GOTV arms committed voter fraud for Obama and that his followers voted more than once? What’s the big deal, anyway?

Sadly, that is the real world we have now, where caucus fraud will be institutionalized, voter fraud will continue to be tolerated, even excused by people who should know better (that is, the people who, thanks to all of the “poor little ACORN” posts by the NY Times, think ACORN is being beset upon by Republicans and they aren’t doing anything wrong - even when Democrats admit they are. Bob Herbert is especially guilty of this tactic. Apparently, these readers have missed his *subtle* Obama bias…), and electronic voting machines will continue to flip ballots. That is our world today, because really - who is going to stand up against caucus fraud now? Not the Democrats, who KNEW it was occurring but said nothing, or the MSM, which ignored Clinton’s attempts to inform them about documented fraud. Who’s going to stand up against voter fraud? Not Democrats - that would cast aspersions on THE ONE. Who will stand up for us?

And who will stand up for women? Not the Democrats, that’s for sure. They made a sport of misogyny this election, and haven’t let up yet on Governor Palin, either. They not only stood by while Obama laid claim to Clinton’s ideas, but were in a wicked big hurry to shove her out of the race (once she created those policies, of course, because what would Obama have done if he had to create them on his own??). Oh, and they didn’t just shove her out, they treated her with contempt, as if she had no right to come to the party. They treated her in a way they have never treated ANY man, even one as inexperienced and unqualified as, well, Obama. No, they not only stood by, they engaged in, and encouraged, the misogyny we experienced this year (did anyone EVER hear Obama speak out against hanging Sarah Palin in effigy in West Hollywood? No. Ever hear him speak out against the misogyny directed at Clinton? No. No, he engaged in it, not fought against it.). I bet Obama wishes he had stolen Clinton’s economic proposal now that the Dow tanked the worst after his election of any time in history precisely because they DON’T know where he stands. That can’t be a good omen for things to come, and rubs a bit of the shine off of his “win.” I reckon he shouldn’t have been so dismissive when John McCain claimed her plan (and actually gave her credit, something Obama has NEVER done). Oh, well!

It’s going to be some four years here in the real world, with more rude awakenings, more expectations dashed, and more dreams broken. Heck, Obama’s workers are already experiencing that, as well as his anti-war supporters with the choice of Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff. Well, time to wake up, people, to what the rest of us have always known - Obama is a con man, and you fell for it. Don’t waste your time waiting by the phone or the mail-box for your wages, or hope of mortgages and gas paid (!!!). It ain’t gonna happen - but we could have told you that…Oh, wait - we did tell you that, and you didn’t believe us. How about now?? It hasn’t even been two days since the election, and look at the shine fade…