Guardian Unlimited | US elections 2004 | Oh, Oklahoma!
I love seeing what outsiders think of the US, and this article from Britain highlights some of the wackiness of our senate races, including one in Kentucky. By the way, several Republicans are now playing a game against Dr Dan by calling him limp-wristed and making other insinuations that he's gay (and I haven't heard anything within the gay community along that lines and have no reason to think he's a closeted politician) but then saying that it's not wrong because, after all, there's nothing wrong with being gay. Of course there isn't. But when you're spreading spurious rumours about someone that you know will harm them amongst conservative voters, it's still a smear campaign, and it just shows that the incumbent, Jim Bunning, is so weak on issues that there's nothing left to do other than coat-ride on Bush or attack the opponent personally. (Bunning also said Mongiardo, whose family was Italian, looked like one of Saddam Hussein's sons...wacky.)
That's the theme around here these days. Meanwhile, they're running ads against Nick Clooney (father of George), calling him 'Looney Clooney' and running down a list of things he supports that are out of touch with Kentuckians...things I happen to agree with. It's not one of my races, and it does bother me that he is for marriage to remain between a woman and a man, but hey, you can't have everything from every candidate.
The Republicans seem to be making the most blunders, but an ad against a proposed amendment in Kentucky that would make marriage strictly between a man and woman and prevent any civil unions or basic rights for gay couples was yanked from several television stations as a result of some misleading information in terms of some statements by the governor, Ernie Fletcher (whose brother is running for a race in which his main schtick has been, 'hey, I have Sunday dinner with the governor every week'...please). They're trying to appeal to women, saying that the amendment will hurt those unmarried women who seek emergency protective orders, etc. I'm not sure about that; I haven't seen the full amendment and do plan to before I vote, although obviously I'm for gay marriage and against yanking even the possibility of civil unions away from people, which is why many do not support the amendment. Even if they don't like the idea of same sex marriage, they don't want to leave them totally without rights.
I don't know whether politicians think we're all stupid, or if they are all stupid, or what. But I'll be very glad when the whole debacle is over. I'm off at my state job on Tuesday and I'm going to take off at the hospital, too. I'm also taking Monday off from both jobs...it was a good opportunity to get a little R&R, but I'm definitely going to go vote, then friends and I are going to have dinner and come back and watch the returns. Kentucky closes its polls quite early, 6 pm I think, so we get results sooner than many. Who knows if we'll even know who's president, though, that night?
Oh, and it looks like the tax referendum to support our bus system has a lot more support than anyone--even its proponents--thought possible. A recent poll put supporters ahead by 17 points. That's great. Lextran has been struggling and its services have been a joke. No one can rely on the system in this town, and having spent many a four-hour grocery run, I'd like to see it get some stable funding. Mind you, I don't own property, so it doesn't effect me as of yet, but I would certainly pay property taxes to fund public transportation. I at least have used it regularly and I'll probably never use the Fayette county school system. But some thing you just help pay for out of civic duty. Those two are examples.
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