We Voted

For the first time I can remember, OilMan and I sat down side by side at the kitchen counter to fill out our ballots together. It just seemed more important than ever that we get things right and that we not cancel each other's votes as sometimes happens.

Just as I think things couldn't get any worse, the events of last week were simply unspeakable. Instead of ranting on and on as I am inclined to do, I am going to quote from Eugene Robinson's column from the Washington Post on Tuesday. He is obviously as pissed off as I am and sums up my own feelings better than I could possibly do.

Don't tell me that 'both sides' need to do better.
"Both sides" are not responsible for the horrific political terrorism we have seen this past week. Only the right is to blame--starting with President Donald Trump and his complicit enablers in the Republican Party....Am I not supposed to blame Trump? Well he blames me. This is what he had to say this morning on Twitter:

'There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate and even fraudulent reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People must stop the open & obvious hostility & report  the news accurately & fairly....Fake News Must End!'

From the first day of his presidential campaign, Trump his deliberately whipped up anti immigrant fervor and stoked racial animus. The only thing he knows how to do is divert, deflect, attack and drive the wedge deeper....By obliterating the normal boundaries of political speech, he has opened new space for unapologetic advocates of white supremacy, anti-semitism, misogyny and other biases to spew their venom.

Don't tell me that 'both sides' need to do better. Republicans who remain silent deserve to be swept out of office."

Our last political science class on 'fake news' and the course of the elections was on Tuesday. I took heart from a comment to the effect that the overt attempts at voter suppression in many parts of the country can also have the opposite effect of bringing out more voters. I think turnout is going to be very important in this election. I hope everyone turns out.