fear & loathing in michigan

i've been reading the Good Doctor's book about the '72 election, "fear & loathing on the campaign trail," because i can't get enough of this election business. back then it was nixon trying to keep the white house away from the democrats, a bid for re-election against the odds-off favorite to win even his own party's nomination, that person being george mcgovern. in the end, nixon wins the race handedly, and in fact mcgovern almost manages to lose every single state in the union. i'm still reading the book, so how nixon accomplishes this landslide remains a mystery to me.

as we approach the final leg of this never-ending presidential campaign, i thought i would write an ode to the great gonzo journalist in the best gonzo style i can muster...







the democrats were supposed to be a shoe-in this year after the wrecking ball presidency that has been george walker bush / dick cheney. and yet here we are with six weeks before the general election and the polls are dead even. leave it to the democrats to find a way to ruin a perfectly winnable election. they couldn't just nominate some white guy and get it over with. instead they picked a young black guy with the middle name hussein in order to tempt fate as much as possible. not that i dislike obama. in fact he's pretty damn impressive if you ask me. but there sure are a lot of stupid bastards out there who probably wouldn't grab a life line from anyone who's not white, if you catch my drift.

michigan is one of those vaunted "battleground" states you're always hearing about. it's a GD mess of racial, ethnic and economic segregation. getting 50.1% of the residents of this state to vote for the young black fella isn't unimaginable given the devastated economy around these parts (one person in ten is now unemployed in this state). you've got to be some sort of devoted republican to stay true to the GOP this year. you've got to give those slimy rats credit for trying though. there's no shortage of feces they won't try to throw against the wall. and this v.p. gimmick is going in the history books for something, either as a brilliant political stunt the likes of which we've never seen before or the most colossial pander-act of desperation ever attempted in the entire history of american politics, which isn't to say those two things can't both be true. it's not a stretch to imagine some of these yankees with their southern roots and confederate flags getting excited about the lady from alaska. she's the closest thing to dubya on either of the tickets, which is probably not appealing to you or me, but for some of these goofy bastards it's an out-and-out gift from God. personally i don't understand the appeal of presidential candidates who can't explain basic policies and speak with definitive generalities, like "war against russia might be necessary," spoken with no regard for reality. but hey, who doesn't love a good republicans vs. the commies conflict? it really brings me back to the good ole days and i'm starting to think governor palin might be the next ronald reagan after all.

the numbers say it's a dead heat here in The Mitton. traveling around this troubled state day-in, day-out, it's much harder to get a sense of this thing. obama is definitely winning the bumper sticker battle. spotting a mccain bumper sticker is a bit like trying to spot a shooting star. it happens from time to time, and every time it's surprising. i find myself staring at the presumptively white catholic inside said vehicle with a heart full of pity and rage. i want to ask them if they really support john mccain or do they just not want obama to win? i've seen the phrase "Nobama" scribbled in the dirt on the backside of a few cargo trucks and i can't help but assume the truckers inside have fallen victim to the cultish disease called conservative talk radio. do these truckers realize how a mccain vote destablizes the union they take comfort in? why vote against your own interests? it's like a bodysnatchers situation. but at least these folks don't hide their anti-obama vote behind a "mccain" sticker. i can respect that.







i was surprised to see obama yard signs the past few days in the rural parts around grand rapids (a conservative region) and even in the rural hillsdale area. i met a few guys in the little town of charlotte who were as excited as a cheerleader on coke when they saw the obama button on the bag i carry around. it makes me think of iowa. in other words, as long as the white folks are at a distance from the black folk, they are fine and dandy with the young fella.

it's metro detroit that's hard to figure out. obama just isn't getting traction with a majority of the suburbanites, i fear. my city is your classic blue-collar, hardhat kind of town with a democratic club just up the street. so why is it that there are three mccain yard signs within a stone's throw and not one obama sign for miles? why doesn't the democrat club and the UAW hall have signs of support up for all to see? i saw a poll that had mccain up about 20 points in the metro area outside of detroit itself, which only makes sense when you confront the reality of racial prejudice in the region. no big surprise considering the [former] mayor of detroit is now a convicted fellon who used millions of taxpayer dollars for hush money. he's pretty much everything suspicious white people fear obama will become: a power-abusing, blacks-first ruler who flaunts more than he works. there's even a commercial floating out there trying to link obama with this d-bag.



(click on mug for slimy ad)




my car is pretty dirty right now. i have an obama sticker taped to the inside of my rear window. i was in the township of delhi earlier in the day which boarders lansing. somebody in delhi wrote "yes" in the dirt above my obama sticker on my car, which was more exhilirating than it had any right to be. when you're in a close race you'll take any little thing to feel better about your chances. of course, i'm demoralized daily at the sight of a mccain headquarters located in the bottom floor of the building a do work for. and why is there a relatively attractive blonde girl working inside at the front desk inside his office? for the most part it's old folks and stiff white kids coming in and out. but her? like i said, it's a bodysnatchers sort of deal. that's all i can figure. i'm sure she's been convinced obama is a baby killer.

the ladies i know up in the corn fields of tuscola county didn't take too well to obama at first. they took the button off my bag and laid it on the floor, in fact. but we've talked...i've preached the gospel as best i could, even in the face of "i think the president should be from america" ignorance. i can't say for sure if they will all vote for mccain now, but they at least don't seem to hate the young messenger of Hope anymore.

i have no idea what's going to happen in this state. if rock-o can keep railing on this economy thing i suspect he has a chance. and he just about has to win michigan if he wants to be president. but if he can't win these lunch pal types down here then there's no telling where all this is headed. what does it mean when the blue-collars stop voting for democrats?

to be continued...