What could have happened on Election Day instead…
Posted by MJ on November 17, 2008
The latest edition of the Artvoice, the local Buffalo alternative newspaper had a interesting article by Michael I. Niman which I like to share and think is worth reading. The scenario outlined in the piece may be considered somewhat conspiratorial but you be the judge…
The scariest costume worn to my door this past Halloween was a tiny Sarah Palin outfit. This was a week after the real Palin went on record in an NBC interview arguing that those who would bomb healthcare facilities that provided abortions weren’t necessarily “terrorists.” No tykes ever showed up at our doors pining for Hershey bars dressed as “pro-life” doctor killer James Kopp. That would be in bad taste, even on Halloween. But Palin? Sure. Why not? Most folks were just not aware that the woman soon to be considered for the position of stand-in for the oldest incoming president in history had just went on record legitimizing the bullet or the bomb as a legit alternative to the democratic process. Or maybe she was just too much of a moron to know what she was saying. Either way, the real specter of a McCain/Palin administration made this the scariest Halloween of my life. As a nation, we were about to possibly fall, or get pushed, into an abyss.
A few days later, on Election Day, I finished teaching class, like I always do on Tuesdays, by bidding my students farewell and telling them I’d see them on Thursday. But as the words rolled off my tongue, I hesitated. I didn’t really know if indeed I would see them on Thursday, or if the nation would be locked down under martial law by then. It was a crap shoot. Would Election Day bring a sigh of relief or a curfew?
“click here” to read the whole article at the Artvoice site
The article really caught my eye because when I seen the news video of all the people who gathered for Obama in Chicago and celebrated in the streets around the country wondered what would have happened if the election was close and they said Obama lost? There would have been riots in the streets and I would have been part of them. I do think the Bush Administration would have liked that since would have given him the excuse to label protesters as terrorists.
I was a little worried just before the election with all the media talk of the race tighten and even one poll showing McCain up sightly. Sounded almost like a setup since I knew six months ago the election would not be close. Obama was breaking records over money raised, attracting new voters, and active volunteers over a Presidential opponent (not to mention the Bush albatross hanging over McCain) so never understood why people were saying it would be close. Good thing you can only fix close elections and nothing happened but what was supposed to on Election Day.
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This entry was posted on November 17, 2008 at 2:53 pm and is filed under Buffalo, Election 2008, Politics, WordPress Political Blogs. Tagged: alternative newspaper, Artvoice, Barack Obama, Buffalo, conspiracy theory, Election 2008, Election Day, George Bush, John McCain, Michael I. Niman, political opinion, Politics, WordPress Political Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Rutherford said
I too worried about riots had Obama lost but I would not have joined them. It would have been one of the most depressing days of my life and just the beginning of a depressing four years. Fortunately it did not come to pass.
While we’re on the subject of “black crowd reaction”, one of the things that made me so happy two weeks ago was that the black community had come so far in 14 years. 14 years ago many of us “celebrated” the acquittal of OJ Simpson, not because he was innocent but because he had finally done what white people had done for so long … gotten away with murder because he was rich and popular.
It so overjoyed me that now in 2008 the black community was celebrating something worth celebrating!
MJ "revoltingpawn" said
Rutherford, we were not on the subject of “black crowd reaction”… There was alot of white people in the streets celebrating the Obama win also and I think they would have rioted just the same.
43% of white people voted for Obama and he really did better then that stat indicts if discount the older white voters which tend to be racist.
Rutherford said
MJ … very true. Since I had been more preoccupied recently with African American reaction to Obama’s victory (or loss), I brought my bias to your post. You are correct that you made no racial identification of celebrants or potential rioters. My bad.
Still, I don’t want my point to be lost that in 2008 blacks have something to celebrate that makes sense. In fact, the effect of the victory on the black community is already being seen. Could be my imagination but I’m seeing more black politicians on news shows in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years and they’re not all just talking about race. They’re putting their two cents in on all sorts of topics. Obama’s presidency may potentially put race in this country into an entirely new context.