Here's a blast of head-desking from the rolling hills of Kentucky. Yesterday we spotted a truck with a scrolling marquee license plate. On the marquee were various messages--like "OBAMA = MUSLIM, DRILL NOW OR $5 GAS, NO MUSLIM PRESIDENT FOR USA".
And over the last few weekends I've taken several trips to Ohio and gotten even more depressed, because there it matters; at least Kentucky is a red-state writeoff. From "I don't want a nigger in the White House," to "If Obama wins then the blacks will all act even more entitled than they do now," to "Sarah's speech brought tears to my eyes! She has that baby with Down's! She took on the good ol' boys!", it's enough to make me never want to get out of bed again.
The debates can't come soon enough. But I don't even know if they'll help. It's possible that the smarter Obama/Biden come off, the more their polling will sink.
I try to remain hopeful, but the deepest worry in my heart is that Americans really are just a bunch of morons who want to elect ignorant people who make them feel less stupid. Nothing else explains the Palin phenomenon. She gets on national TV and makes an utter fool of herself, yet her Teflon coating negates even that. The more this woman stumbles, the more people seem to rally around her and demonize the left for her failures. How can that possibly be beat? (And I'm not saying that to be defeatist--I REALLY WANT someone to tell me how, so I can stop despairing!)
I just can't see us winning in this environment. Before Palin, there was very little to no culture war aspect to this election, and that's why things looked so good for us. Wingnuts who were convinced that McCain was somehow a liberal (??) stayed out of things, disinterested. Now that their homobortioncommiejizz sensitivities are inflamed, and they feel like they have a common-ignoramus champion to vote for, it feels like '00/'04 all over again. And I don't know what to do.
