I just finished watching the HBO movie of the same name, and it was like picking open a scab and cleaning it with a little drain opener. They saved the most painful part for the end: Ron Klain approaches Jim Baker and asks him, “Do you thing the best man won?” What was Baker going to say, no? So Ron Klain says, “I hope you’re right.”
Oh man did that hurt. It was enough to ruin my whole weekend. I was immediately reminded of something I told one of my coworkers, not long after the Supreme Court decision in Bush v Gore. Like a lot of liberals, we were particularly depressed after the Gore speech. (Where was THAT guy during the campaign?) Anyway, at some point I remember saying something to the effect of: “hey, it probably won’t make that much difference anyway.”
Can I hide behind an “ignorance of youth” defense if I was only 29 at the time? Yeah, I didn’t think so. It may be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever said; and trust me, that’s really saying something.
AGH! Don’t remind me. We can’t get anything right. First we couldn’t get punch card ballots right, so we switched to touch screen voting. THEN we couldn’t get that right, so we switched to optical scanners (bubble voting). THEN we screw up our primary, thinking we needed to jump ahead to be relevant, knowing we were breaking both parties’ rules (though the Democratic party has been a little more bone-headed about enforcement than the GOP); AND THEN it turns out we decided to jump ahead the one year we didn’t need to jump ahead to be relevant.
Eight years, three voting systems, a screwed up primary, a caricature of Cruella de Vil that played a Secretary of State on TV, a former governor that preferred the name “JEB!” (the exclamation point is key) to his given name “John,” and a state legislature that makes the US Congress look like a bunch of America hating liberals. I could go on and on, but my little tantrum has just about run its course.
I love Florida politics.
I watched it too, and when it was over my husband turned to me and said “And can you believe the Fla. democrats messed it up this time over the primary? Why didnt they just lie low, follow the rules, even if the rules suck? Are they gluttons for punishment????”