Elect That Man

Or Woman, if you don't mind. Just turned off the radio after listening to Tom Ashbrook's program On Point talking about this wide and wild field of Democratic hopefuls and I know who I'm voting for. I'm voting for Eli.

You don't know Eli? Well, he was a guy from Ann Arbor (I think?) who called in to the radio show to set them all straight. He's a guy who gets it -- he's got my vote. He explained to all the pundits who were taken with the idea that Dean is some radical left-wing politician that first of all when he goes to a Dean event, as a dad of two kids, he doesn't see radical anti-war protesters, he sees regular folks. He sees lots of different kinds of people. He sees US. He sees US RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT ... and he sees that Dean gets that this election is about us. We -- regular people -- are going to win this election. We're making it about US.

Here's what Eli didn't say, but I'll bet he "gets" and I'd love to talk to him about. He sees the last election stolen from the people. Who stole it? Obviously if you start with HOW the President was elected the insiders stole it -- how much more inside can you get than The Supreme Court? Who else stole it -- oil millionaires -- nice work if you can get it. Who else stole it -- the delightful folks who live inside the BELTWAY -- hate that expression. Who else stole the election -- the oh-so-boring-way-too-INSIDE-political media pundits. Boring, boring, boring. Who said they are allowed to call this horse race?

I've written about it before. We all got schnookered. We all got taken. The last election was the last election run BY THEM. Why are bloggers so excited about this election? Just like everything else in Blogland -- we are finally getting to hear the voices of real people. We are finally getting heard. Bush has created a country of HAVES and HAVE-NOTS, based on an arrogant media and elite of KNOW and KNOW-NOTS. They think they KNOW everything and we know nothing. Bloggers say, "Hey wait a minute, maybe we DO know something."

We are winning this election. We are winning this country. We want it back. We may be naive but Eli and I actually think we have a right to vote ... we read something somewhere that said we were allowed to have an opinion and even a vote. We want it back. Who's the election belong to? It belongs to us. US -- us guys who have no jobs and are paying frigging $1000/month for COBRA if we can even get it, because all of us are out of work or know someone who is and it's frightening.

So who's going to take the field? The guy who understands WE want to win this election. Right now that guy is DEAN, but I don't know if he can make it all the way. We must have someone who can make it all the way. What was that political jingle you used to hear, it's gone out of fashion, but it went something like ... of the people, by the people ... I'm sure you've heard it once or twice. Who's going to take the field? We are. Us regular guys. Mothers. Divorced people. Out of work people. Union people whose unions have been almost decimated. Parents with kids -- baby boys and baby girls -- in Iraq who are sitting ducks. Our soldiers are Vietnam wannabees without the pot to ease the pain and without the rock and roll to make it through the night and with a great chance being dead before anyone casts a vote -- that's an absentee ballot George Bush does NOT want to open -- one with the box checked off in blood from a guy who didn't last as long as the postage on the front.