With today marking the first of the presidential caucuses, it reminds me of the very first Washington State Democratic caucus that I attended nearly four years ago. What a joke that was.
My caucus location was at an Olympia retirement community’s clubhouse and I’m pretty sure that the only people who showed up were residents. Seriously, I was the only person under the age of 60 in the whole building. I almost turned around and left right then and there because I knew that any ideas that I had would never be heard and I would have absolutely no bearing on the outcome.
Sure enough, when we broke into groups I was the only person in the room that wasn’t for John Kerry. How that stiff ever convinced people to vote for him in primaries and caucuses is beyond me. I ended up supporting him as much as I could and eventually voted for him in the general election given the evil alternative, but I never felt good about it. I knew early on that he had no chance to win. Why was I the only one?
I tried to get in my argument as to why I thought that Kerry was the wrong choice, but I was drowned out by seniors who basically just wanted to either socialize with each other or relive the glory of their college years as that guy that stood up at lectures and asked long winded, self-aggrandizing, personal diatribe statement “questions” that people just rolled their eyes at and beleaguered the speakers.
After a half hour of “debate” about nothing of any substance, I was totally disillusioned with the caucus process. So I let the ruling faction of my party continue to discuss cold creams (I’m not kidding) and I hightailed it out of there. And the caucus process is better than primaries how?
I sincerely hope that the Iowa caucuses – which do mean a little something unlike the afterthought Washington ones that year – are a little more lively and useful. Although I have no idea how you choose from one of these computer generated candidates other than determining if you’d rather vote for a black senator with a Muslim name, a Hispanic governor with an Anglo name, an uber-famous former first lady or a white guy with good hair.
My caucus location was at an Olympia retirement community’s clubhouse and I’m pretty sure that the only people who showed up were residents. Seriously, I was the only person under the age of 60 in the whole building. I almost turned around and left right then and there because I knew that any ideas that I had would never be heard and I would have absolutely no bearing on the outcome.
Sure enough, when we broke into groups I was the only person in the room that wasn’t for John Kerry. How that stiff ever convinced people to vote for him in primaries and caucuses is beyond me. I ended up supporting him as much as I could and eventually voted for him in the general election given the evil alternative, but I never felt good about it. I knew early on that he had no chance to win. Why was I the only one?
I tried to get in my argument as to why I thought that Kerry was the wrong choice, but I was drowned out by seniors who basically just wanted to either socialize with each other or relive the glory of their college years as that guy that stood up at lectures and asked long winded, self-aggrandizing, personal diatribe statement “questions” that people just rolled their eyes at and beleaguered the speakers.
After a half hour of “debate” about nothing of any substance, I was totally disillusioned with the caucus process. So I let the ruling faction of my party continue to discuss cold creams (I’m not kidding) and I hightailed it out of there. And the caucus process is better than primaries how?
I sincerely hope that the Iowa caucuses – which do mean a little something unlike the afterthought Washington ones that year – are a little more lively and useful. Although I have no idea how you choose from one of these computer generated candidates other than determining if you’d rather vote for a black senator with a Muslim name, a Hispanic governor with an Anglo name, an uber-famous former first lady or a white guy with good hair.
2 comments:
I didn't vote last time around. Yes, I realize most people think that makes me a Bush sympathizer, but the fact is that I couldn't bring myself to vote for Kerry. Was he as evil as Bush? No, but he wasn't worth the trip to the poll either.
However, if Huckabee wins the Republican nomination then I will be out voting for whatever Democrat is running against him. If he wins the presidency then I will move to Canada. He scares me more than Bush ever has.
we did not talk about cold creams at the Iowa caucuses. I realize I'm a little late commenting but whatever. I have a toddler. There was hearty caucusing at my site.
You should completely move to Iowa just so you can experience a real caucus next time around. And it's a rad place to raise some kids :) Good luck in the next few weeks. Rest up-- like that's even possible right now.
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