Stupid. Ignorant. Bible-Hating. Robot. Entitled. Kool-Aid Drinker. Incapable of Free Thought. Unpatriotic. Taker. Entitlement Seeker. Lazy. Impetuous. Idiot. Stupid. Dumbass. Monster. Atheist. Anti-Christ. God-Killer. Christian Hater. Moslum (sic) Sympathizer. Baby-Killer. Job-Killer. Country-Killer. Terrorist. Traitor. Obamabot. O-Nut. O-Bum.
Do any of those names sound like something you’d like to be called? No? Me neither. Yet it’s all I keep seeing over and over on Facebook, Twitter, media, blogs, you name it. As hard as I’m trying not to, I’m starting to take it personally. I can’t help it. It’s getting hard not to. There are no words in the English language to describe how freaking sick of it I really am, and it makes me want to call Comcast and have them rip out my Internet service completely. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I’d feel the need to defend my vote for President of the United States of America, especially when he won not only the electoral vote but also the popular vote. And yet, here we are.
I know what you’re thinking. “But Edee, I’m a Republican and I’ve been called some nasty names, too.” While I’m truly sorry to hear that (because honestly, how junior high can adults get), all I can think is Oh, okay, never mind. I’ll shut up now. Better to just tolerate it and say nothing. I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by telling the truth, would I? Please.
There are so many reasons I voted the way I did that I will need several posts to get it all in. The GOP and their conservative pundit mouthpieces/parrots have been analyzing the heck out of the election and trying to come up with reasons why they lost. Personally, I find their excuses insulting and degrading. I’m going to address just a few.
Excuse #1: A Sense of Entitlement
It’s pretty obvious to whom Bill O’Reilly was referring when he talked about Obama voters looking for someone to give them “stuff”. In fact, O’Reilly says it outright toward the end of this video: Latinos, African-Americans, and women. We’re just all lined up in front of the White House with our hands out like Oliver Twist with pleas of More, please. And when he talks about “entitlement,” he and his ilk have spewed so much bullshit on this I think we all know he’s talking about welfare and food stamps, because that’s all we’ve heard about. You know… because women are all young, single whores spitting out babies right and left so we can collect checks and be “welfare moms”.
So how did the whole entitlement to “stuff” play itself out on my ballot? I realize it’s quite shocking to think somebody might have voted for Obama for reasons other than “wanting stuff.” But it’s true. We aren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t actually need any “stuff”. I’m good. I have everything I need, everything I could possibly want, and then some. I have enough “stuff” that I like to give it away sometimes. My husband does the same thing, because that’s just how we roll in our house. So no, my vote for Obama was not a vote for “stuff”. In fact, we’re better off now than we were four years ago. But thanks for the offer.
Pretty darn well, Mr. Wonka!
Excuse #2: Hurricane Sandy
Bill O’Reilly isn’t the only person to have said this, but there he is in the first few seconds above, clearly saying, “If he wins tonight, Hurricane Sandy is one of the reasons.” Wow. If bullshit detectors were real things the batteries on mine would have overheated and caused a small fire. How much more vile could it be to say that anyone – Dem or GOP – would win the election on the backs of the thousands of displaced victims of a hurricane or, worse, the dead? I know that in the past Obama has said (as have other presidents) that it is better to wait so as not to suck up resources from those who really need it. They don’t want to get in the way. But let’s be honest here: had he waited he would have been trashed by the GOP for doing so, pointing fingers at Democrats who criticized Bush for waiting to go to the Mississippi Gulf Coast after Katrina. Donna Brazile wisely said there are some things that should never be politicized, and hurricanes are one of them. Obama did his damn job, and so did Governor Christie. Even Romney sang Christie’s praises over his response to Sandy. And yes, I am aware that Romney made a personal donation to the Red Cross in the wake of the hurricane, which is truly a great thing. I also know that he held a donation event. In Ohio. You know… a swing state?
Did the hurricane affect my vote? For the record, a large number of my family members are Katrina survivors, so I empathize deeply with the Sandy survivors. But give me (and other voters) a little credit: I’m smart enough not to vote for the next leader of the free world because of how quickly he did or did not go to a hurricane ravaged area. Stop insulting my intelligence. Also, I live in a state with mail-in ballots. I voted and sent in my ballot before Hurricane Sandy was even a thing. So cross this one off your list, GOP.
Excuse #3: Obama Is a Media Darling / Mainstream Media Got Obama Elected
Um, nope. I don’t watch TV. There is a tiny handful of shows I watch, but I never watch them live and I never watch the commercials. I watch most of them on Hulu or AppleTV. I also don’t watch network news programs. If I am able to take one look at MSNBC and know I’m not going to get more than a lot of editorializing with a liberal slant, surely Fox News fans can tear themselves away from Bill O’Reilly long enough to get a different perspective. I read voraciously from a wide variety of sources, and when I read a particular piece of news about a candidate, I look it up myself, regardless of the outlet on which I read it. Oh, and believe it or not, I do know the difference between liberal-leaning news outlets and conservative-leaning ones. I don’t fully trust any of them, so I go look for an actual clip of a quote in its entirety, rather than the soundbite. If it’s a piece of legislation, I go straight to the Congressional website and look up the actual language so I don’t have to contend with a reporter or OpEd writer’s opinion. Again, stop insulting my intelligence – I actually am smart enough to understand what it all means. All by myself, even!
Excuse #4: Women Voted with Their “Lady Parts” / Don’t Care About the Economy
Seriously? You think I can hold a pen with my “Lady Parts” and color in those giant boxes on a double-sided ballot? I don’t even want to think about all those women flipping levers. Wow! That would be some serious talent right there! Maybe that’s why I got a notice in the mail that the signature on my ballot didn’t match the one on my voter registration card and I had to go down to the elections office and prove my own wacky signature. By the way, why GOP politicians can’t bring themselves to say or hear the word vagina is just beyond me.
No really. You think I can even remotely address this without it being its own blog post? Not a chance, folks. But I promise, it’s coming soon…
Excuse #5: The GOP Isn’t Conservative Enough
My husband called this one the instant Obama was declared the winner. This is not hyperbole. He turned around in his chair and said, “You watch. First thing they’re gonna say is they lost because they weren’t conservative enough.”
Let me just say this much: I used to be a Republican. Bet you didn’t see that coming, did you? Know when I switched? When the GOP went off the conservative extremist deep end in 2004. If the GOP ever has any hope of winning me (and others like me) back, then they’d better kill that ultra-conservative, religious extremist, batshit crazy crap right now. They need to go back to the pre-Reagan era and rediscover their roots and then embrace them. That’s a metaphor, you know. They shouldn’t actually turn the clock back to the 50s or 60s, just think back, remember fondly, and reconsider a few things.
Excuses 6 and 7: Voters Were Young People, It Was Single Women Who Voted for Obama
Hey Look! A two-fer! As much as I like to think of myself as still pretty young, and as much as I love it when my 74-year-old dad and my 96-year-old grandma call me a “young’un”, I’m in my 40s. Apparently that makes me middle-aged. I don’t much care for that label, but it is what it is. Also, I celebrated my 20th wedding anniversary earlier this year. I’m neither “young” (by the voter demographic definition) nor single. Bonus: Remember that whole “welfare mom” thing the GOP pundits kept bleating about? Not only am I not young and single, I don’t have any kids. I couldn’t be a “welfare mom” if I tried.
I have so much more to say about this election cycle than anyone could ever believe, unless they know me personally, then it’s no shocker at all. It may seem a little not-so-nice, but I do feel compelled to say this: the world is still turning on its axis and will continue to do so for the next four years. Nobody died. The country will be just fine. Stop tweeting/posting end-of-the-world meme pictures all over Facebook and Twitter. How about spending all that energy instead coming up with a solution to the horrifying world the GOP is so sure is at hand?
Whatever you do, please, please, for the love of everything Holy, stop calling me and others like me names. It serves no purpose and it isn’t exactly helping the country to move forward.
Miss Edee 
Wow! You go Edee!
I couldn’t vote for either candidate (I wrote in Huntsman as a protest to both parties) and have been worn out by all the personal attacks from both sides. The name calling and demonizing of “others”. You know those f-ing “Dims” and “repugs.” I can understand in a moment of heat and anger, but as a daily mindset towards each other it is ruinous to our country.
I personally think our system of government is seriously broken on almost every level and neither party is doing its best to serve us. But the only way we will fix it is the people coming together over their common beliefs and demanding it. If we sit back and wait for what ever either party wants to give us, we will not (and have not) liked what we get.
Thank you, Linda! I agree wholeheartedly that both parties have gotten/are getting away from their actual purpose: serving their constituents.
I”m guilty of using “repugs”, but it was as you said – in a moment of heat and serious anger, and it was directed at specific politicians for a specific action (or lack of action). That doesn’t make it right. I’m just so sick of all of it. The election’s over. I can’t for the life of me understand why we can’t move on and try and make things better.