| Carried over to Sunday. |
by Steve White
It isn't often that Rantburg takes an explicit political position. Fred and the mods are all about the War on Terror and its ramifications (honestly, all those stories about Britney have to do with the WoT, really, we swear). We at the Burg, unlike a lot of other people in the mainstream and alternative medias, believe that our readers are smart enough to cast their ballots in an election.
So we've never told you how to vote.
And we won't start now.
But you have a responsibility on Tuesday.
Vote.
It's easy to be an 'Eeyore'. You've been bombarded with stories about Barack Obama. He's The One, the Light-walker, the man who will heal the planet and cause the oceans to recede. He's the one you've been waiting for, so you've been told.
And told. And told.
And he's running against a crotchety old man who hasn't done anything much except serve his country with distinction and honor all his adult life.
All this election, the mainstream media, a wholly owned subsidiary of David Axelrod, has told you just how wonderful Obama is, how he'll make our country more loved around the world, repay your mortgage and have you driving a hydrogen-powered car. They've also told you how old and mean, and old and unhappy, and old and out of touch, and old, John McCain is. We've heard about dissent in the McCain campaign, how unpolished a speaker he is, how his positions are old-fashioned, how he's unprepared to handle the economy, and how he's the third term of George Bush.
You've also heard about how unprepared Sarah Palin is, how she hasn't traveled abroad, how she speaks like a hick, how she handles icky firearms and shoots innocent caribou, and how she can't dress properly even when she shops at the Needless Markup. My goodness, she didn't even go to an Ivy League school.
Now maybe you've gotten this strange notion in your head, a voice that says, "you know, I'm not sure I can believe everything I'm hearing from the media."
Listen to that inner voice.
Because this is what you're going to hear from the media this weekend and into Tuesday evening.
You'll be told that the race is over and that John McCain is in the process of quitting 'honorably'. He's going to 'give up for the good of the country', and because of that there's no reason for you to vote.
You'll be told that the polls show Obama as the probative favorite in all the Battleground states, and that McCain has already lost them, and because of that there's no reason for you to vote.
You'll be told on Election Day that Obama has won all the states. The media will proclaim Obama the winner one minute after the polls open based on 'scientific exit polls', and because of that there's no reason for you to vote.
You'll be told that minorities and young voters have turned out in record numbers, that they've all voted for Obama, and because of that there's no reason for you to vote.
Do you see a pattern here?
The mainstream media has sold out. They're in the tank so deep they've struck the undergravel filter. The mainstream media has been manipulated and they have liked it. They have no future if Obama loses, so they're going to behave in the best Chicago tradition: having been bought, they're going to stay bought.
In the primaries, Axelrod and the Obama campaign worked hard to depress the Hillary Clinton voters, and it worked. Not that I have much love for Senator Clinton, but what was done to her and her people was brutal and more than a little wrong. And it was all geared to make Clinton voters, particularly in caucus states, give up.
They did. And because of that Senator Clinton lost her fight.
Mr. Axelrod is doing the same thing now and has been since Obama locked up the nomination. They're pulling all the same tricks with a compliant media leading the way for them, and it's all designed to keep you, the McCain voter, and you, the McCain-leaning voter, and you, the independent, not-quite-sure voter, home on Election Day.
That's how Obama wins.
Think about that. Understand what's being done in these last few days.
Then go to the polls Tuesday and vote. Don't listen to the media.
Vote.