From the Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2004 issue

News

The End Is Near!

And thank God for that.

by Dan Savage

I stopped reading the daily papers about six weeks ago. I also stopped listening to the news on the radio, watching The Daily Show, Nightline, and those dicks on CNN. I even managed to kick my habit of checking out the Drudge Report every 10 minutes.

I just couldn't take it anymore.

When a news junkie like me stops reading the papers and skimming political blogs, you know that things have taken a turn for the unbearable. And for those of us who can't contemplate four more years of George W. Bush without assuming the fetal position, the nonstop news coverage and the up-and-down polls have been a torment. By the time the first presidential debate rolled around I realized that I couldn't hack it--I couldn't watch. The 2004 debates were the first presidential debates I'd missed since watching the Carter/Reagan debate in 1980 with my parents when I was 10 years old.

I haven't tuned out the election in the last few weeks because I don't care. I've tuned it out because I care too much. Every thinking American--sadly not the majority, as Adlai Stevenson once observed--is nervous about this election. The possibility of a second Bush term, the chance that this mindless motherfucker might actually get elected this time, is almost too horrible to contemplate. So why, I wondered six weeks ago, was I spending all my time contemplating it? If I already knew who I was going to vote for--and I did--why was I doing this to myself? I wanted November 2 to arrive so I could stop reading about the election and actually vote against George W. Bush.

Whenever I express my desire to see Bush defeated, someone inevitably reminds me that I supported the war in Iraq. As a lefty who supported the war, I must be a Bush supporter. But for those of us on the left who went out on a limb and supported this war before it began--and I'm not the only one, although I am by far the least significant--the Bush administration's disastrous conduct of this war is a particular torment. I had always believed that fighting against fascist dictators was a liberal cause, a leftist cause. George Bush talked about bringing democracy to the Middle East--and we ended up staring at pictures of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqis in Abu Ghraib and reading White House memos that trashed the Geneva Convention. Jesus H. Christ, even if the war were the only issue, I'd still want Bush out.

But the war isn't the only issue. There's the gay marriage issue, of course, and the global warming issue, the Supreme Court issue, and the rape of the environment issue. There's also John Ashcroft's Department of "Justice," unconstitutional detainments, obscene tax breaks for the wealthy, and ever-increasing numbers of uninsured and unemployed Americans.

Make it stop. Vote for John Kerry. And while you're at it, vote for Patty Murray, Dave Ross, Chris Gregoire, and Deborah Senn, to stop the Republican agenda at the federal and state levels. And vote NO on I-83, the bullshit "monorail recall" that defines the Republican agenda at the city level; i.e., rich property owners ramrodding an anti-mass-transit initiative onto the ballot.

In our final issue devoted to this all-important national election, we've got Sandeep Kaushik on the national impact of Seattle's early Dean fixation and our late embrace of John Kerry. Kaushik started tracking the campaign in May 2003 when he went to interview the ex-governor of Vermont, and he's been filing the smartest presidential copy in town ever since, from Iowa to Boston to New York. Paranoid Charles Mudede weighs in, we suggest some protest zones, and give props to local campaign heroes.

Finally, we're hosting an Election Night party because the whole damn city is going to need a drink on Tuesday night. Our party is at Chop Suey (1325 E Madison St, doors at 5 pm, free, 21+). There will be a Bush piñata, free food, and big-screen TVs. Doors open early because election results will start coming in from those all-important East Coast swing states at 5 p.m. Our party isn't the only game in town on Tuesday: Political party hoppers can make the scene at the Official Dem Party (Westin Hotel, 1900 Fifth Ave, 8 pm), the Pro-Monorail Party (Seattle Glassblowing Studio, 2227 Fifth Ave, 8 pm), Conworks' Election Party (500 Boren Ave, 9 pm, $5, 21+), the Mirabeau Room's Election Night Extravaganza (529 Queen Anne Ave N, 5 pm, free, 21+, hosted by Nick Licata), and Timberline Spirits' Election Night Karaoke Party (1828 Yale Ave, 4 pm, free, all ages).

Finally, if Bush--please no, Jesus--manages to win or steal the election, and getting shit-faced at these parties doesn't take the edge off, we've got a list of federal buildings and properties around town that we suggest you head to on November 3, preferably still raging drunk, to protest.