Okay, so I like Gibson a lot. Sue me.

William Gibson

At the risk of making him permanently self-conscious, I’m going to quote Bravus again, because he put this, yesterday, so much more tidily than I’ve yet been able to put it:

“I think I’ve said before that usually I have a fair bit of sympathy for the ‘they’re all as bad as each other, there’s no real difference’ argument. I really, honestly think that’s crap, this time around. Bush is heading for an undemocratic combination theocracy/oligarchy in unprecedented ways. The Republican party has been hijacked by extremists. Mainstream Republicans and mainstream Democrats might not have a lot of characteristics that are different, but these guys (Bush/Cheney/Rove) differ from both groups in their radicalism. A vote for them – or even a vote that’s not against them – is qualitatively different, I would argue, than any vote cast in the US in recent memory.”

This isn’t the election in which to make the quixotic but satisfying point that you’d really rather vote Green, or the quixotic but satisfying point that you’d really rather not have to vote for any more white men in tight blue suits at all.

This is an election in which to vote for the greater likelihood of there being more elections in the future.

Know someone who’s just not convinced? This is for you. The Nation presents “100 Facts and 1 Opinion: The Non-Arguable Case Against the Bush Administration.”

The Twelfth Amendment says:

…The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice….

Do you see how this little clause in the Constitution can give us an entirely different President than either Bush or Kerry? Matt Glassman explains it to us.

A bazillion pounds of explosives are missing, and who’s to blame?

“No matter how you try to blame it on the president the actual responsibility for it really would be for the troops that were there. Did they search carefully enough? Didn’t they search carefully enough?”

If John Kerry said this, the White House would blast him for “denigrating the troops”. So who did say it?

See the Today Show clip yourself.

Jim’s Big Ego lets out this little cathartic pre-election tune: WTFMFWTFAYT.

Lyrics NSFW. (Also, the song’s on an FTP server that’s sometimes overloaded, since all the Egomaniacs are trying to download this tune. You may wanna try again later.)

2004′s Scariest Halloween Costumes

They’re so not kidding.

Dear America,

-George W. Bush

(…to paraphrase Homer Simpson)

In 2000, Bush was declared the winner in Florida by about 580 votes.
In 2004, one hundred times that many votes have already disappeared from Broward County.

Let slip the lawyers of war.

Every family has that one outcast. Maybe he’s the one in jail, or the one that never held a job for more than three weeks, or the one who ran off and married the stripper and now lives in a trailer park.

For this family, he’s the one that was appointed President.

Let’s hope MTV has the guts to air Eminem’s new video over the next week.

(Language NSFW – big shocker there, I know)

I find it fascinating (and heartening) to see so many previously apolitical figures galvanized by W.

No more blood for oil
We got our own battles to fight on our own soil
No more pyschological warfare
To trick us to thinking we ain’t loyal
If we don’t serve our own country
We’re patronizing a hero
Look in his eyes, it’s all lies
The stars and stripes have been swiped
Washed out and wiped
And replaced with his own face
Mosh now or die
If I get sniped tonight you’ll know why
‘cos I told you to fight…

As we set aside our differences
And assemble our whole army
To disarm this weapon of mass destruction
That we call our president
For the present…

You can probably guess who Bucky backs, but that’s not the best part of the strip.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog takes a spin through Spin Alley.

(SFW, barely, in that it aired on Conan but your co-workers may not appreciate all the jokes)

The PIPA/Knowledge Networks Poll “The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters” really highlights the difference between blue and red, and who’s more informed:

1. Iraq, WMD, and al Qaeda: A large majority of Bush supporters believe that before the war Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or a major program for building them. A substantial majority of Bush supporters assume that most experts believe Iraq had WMD and that this was the conclusion of the recently released report by Charles Duelfer. A large majority of Bush supporters believes that Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda and that clear evidence of this support has been found. A large majority believes that most experts also have this view, and a substantial majority believe that this was the conclusion of the 9/11 Commission.

(credit to Coleen for digging this up)

Try again, boys!

As Coulter addressed a question about terrorism, she stopped mid-statement: “You take away the terrorism and liberals would hate…” at that Coulter gasped as she looked to her left, and began backing away from the podium. Two men ran by, on-stage, and each…

For those in Massachusetts 34th district, the battle isn’t over yet. A note I got from a friend.

If you’re a voter in the 34th Middlesex district for the state house of representatives, and you voted for Carl Sciortino, please vote on November 2nd. Carl defeated Vincent Ciampa in the Democratic primary, but apparently the guy didn’t get the hint, because he’s running a write-in campaign to get the seat “back”.

As a reminder, Vincent Ciampa is a conservative Democrat, who was defeated by Carl. He was incredulous, and seems to have been unable to get a lobbying job to keep him from the unemployment lines.

Needless to say, after endorsing Kerry, the Lone Star Iconoclast (out of Crawford, TX) got some feedback.

We expected that perhaps a few readers might cancel subscriptions, and maybe even ads, but have been amazed at a few of the more intense communications, some of which bordered on outright personal attacks and uncalled-for harassment…

The new mode of operation, I am told, is that when a newspaper prints an editorial of which some sectors might disagree, the focus is now upon how to run the newspaper out of business. Out the window are the contributions the newspaper has made to the community in the past and the newspaper’s extensive investment in the community.

Las Vegas SUN: Bush Sponsors Battleground Traffic News

Drivers in battleground states are hearing live radio traffic reports sponsored by the Bush-Cheney campaign, apparently the first presidential ticket to adopt an approach typically favored by car dealerships.

The ads are bracketed around regular traffic reports. An announcer reads “this traffic report is paid for by Bush-Cheney ’04″ and then launches into the traffic update.

At the end of the report, the announcer reads a brief campaign message: “John Kerry recently called terrorism a nuisance – like gambling and prostitution – prompting foreign policy experts to question if Kerry understands the war on terror. President Bush approved this message.”

The Bush campaign said the goal is to link the president’s message to one of the most-listened-to features on Drive Time radio.

“It’s a new way to reach out to voters and spread the president’s message,” said Kevin Madden, a Bush campaign spokesman. “To our knowledge this is the first time a presidential candidate has advertised through traffic reports.”

All of you folks who, like me, are addicted to Electoral Vote and all the other polls that are now being released on an hourly basis (if you know where to look), can relax a little. For the polls are just one small predictor and some nice folks have made a list of 35 Trends that will indicate a Kerry win.

Surprisingly, the Red Sox win last night isn’t one of them.

William Gibson

If I were to put together a truly essential thank-you list for the people who most made it possible for me to write my first six novels, I’d certainly owe as much to Ronald Reagan as to Bill Gates or Lou Reed. Reagan’s presidency put the grit in my dystopia. His presidency was the fresh kitty litter I spread for utterly crucial traction on the icey driveway of uncharted futurity. His smile was the nightmare in my back pocket.

“America doesn’t need a leader who was dumb enough to trust George W. Bush when American lives were on the line. America needs a leader who doesn’t believe anything George W. Bush says.”

See the video.