Getting Out The Vote...

Doing Whatever It Takes...

That seems to be the idea that many politicians are following this time around with the 2006 major election one week away. And I for one am sick and tired of it. But let me just say I've never ever forgotten to vote. From the age that I became eligible, I've always tried to stay informed locally, statewide, nationally, and internationally with regard to issues that matter most to me such as healthcare, education, equality, financial responsibility, social responsibility, etc. I take my voting responsibility very seriously and in honor of my forefathers (and foremothers) who weren't allowed to vote in this country before the Civil Rights movement, although they had served in the m.ilitary and paid taxes.

Hello? Hello? Hello?...

But what has become such a pain are the new ways that the politicians are trying to get at registered voters. Just this year, they've discovered the telephone. Just a few years ago, I got on the Do Not Call List that doesn't allow marke.ters to call me so that I didn't have to be bugged with their longwinded sales scripts after a long commute and long day at work. Only certain people are allowed to bug us now. One of those groups are political organizations of course. So let's just say that I received as many as 10 freaking phone calls in one day near the last primary. I had to listen to their crap before I could get to my own messages. They don't pay my phone bill. Yeah, I was peeved to the highest level. Don't they know that I had already made up mind about my election decisions and that I had already received the other 100 pieces of mail that they sent me. I called my party's headquarters to have my name taken off the calling list. But it was too late. My name and number had already been distributed to the candidates and there's no way to have all of them to stop calling. So I did the next best thing. I gave the candidates' polling volunteers a good and civil talk about not bothering the heck out of their potential voters at the polling place on primary day. Just stop it!!!

Television Attack Ads...

Now that the political "Vote for Me...I'm better than my opponent..." phone calls have stopped, the television attack ads are in full swing. During the 6:00 p.m. news, the ads are played back to back to back to back. And by living in a metro area, we folks here have to stomach watching the ads of politicians from Maryland, DC and Virginia. If memory serves me correctly, I don't really remember the ads being this bad in a long time.

When I use to live in NC, I remember the old racist J.esse Helms' ad showing a white hand on a table while a voice was saying that the person loss a job to the other person (referring to a black one.) And by no surprise, he won. That says a whole lot about the majority of folks who voted for him. Things haven't changed. This year in Virginia, the race for a Senate's seat has gotten dirty, with the current Senator G.eorge Allen calling an East Indian Jim We.bb supporter a macaca (monkey) at a political rally, and with Senator Allen charging that Webb made sexist comments about women in the military. Briefly, an ad ran in Tennessee targeting Rep. Ha.rold Ford, Jr. by stating that he attended a P.layboy party last year and having a white woman to seductivey whisper into the camera requesting for Ford to call her. Trash. And in Maryland, we have an African American running for the Senate who doesn't let people know that he's belongs to the Re.publican party in an attempt to confuse voters on election day. There's nothing wrong with belonging to one party or the other. So why is there a need for him to state in interviews that he's a D.emocrat? Why the deception? Be who you really are and be clear about what you stand for so that voters will have accurate information. Candidates, do you support the war? Yes or No. Candidates, what are your views on federal spending? Candidates, what are your views on various types of medical research???...

Beyond all the back forth talk and all the finger pointing, I wish the political candidates would understand is that voters want to know what THEIR views are, how THEY plan to vote on key issues, and what plans THEY will put into place if they are elected. Evidently, they haven't taken the time to come up with any answers, so they thought they'd do the next best thing ==>> Attack the opponent and not the issues.... *BUZZ* Wrong answer!!!...