Wednesday, November 05, 2008

In Case Anyone's Interested

My election night diary:

7:00 I sit down in the big chair with the remote, the laptop, and a stiff drink. My trusty guitar sits in its stand next to the chair for when I need comfort.

7:05 McCain picks up Kentucky, Obama gets Vermont. No surprises.

7:15 Too early to call for President, but ABC calls Virginia's Senate election for Democrat Mark Warner. Hello!

7:21 Indiana: Obama's within 1%, and the urban north hasn't reported yet.

7:25 CNN reports McCain way ahead in Virginia. Argh. Then they point out that that's only two rural counties. Damn you CNN! I pick up the guitar.

7:29 Some guy on CNN is dissecting Indiana county by county, and I have no idea what he's talking about.

7:56: Indiana again. Now I get it. Obama's not losing as bad as Kerry in the rural counties. So when the urban counties come in...

7:57 South Carolina. Obama 55%, McCain 44%, but they call it for McCain. WTF?

8:00 Obama jumps up to 77 EV's according to CNN vs McCain's 34. I'm already getting really tired of that sound CNN uses when they call a state. They also sometimes use it when they tell you it's too early to call.

8:14 Dana Bash reports from McCain HQ where they have a boys' choir performing. How lame is that?

8:18 I flip over to MSNBC. WTF is up with David Gregory's gangster suit?

8:21 ABC calls the NH Senate race. I find that I really like saying "Shaheen beats Sununu." Maybe I need to slow down on the rum.

8:27 ABC News calls it for Hagan 58 42%. Looks like calling Hagan "godless" didn't work out as well as Liddy hoped. I seem to remember it being fairly close before she pulled that malarkey. My wife wonders how long Liddy will hang around Salisbury now. We're thinking, not long.

8:30 My friend Tasha e-mails me iPhone pictures from Grant Park in Chicago. She's already been through three security checkpoints. I feel a little better about Obama's safety. I also feel pretty good that I'm not in Grant Park. History's nice, but I'm not fond of crowds.

8:45 ABC & CNN call Pennsylvania, McCain's "Must win", for Obama. Things look bleak for McCain. BWAHAHAHAHAAA!

9:11 ABC shows a shot from McCain's HQ at the Arizona Biltmore, and I realize 'hey, I've been drunk in that ballroom." Then I wonder "Why are the McCainiacs waving red flags?"

9:30: ABC and CNN call Ohio for Obama. Another state McCain had to win. It looks like it's over. Guess trotting out a fake plumber didn't work as well as they'd thought.

9:39: CNN reports that they've turned off the news feed in the ballroom at the Arizona Biltmore. If that's not a symbol of Republican thinking. I don't know what is.

9:45 The guy with the big touch screen electoral maps on CNN illustrates how McCain can take a whole bunch of disputed states and still won't get to 270. It's over.

10:00 Obama takes Iowa. I turn over to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's coverage on Comedy Central.

10:47 Waiting for the final blow to fall when the West Coast polls close. This is the longest hour ever.

10:56 Comedy Central calls Virginia for Obama before anyone else? WTF?

11:00 Comedy Central also calls the election for Obama. I love that first got the news form Jon Stewart.

11:20 McCain concedes. Graciously. It's reminiscent of the scene in Return of the Jedi when Luke takes Darth Vader's helmet off and he's Anakin Skywalker again.

11:50 C'mon, Barack, get out there and get inspiring and shit. I have to work tomorrow.

12:05 I love the reference to the kids finally getting the dog they were promised if Dad won. It's so Cosby.

12:30. Hell of a speech. I'm going to bed. Glad this one's not going to recounts, courts, etc.


To quote my friend Jim Winter from the comments below:

"AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!"

5 comments:

Fran said...

Rapper Jay-Z put it best:

"Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so we can all fly."

Caveat said...

Sounds about like my election night, except I got tired of all the fanfare so they could say 'too close to call' 1,000 times on NBC. Took a nap, woke up to find out Obama won, watched the speech and some late-night coverage on CBC.

Rapper Jay-Z sounds like a hell of a guy.

Keith Raffel said...

In my book, Dusty, you were the difference in North Carolina.

JD Rhoades said...

Keith: I do what I can.

JD Rhoades said...

Fran: great quote!

Caveat: your way of watching sounds a lot saner than mine.