Daily Archives: October 9, 2004

Afghanistan Holds Democratic Election

Great news today as Afghanistan holds its first democratic election in forever.

One woman (yes, a woman, did you hear that, WOMAN) voter was ecstatic, “Finally, we get to vote for the person the US wants us to vote for.”

The election was not free from controversy, however. All fifteen of the opposing candidates, including one woman (yes, a WOMAN ran for office), signed a petition declaring that they would not accept the results of the election. When asked why, one of the candidates replied, “Because we are evil TalibaNazis and we knew we had no chance of winning. I mean, we had to do something.” He later added, “Oh, and we so called TalibaNazi — nobody else can use that name.”

The election was also marred by accusations of fraud. Voters registered to vote multiple times, and although there was a fingerprinting system in place, some polling places used incorrect ink, which could be rubbed off.

“I don’t understand what the problem is with multiple voting. We’ve been without democracy for forever. We just really want to vote,” said one voter, while filling out multiple ballots.

Judging the Second Presidential Debate

The second debate was the same as the first one, only the candidates were meaner… oops, I mean, more lively and stronger in their convictions.

The debate definitely goes to Bush if you consider The Lie Factor. When I came away from the second debate, I was completely convinced that Kerry had said the world was not safer without Saddam Hussein. Only, at the first debate, Bush said, “[Kerry] also said in December of 2003 that anyone who doubts that the world is safer without Saddam Hussein does not have the judgment to be president.” The final flip flop?

Kerry’s money quote: “The world is more dangerous today. The world is more dangerous today because the president didn’t make the right judgments.”

But I was so convinced that Kerry said the world was safer without Saddam that I was searching the second debate transcript for a direct quote for something to that effect. Not a roundabout allusion, but a direct quote.

Was it the association effect? The same thing the administration did with 9/11 and Saddam, not directly stating they were connected, but associating the two? Or was it just me?

Miscellaneous election comment

I still hate the “we have a plan” line. Why? Because I tried reading their “Our Plan for America” and couldn’t get through it. I think there was a plan in there somewhere, but I got sick of reading we have a plan over and over again. I wanted the meat right away. It’s just that I think if Kerry wins, when the next elections roll around, Kerry’ll still be saying, “we have a plan…”