could it really almost be over?

I'll be spending the next 12 days avoiding my ultra-conservative family members, but on Nov. 5th, if things go the way they appear to be going right now, I WILL try to feel their pain and fear. God knows I've had eight years of practice.

Dear John McCain; We're not that stupid.

Erica Jong's open letter to John McCain

"I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who's hitting you? It's about time that the people of America realized what the Republicans have been doing to them," - Harry Truman.

linky love

"Can someone tell me what it is conservatives are so afraid will happen if Obama wins?"

for starters

I spent the morning with my favorite sister, the one who hates politics. She loves poetry and puppies and the piano, but politics freak her out. I, on the other hand, have become increasingly obsessive about politics over the last ten years. Fortunately, we have a wealth of common interests and so the subject rarely comes up. However, at the tail end of a particularly delightful library/lunch date today, we found ourselves on the subject of the upcoming election.

Just to be clear, she brought it up and I did not. Her boss is passionately conservative, while one of her coworkers is just as passionately liberal, and she was explaining how uncomfortable she found pressured "The Hard Sell" of the fervent politicos.

As the conversation progressed, she asked questions and I answered them as fairly as I could, admitting up front that I realized how my answers would be skewed by my views. The conversation was all of ten minutes, but it was probably the most extensive political conversation we've ever had.

Later in the day, I looked up one of those websites where you can take a quiz on the issues and it will tabulate your answers, popping out the percentages with which each candidate agrees with your views. The truth is, I don't know if she'll take the quiz or who she's more likely to be aligned with if she does. What I do know, is that it was nice to have that little spark of a conversation, to tiptoe into it and show her (I hope) that not all political junkies are intent on bashing the rest of the world over the head with their ideals.