I think people sometimes vote for what they want their interest to be. Sort of aspirational voting.

Bingo.

Also, when times are bad, people like to have someone to blame. (The GOP is really really good at that--and Obama gives them someone to blame whom they would have blamed anyway. It's not just "Blame the Harvard elitists for screwing up the economy, and the immigrants for stealing your jobs, and the lazy minorities for being on welfare." In Obama, they can point to someone who represents to them all three of those categories! He's a trifecta of bigotry-magnetism.)

Blaming someone is so much easier than realizing that the situation is complicated and everyone is going to have to sacrifice for a while until things get better. That's like telling my mother she has to walk to get her legs stronger. She just wants a pill, man.

My dad says global warming isn't a problem because it's happened before.

Group hug?

Group hug?

No, it seems kinda sweaty.

Also, I have gallstones. So that's a problem, I guess. Fucking aging.

Also, I have gallstones. So that's a problem, I guess. Fucking aging.

Yeah, but when you do something really outrageous people can say, "You've got a lot of gall!"

And you can just nod and say, "Yes. Yes, I do."

I'm kind of where Hec is. I saw a youtube video over the weekend where they interviewed people in PA or OH at a Romney rally and these folks were complete idiots. I know you can find idiots at Obama rallies too, but the kind of racist bullshit of the people at the Romney rally was personally depressing to me.

And there was absolutely no internal logic to their statements at all. Your average 10 year old has better reasoning skills - and this is not an exaggeration. How can you complain about Obama's pastor and call him a Muslim without taking a breath? How can you complain that Obama won't work across the aisle when you hold him in contempt for things he did not do?

(still rage typing!)

I saw a youtube video over the weekend where they interviewed people in PA or OH at a Romney rally and these folks were complete idiots.

OMG I saw that too. It was jaw-dropping. I particularly loved the bit where the guys was all, "Buddhists! We don't like them!" And the interviewer was all O_O

Oh Allyson,

been there done that, have no gall bladder any more. I don't envy you. The worst pain I have ever experienced in my life.

Okay, fivethirtyeight was updated at 11:30 pm, and has Obama at 315 EV and 92% probability. And Ohio is colored fairly dark blue and Florida is LIGHT BLUE.

Maybe I can go to bed.

I don't get voting against your self-interest.

I completely understand what you're saying here. I actually want to take this a step further and say that we shouldn't necessarily vote in our self-interest. We should be voting in our country's best interest. I mean, listen. I am single. I am not gay. I have no children or elderly dependents. I own a home. I make a fair amount of money.

I vote against "MY" interest because I strongly believe that I am not the center of the fucking universe. I vote for higher taxes for myself. I'd EVEN vote to get rid of the mortgage deduction IF it assured better schools for OTHER people's kids. I vote for marriage equality because other people should have the right to marry whomever they want.

So, what I am saying is that I often vote for thing thing that is going to require more money from me. Because it's the fucking right thing to do as a member of this country that I do love.