Days of Wine and Roses

See the people walking down the street
Fall in line just watching all their feet
They don't know where they wanna go
But they're walking in time
--We Got the Beat, The Go-Go's

A different fragrance that makes your way
and they call it, Charlie
Kind of free, kind of "wow", Charlie
--Charlie jingle, Bobby Short

So vote once, vote tuh-wice, for Bill McKay
... you middle-class honkies
--The Candidate (1972)

vanity of vanities; all is vanity
--Ecclesiastes 1:2
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It was with heavy heart we went to the polls today -- hopefully your elections proved more motivational. There was nothing less exciting than the prospects which awaited: Alex Sink for Governor and Kendrick Meek, Senator -- how could my party do this to me?

Fully three auto calls from Alex today: "Ah, need YEW . . ." . Sorry Alex, I can do nothing for you. You are sunk, in my opinion. Rick Scott shall beat you, and the inadequate Kendrick will suck votes from Charlie Crist, to the benefit of the inadequate Republican, Mark Rubio. Ex-Prez Clinton asked you to drop out, but ego wouldn't allow it.

Maybe the Democratic Party wouldn't allow it. It was your stock Democratic ticket: You got your woman, and your black person. Except neither was a winner. As our own Pushing Rope said, "Meek's hysterical moderate progressive" stance was ridiculous, as there ain't no such animal. One does not attenuate progressivism, Kendrick, one goes whole hog. India Arie sang it nicely: Either it is or isn't.

The Democrats seemed to be betting on your average voter, who checks what's on his voter's registration card or, if he's really bold, defects for the better-looking candidate.

"I think it would be great to have a woman governor," said Kathleen Sabol, a 24-year-old artist from Orlando. "And I don't trust what's-his-name [Scott]" (Bill Clinton Appears with Meek). Yup, that's about the size of it for most folks. Me, I'd rather have the best qualified candidate regardless of demographic, but that is kind of old-fashioned think, I 'spose.

Ms. Sink was a perfect visual replicant of popular former Governor Bob Graham. You would have to live in the South for a while to understand what is meant by, she had The Look. Trust me, she did. Still, it's not enough, and even the party faithful knew it would be an uphill battle.

To continue with Mr. Clinton's recent thinking, where is a cohesive platform for the Democrats? It has gone missing, like a good State secret. Passing a local elementary school yesterday cars were assaulted by the meaningless shrieking of schoolchildren waving placards in what their teacher must have thought was a great way to get them inducted into the world of voting. The placards had hoo-ah messages about their school, a perfect mirroring of what they shall do some 15 years hence. Sound and Fury, signifying nothing.

Since there is nothing good to share with you from today's election, I will instead catch you up on what happened in RangerAgainstWar's little dust up in our recent Netroots election -- the news, while not good, is elucidating:


Ranger's Campaign:

First, we've been very remiss in not thanking each and every one of you who kindly took the time to vote for RAW in the last Netroots election. We did not place last, but we did not win. We also learned a thing or two about the politics of political blogging (such as it is) in Florida.

We learned that there is no bona fide Florida Netroots Community, but there is a group called the Florida Progressive Coalition (FPC) which administers the awards under the rubric of the Democrat Party. This group consisted of 67 members headed by Mr. Kenneth Quinnell who oversaw the FPC blog and made occasional entries of local interest. (Mr. Quinnell was also the erstwhile new media director of the now-failed run of Kendrick Meek.)

When we won their Best National Blog award in 2008, it was with evident displeasure that Mr. Quinnell conceded the award, and not before requisitioning a re-balloting of which we were not informed (but happened to stumble upon, so that we were able to solicit re-votes.) Why a second ballot was called for our category we do not know.

It is evident, however, that most of the politically-oriented Democratic blogs in Florida emanate from various vested interests, and are professional, funded and/or group efforts. The exceptions we know of are RAW, LitBrit and Mustang Bobby -- that's about it.

What has happened since '08 is that the special interests now stuff the ballot box for their groups. So it is that someone like Florida State Senator Al Lawson won in five categories. His blog is not that good, but he does have that many contacts and campaign workers. You may check out this year's winners for yourself and decide if you think they offer better value.

We feel like we imagine Al Gore did, except there are no hanging chads . . . only the purported results of an e-pro survey released by Mr. Quinnell to us after several spurned requests (results were never announced on-site.) Ranger suspects that our critical take on now-President Obama was not received well by the lockstep party members. It actually went over like a lead balloon. C'est la vie.

So now, friends, you know the rest of the story. Politics is a nasty business.

We'll keep on giving 'em hell, though, even if we don't get any more shiny dog tags.

Wildcatters

Say my name, say my name
You actin' kinda shady
Ain't callin me baby
--Say My Name, Destiny's Child

Page 73 - Johnson, Navin R.!
I'm somebody now!
Millions of people look at this book everyday!
--The Jerk (1979)
___________

O.k. -- we all know politicking is a nasty bit of business. It is a popularity contest, and those with the best hairdos usually win.

But we are hoping you'll go that extra step and take a moment to exercise your online civic duty, and let the Florida Democratic party know that you appreciate someone is working to spread sanity in the swamp. Vote HERE; voting closes July 10th.

Rules: You MUST VOTE for questions #1, 2, 10, 21 and 22 in order for the ballot to be counted -- *those questions followed by an asterisk. (Please also vote for #18, in which we are also running.) Your choices for 1, 10 and 21 should not be difficult. Choices 2 & 22 are matters of your own discretion.

We here at RAW aren't too dumb to figure out that winning elections is usually a matter of who-knows-who (the Netroots awards ARE administered by a wing of the Florida Democratic Party, after all.) And it seems that most nominees are affiliated with various candidates, programs or campaigns, and so come with a pre-set voting bloc. Not to be neurotic, you see ...

Well, RangerAgainstWar is not in anyone's pockets. We are wildcatters, and every one of our votes is hard-won. Do it as a thanks for a free-thinkin' Ranger; do it as a "get-well" gesture for Lisa. But for whatever reason you do it -- please DO IT!

We really would like to be good members of the Netroots community. We're kind of in a remote outpost up here in the sticks, 10 hours from SoBe. But we wash up alright, and we'd attend their banquet down South should we win something.

We'd like to win something, and we feel we are pretty good Democrats. When we were presented with the 2008 Netroots award, we were told with some barely veiled disdain that the hob-nobbers in South Florida had never heard of us. Well, someone had, and after two re-counts, they couldn't shake us. We are not part of the club (every party has its old-boys network), and that is why you like us (we think).

We don't have much truck in being politically correct, but you forgive us our occasional lack of couth. Nothing is too absurd, and we are very reader-friendly (even if you are "Claymore" from the Texas National Guard -- provided you don't use the "b" word; we have our standards, y'know.)

Thank you for taking an extra moment out of your busy day. You have our eternal gratitude.

VOTE for RANGER

_________________

It's that time of year, when we interrupt our regular programming to ask for your vote.

Please vote "Ranger" as your favorite blog in the 2010 Florida Netroots Contest HERE. You have a week to make it happen -- voting closes July 10th.

Caveat: You MUST VOTE for questions #1, 2, 10, 21 and 22 in order for the ballot to be counted -- *those questions followed by an asterisk. (Ahem: please also vote for #18, in which we are also running.) Your choices for 1, 10 and 21 should not be difficult. We can't help you on 2 & 22; someone will benefit by your largesse.

Vote early, and often.

[p.s.: If you're not using Firefox as your web browser (and why not?), RAW's sidebar may appear @ bottom of page. Formatting is especially problematic with IE.]

[p.p.s.: Groveling yet assertive campaign message to follow.]