We don't ALL live in California or care about the election

August 7, 2003 1:42 PM

While it is admirable that so many people on MeFi care about their local elections. Is there really a need for the numerous threads regarding the upcoming California election?
posted by riffola to Etiquette/Policy at 1:42 PM (35 comments total)

Yes.
posted by Stynxno at 1:42 PM on August 7, 2003

I am not saying don't discuss it, there's just one too many threads regarding it.
posted by riffola at 1:46 PM on August 7, 2003

It's not like it's New York, after all.
posted by yhbc at 1:49 PM on August 7, 2003

It's boring. And provincial.
posted by 111 at 1:53 PM on August 7, 2003

Welllllll, there's no question that there are way too many front-page posts about it. One a day would be plenty, if not too many. But I'm going to have to respectfully disagree on the "boring and provincial" part... Political weirdness of this level is pretty entertaining to a lot of folks, and this particular event could have all sorts of crazy ripples in the American political structure. What's boring about a major election where the two-party system has briefly lost its stranglehold on the playing field?
posted by COBRA! at 2:00 PM on August 7, 2003

"Provincial" for those unwilling or unable to abstract the larger ramifications, perhaps. Constitutional democracy is on the block, and what happens in California will greatly impact the future ability for wealth to stage coups across America.
posted by squirrel at 2:04 PM on August 7, 2003

Ok then COBRA!, it's sleazy and bizarre from the constitutional point of view etc etc. But still provincial.
squirrel, for those who dwell on trees the ramifications may seem large, but they're just branches right now. Wake me up if and when it happens.
posted by 111 at 2:08 PM on August 7, 2003

I can't wait to start making FPPs about Wisconsin politics.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 2:18 PM on August 7, 2003

I saw the future of Wisonsin politics in an antique store in Oshkosh a few weeks ago... a home-done oil painting of Brett Favre standing like a colossus over the city of Green Bay, with sort of a halo around his head. It'll look great at his coronation.
posted by COBRA! at 2:21 PM on August 7, 2003

Ah.... you do indeed know Wisconsin then Cobra.


LONG LIVE FAVRE!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 2:25 PM on August 7, 2003

Yes, governance of one of the largest economies in the world is provincial.

Please bring on more stories about wacky celebrities and funny flash games!
posted by Argyle at 3:55 PM on August 7, 2003

The recall in California is one of the more interesting national news stories for at least the last month.

Of course, we could have daily posts on that Peterson murder. ;-P
posted by mischief at 4:07 PM on August 7, 2003

Wake me up if and when it happens.


HEY, 111, wake the fuck up! The political landscape of America is changing and you're snoozin' through it. God knows, we don't want you snoring through an event that will affect every state West of the Old Man, and many of those in the East as well (while of course you let the rest of us know about your intention to snore).

How's that? Will that work for you?
posted by Wulfgar! at 4:32 PM on August 7, 2003

Just so no one thinks I'm being too snarky without basis to kindly Mister Triple One: Where does California get its water? Where does its energy come from, and the markets which reflect its power needs? Who fights its wildfires, and lends assistance during its earthquake emergencies? Is all its produce sold in L.A.? Where do westerners vacation, and where do Californians travel on their time off? How many electoral votes does that provincial little state have? This election/recall affects the entire Western part of the US, and the political landscape of the US as a whole. Boring and provincial, my ass.

Anyone who thinks this is just a quaint little sidenote in the annals of American developement (and chooses to arrogantly inform us Western Bumpkins of that fact) really is asleep, and moronically vocal while dreaming.
posted by Wulfgar! at 4:46 PM on August 7, 2003

I can't wait to start making FPPs about Wisconsin politics.

When Gary Coleman runs against Larry Flint and Arnold Schwarzenegger for Wisconsin governor, go for it.
posted by scarabic at 4:50 PM on August 7, 2003

fun facts to know and yell
if you pour 111 into lake superior in january,
he will wash ashore at lake tahoe in mid-june.
posted by quonsar at 5:23 PM on August 7, 2003

I can't wait to start making FPPs about Wisconsin politics.

Y'all fixed that part of your constitution where the governor could veto individual letters in bills, right?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:30 PM on August 7, 2003

Isn't Favre from Mississippi?
posted by the fire you left me at 5:37 PM on August 7, 2003

Barkley for Governor
posted by turbodog at 7:02 PM on August 7, 2003

speaking as a californian (yes, i'm pulling rank. i pay enough rent that i deserve it), yes.

good jesus, we've got some dumb shit happening over here. you don't have to go over it in a yellow highlighter, ok?

that said, i'm voting flynt, then moving to canada.


please bring on more stories about wacky celebrities and funny flash games!

weird, i thought the latter has been the domain of metafilter for quite some time, and there's even been plenty of the former over the years.
posted by fishfucker at 7:20 PM on August 7, 2003

The flood of recall posts will slow to a trickle after the 9th. If you think this situation is bad now, just wait until 04.
posted by euphorb at 7:31 PM on August 7, 2003

So… who wants to discuss the Nova Scotia election?
posted by timeistight at 8:22 PM on August 7, 2003

What I want to know about Nova Scotia is why the French speaking Canadians use their own language for it, but the ones who speak English use Latin. [/derail]
posted by ODiV at 8:34 PM on August 7, 2003

So, Steve_at_Linnwood, if you want to send over Senator Feingold to be governor (and I'm sure you do), we'd be happy to have him. Think you can pull some strings for us?
posted by hal incandenza at 10:20 PM on August 7, 2003

Hal, you can only have Feingold if you take Gary George and Dave Zein too. We don't care what you do with them as long as you get them the hell out of our state gubmint.

COBRA!, you didn't buy that Favre painting?! Jeebus, man, a work like that's gotta be so bad it's good.

As for the CA recall, I wanna savor every last drop of schadenfreude that can be squeezed out of this laughable farce. After all the tedious bluster I've been forced to listen to from them claiming that they're smarter, better-looking, and more socially advanced than the rest of us poor schlubs, it's reassuring to see that in reality, they can't find their collective asses with both hands.
posted by MrBaliHai at 5:39 AM on August 8, 2003

If there's an interesting or bizarre web page relating to any election, anywhere it's fair game. I seem to recall quite a few Minnesota politics posts (hell, I MADE some) back when our situation was a bit more sexy.
posted by norm at 6:19 AM on August 8, 2003

...smarter, better-looking, and more socially advanced than the rest of us poor schlubs...

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

And to those bitchers/moaners in states who don't have the world's 5th largest (fucked-up) economy, ask not for whom the bell tolls, y'all. California is a test case.

To the non-yanks: you got room on your couch?
posted by squirrel at 9:24 AM on August 8, 2003

COBRA!, you didn't buy that Favre painting?! Jeebus, man, a work like that's gotta be so bad it's good.

Believe me, I'm kicking myself. I was paralyzed in trying to decide between Favre, the "signed" Spuds MacKenzie print, and one of the variations on Domestic Animals Playing Poker.
posted by COBRA! at 9:27 AM on August 8, 2003

you can only have Feingold if you take Gary George and Dave Zein too.

Seconded!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 10:35 AM on August 8, 2003

TimeIsTight: So… who wants to discuss the Nova Scotia election?

I am just glad it is over (and that Danny Graham managed to win in my riding!) so I no longer have to see 5-foot-tall headshots of Jane Purves plastered on lawns in my neighbourhood. Those were scary.
posted by sanitycheck at 1:37 PM on August 8, 2003

lake superior in january,
he will wash ashore at lake tahoe in mid-june.

NO, i will not drive another frozen corpse to Tahoe; NO SIR.
posted by clavdivs at 5:11 PM on August 8, 2003

I used to be amazed how many frozen corpses were posting regularly to MetaFilter, until I became one.
posted by wendell at 5:18 PM on August 10, 2003

It's only going to get worse, riffola. At last count, 193 candidates have taken out papers to run. It makes me ashamed to be a Californian. Keep in mind also that all these fine potential governors had to pony up $3500 for the filing fee. If we could take all that money, plus the amount, estimated currently at $61 mil. to run this recall election, I bet we could do a lot to turn this state around.
posted by Lynsey at 10:23 PM on August 10, 2003

I think the California election is one of the best smoke and mirror campaigns I've ever seen pulled off. All this attention on body builders and porn stars running for office in California sure has taken notice away from silly facts like the American economy going into the toilet, millions of unemployed workers, a Vietnam like engagement in Iraq, malfeasance at the highest levels of corporate, legal and political worlds, the rape of the budget in favor of 1% of the population and a growing trend of puritanical theosophy replacing reason and the Constitution....but look, a circus, a circus!
posted by dejah420 at 8:10 AM on August 18, 2003

With balloons!
posted by squirrel at 11:00 AM on August 18, 2003