Marie Cocco values a bake sale over our nation hanging in the balance....(Early voting)

[Aviation Pro]

...Mayberry anachronistic is how I would describe her opinion. Naive, childlike, ingenuous, and simple are other words I would use. Hey, Marie, we ain't making fucking cornflakes here (big shout out to Charging Charlie Beckwith for that one).

Link here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/?hpid=opinionsbox1


Thanks, But No Thanks to Absentee Voting
I’ve always been slow to embrace new fads. I didn’t go for brown as the “new black,” and since purple is now the “new black,” I’m certainly glad I stuck with the old. The same for following my parents’ example of never buying on credit. Boy, did that one work out.

As Election Day approaches, I revel in my fuddy-duddy habits. I live in the battleground state of Virginia, where voter registration has increased 10 percent in advance of November’s presidential election, where Democrat Barack Obama has invested huge sums in a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation and where Republicans are pushing their precinct captains to hang onto a state that hasn’t gone Democratic since 1964. Election officials are so fearful of a chaotic crush at the polls that they’re urging people to vote early with absentee ballots. Though absentee voting in the commonwealth requires voters to meet one of several conditions, officials have nonetheless made it clear that -- ahem -- it’s easy to qualify. (And voters requesting presidential-race-only ballots don't even need an excuse.)

Sorry, I just can’t. I know that if I do vote early, I’ll miss out on long lines, sore feet and the possibility of confronting an over-taxed electronic machine that might malfunction.

But here’s what else I’ll miss -- and what can’t be replaced by a quick-and-convenient early vote: Being pressed to take that one last flier from a volunteer as I walk toward the elementary school; purchasing a treat from the PTA mothers who will set up a bake-sale table outside the polls; enjoying the children’s artwork in the hallway as the line to vote snakes through the school corridors; chatting with neighbors I haven’t seen in months.

There is something magical that happens at the polls on Election Day. It is a renewal of civic culture that marks the first moment of reconciliation after the incivility of a contemporary presidential campaign.

[zerox]

1. There's absolutely nothing wrong with voting in person on election day.

I don't understand why you are attacking her for this. If she is willing to stand in line to cast her vote, then she is to be congratulated. Many don't even get that far. There is indeed something special for some people about voting on election day.

Taking part in democracy alongside your fellow citizens is something to be treasured.

[Aviation Pro]

6. Yes, it is to be treasured.....

...but a more powerful - shall I say it - national treasure is counting every vote. Moving away from a system that we enjoyed during the 1950s to a system that can count every vote in the 21st century is in our nation's best interest.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Sure, something Magical at the polls on election day.....

like waiting in long lines and being told that you will have to put in a provisional ballot, that might count.....or maybe not.

[unpossibles]

3. eh, I like voting in person

it's close to my house, and a nice walk even in bad weather.

[rvablue]

4. Disparaging this woman accomplishes nothing......

because she, in fact, is following the law.

Even though she might say (although I disagree with it) that the rules for getting an absentee ballot for early vcting are lax, the law is clear: if you can get to your polling station on Nov. 4th that is when and where you are supposed to vote.

And, moreover, her letter was a celebration of getting up and out to vote with one's neighbors. She's happy and full of pride about her chance to go cast her ballot.

Your title made it seem that she didn't think voting was more important than eating a brownie. That's not what her point was.

Let's reserve judgement for those WHO DON'T PARTICIPATE, this one's just fine!

[kstewart33]

5. Marie is a great columnist, IMHO.

So she likes voting on election day. I gotta admit that when I do, it does feel special. On that day, over 100 million people are participating in our democracy.

She wants to enjoy that feeling. More power to her.

As for me, I haven't got the time to wait like that so now I vote by absentee ballot. But I do know that I'm missing that feeling when I vote that way. Just a little bit.

[genna]

7. I haven't gotten over her aggravation during the primary. Has she written stories about how poorly

Palin has been treated? Has Cocco been consistent?


I want Obama to win.

I want Biden to put his unique stamp on the Vice Presidency and should he later decide to run for president again...the Presidency.

If you check my posts, I am an identity politics woman. I am not ashamed that the racial stuff has consistently aggravated me since I paid attention from Jimmy Carter...Reagan...on.


Even if Cocco is making a reasonable point (although I felt the warmth and the love standing in line waiting to vote two weeks ago here in Atlanta), I still can't hear her. I watch Joan Walsh the same way. I agree with much of what Walsh has to say on Hardball. I feel irritated when I think she is using similar arguments that she lamblasted 4 short months ago. On one hand accusing Hill of taking advantage of hatred-disgust within vulnerable low income communities during the primary was OFF LIMITS because somehow we drawing generalities from specific events; whereas now, Palin being a shit stirrer is out of bounds. Which is it?


If it was good enough for Hill, shouldn't it be good enough for Palin now? I didn't like these screeds about Hillary's sexuality because I didn't think they were true. But even if they were, SO WHAT? There are some commentators on the right that continually talk about how hot Palin is and what a great figure she has. Cool, but what happened to women standing up and saying it is not my BODY...it is my mind that is more/most important.


Where is the outrage? Is this what we are teaching our girls and boys? I know that Palin is courting some voters who think below their waists, but what happened to calling the commentators out for not being respectful. Biden said she was a good lookin' gal too. I think most of the things he says, whether he is supposed to say them or not, are funny.


Ladies, let us be consistent in the way we support women if we believe in identity politics. I haven't read anyone talk seriously about this Barbie thing. Is it because we concede the point that some women are more wonderful than others? I can only think of the Sojourner Truth speech, Ain't I a Woman?