A beautiful day in Minneapolis. We walked to the Kingfield Market, at 43rd and Nicollet, where we bought some squash, and then headed west on 44th Street for the mile or so to Lake Harriet, which we circumnavigated. The Obama to McCain lawn sign ratio in our part of the world is on the order of 20 to 1, which means nothing. As I pushed the stroller along, taking in the Obama signs, which on some blocks take on the aspect of rows of markers in a military cemetery, my free-associating mind fell upon Pauline Kael, the New Yorker's legendary film critic who, on the occasion of Nixon's landslide re-election, is supposed to have remarked: "I can't believe he won. No one I know voted for him."
Or, as a player in a comedy sketch we saw last week at the Brave New Workshop says, "When the crazies come out of the woods and vote, the crazies win." And speaking of crazies coming out of the woods, how about that Michele Bachmann? Now the whole country knows she's a despicable idiot. I got a lump in my throat watching Colin Powell take her down in the course of explaining, outside the Meet the Press studio, why he supports Obama for president. Good for him.
The October campaign of the Republicans is making it hard to await the outcome of the election with equanimity. Their defeat, like vomiting after you've swallowed poison, is a necessary first step for recovery.
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