Get On The Bus

4:43 pm EST October 22nd, 2008 | News | 9 Comments

Early voting in Indiana:

For me the most moving moment came when the family in front of me, comprising probably 4 generations of voters (including an 18 year old girl voting for her first time and a 90-something hunched-over grandmother), got their turn to vote. When the old woman left the voting booth she made it about halfway to the door before collapsing in a nearby chair, where she began weeping uncontrollably. When we rushed over to help we realized that she wasn’t in trouble at all but she had not truly believed, until she left the booth, that she would ever live long enough to cast a vote for an African-American for president. Anyone who doesn’t think that African-American turnout will absolutely SHATTER every existing record is in for a very rude surprise.

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9 Responses to “Get On The Bus”

  1. anotherbozo says:
    October 22, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    Oliver, you’ve got to stop tagging these stores and photos. I’m getting choked up almost every time I visit, it’s embarrassing. I’m much more comfortable with outrage and scorn.

  2. Grumpymann says:
    October 22, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    I really think there is something missing from these stories.
    Whats missing is the fact that these people are not voting for a “Black” man but they are vetoing for a “Black” man that is the best man for the job.

    In the history of this country there have been, I’m sure, more than a few black people that are and were better qualified for positions they didn’t bother to try for based on their race.

    It is not just a historic time in history because we have a black man running for POTUS. (I think that happened first in the early 70′s, if I’m not mistaken.)But he has a chance (100% unless rethugs cheat AGAIN) to win, he is also the best in the field. For those reasons this moment in history are things that drive a lot of our elders to tears with feelings of happiness and validation of the things they have gone through.

  3. Michael says:
    October 22, 2008 at 5:46 pm

    I believe that the African-American turnout will be tremendous. I am happy to see this happen. I hope that this election will be the first big step to end racial inequality and start the road to a tolerant society. I have seen the fear my AA friend has felt when we were on the road. Ken is a great guy and we were playing in the middle of the woods Maine and he was truly frightened for his life. It is time to stop the intolerance.

  4. Erik says:
    October 22, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    Good! I want to see records shattered and I really, really, really do not want to see the election hinge on the vaporous “Youth Vote” that opted to do something else on election in 2004.

    I am looking forward to celebrating Obama’s inauguration and to the start of the healing of our nation.

    This election isn’t about the lesser of two evils, this is about choosing a man with a vision and a plan to put us back on the right track and out of the pit of darkness that has been the Dubya years.

  5. Xynyx says:
    October 22, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    I hope you are right. I am confident that you will be.

    I also hope overall turnout is the highest ever. I can’t believe we somehow managed to allow this race to even be as close as it has been. Every person with any shred of conscience should be seeking to see the Bush Administration and all of its descendants completely repudiated, if not indicted and prosecuted.

    I hope that Obama can help to begin to deliver all of the justice that this country, so many in this country, and the entire world, for that matter, have been lacking for so long.

    And I hope that we can actually get the man into the office, come January 20.

  6. SaveFarris says:
    October 22, 2008 at 7:39 pm

    I am looking forward to celebrating Obama’s inauguration and to the start of the healing of our nation.
    …
    Every person with any shred of conscience should be seeking to see the Bush Administration and all of its descendants completely repudiated, if not indicted and prosecuted.

    Looks like ya’ll got the talking points mixed up again…

  7. ed says:
    October 22, 2008 at 7:55 pm

    Looks like ya’ll got the talking points mixed up again…

    I don’t follow you.

  8. megamoze says:
    October 22, 2008 at 9:09 pm

    “I don’t follow you.”

    I think that SF is suggesting that people here at Oliver Willis’s blog don’t have actual opinions and only spout talking points. And since two people on this site have differing priorities, one wanting to heal the nation and the other wanting to prosecute war criminals (and the two are not mutually exclusive, btw), that they must have gotten said talking points mixed up.

    Like most wingnut attempts at humor, it was lame.

  9. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    October 23, 2008 at 1:12 am

    “Looks like ya’ll got the talking points mixed up again…”

    Prosecuting the guilty is part of the healing process.