The Perfect Storm?

[Patsy Stone]

This is it. I feel it.

Just like before the hurricanes that came through here this summer, there is a calm before the storm.

I love a good conspiracy theory as much as the next person. I have more than a few that I won't share here. My opinion of conspiracy theories is that if you say you're not a conspiracy theorist, you just don't have enough imagination.

That having been said, sometimes theories, crazy as they seem, pan out. I direct you to the one about Relativity as an example.

The election left half of the country in shock and half in awe. Those on the "losing" side were subject to endless taunts of, "Who's your Daddy?" for a day or so and then, as we all started to nurse the hangover and open the blinds a little, weird things started happening.

People started talking, and comapring notes, and crunching numbers and asking questions. People started talking about fraud. At least 400 theories of how the election was stolen came up. People started reading and examining Ohio election law.

Thoeries and facts were bunked and de-bunked, discussed, dissed, and verified. Numbers didn't match, votes were lost, voters suppressed and disinfranchised and the people were angry. Randi Rhodes, also from sunny South Florida, was the first on it. She, like I, and more so, had seen it before. But not quite like this. The concession had thrown everything into a spin.

I was one of the first to wonder why Kerry conceded. I live in Miami-Dade and down here in these parts, we don't take too kindly anymore to people not counting our votes. When the margin of victory was exceeded by the number of outstanding ballots yet to be counted, I didn't see it. But then I did.

Why wouldn't he concede? What did he stand to gain by holding off and making the people and the media sit around their TVs and radios waiting and watching for 10 days while the Ohio SoS got around to thinkin' about possibly lookin' into countin' the provisional ballots. He had always said it wouldn't go on long. That there would be a winner that night or the next morning when people woke up. This was brilliant.

He goes away. Okay, maybe we'd have liked to have seen a shot or two of him in the first few weeks to make sure he was still alive, but what was he gonna say? So the concession goes into the history books and everyone gets back to their daily lives a little beaten and nauseous, and the media takes a holiday.

And so it begins...

All of a sudden, POTUS is cracking wise about "spending political capital" while delivering the smackdown on the press at a rare press conference.

Look! Up in the Sky! He's changing Social Security! Hey what's that over there? He's attacking Fallujah! Oh, no, now he's appointing cabinet members! And, over here in the corner, he's getting the big thumbs up from Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson!

Meanwhile, the media for the most part (well, those not on vacation) couldn't stop telling us about that mandate like a Greek Chorus. And letting us know that we were NOT MORAL ENOUGH for the likes of 52% of America. You know, the ones that support the actions in Iraq and still believe that Saddam was involved in 9/11?

So, like in The Ten Commandments, while Moses goes up to Mount Siani to receive the tablets, the children of Israel are left to spin conspiracies theories. The fraud accusations are swirling and websites are reporting all sorts of things that went wrong, and someone watching and reading and thinking (thanks, KO), finally picks it up and runs with it.

Funny thing is, after all this, it turns out the people were right. And now the pieces are all falling together. The Perfect Storm.

Half the people are seething, half the people are drunk with happiness. Candidates, congressional leaders and citizen groups have stepped to forward to reclaim democracy and democratic principles. Recounts are being requested and, through this and other sites, financed. The will of the people to be counted fairly and accurately will not be silenced.

Will the outcome change? Who knows. Personally, I've dreamed of a "Truman Beats Dewey" headline since Wednesday, November 3rd. The recount will go and no one will pay attention. The media will begin to cover it, perhaps, and maybe, it will change everything. Maybe it just confirm our worst fears. The best thing that will come of all of the hearings and recounts is answers to our burning questions.

What the people on this and other blogs have done is monumental. If it serves solely to shed light on the sorry, sorry state of elections in this country of ours, we all get to sleep better at night. I congratulate everyone here. Even the naysayers. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Shame on Congress for not passing legislation to require paper trails. Shame on people who supress the vote and shame on the media for taking a catnap here. Now we watch and wait.

But, if nothing else, with great admiration and apologies to Christopher Guest, "A Mighty Wind's a Blowin'."


Although I posted this diary on kos, and some of the same thoughts in other posts on DU, I just wanted to share these thoughts I've had with you guys too about what has been accomplished and what we have left to accomplish. Thanks to everyone here. Keep the faith, keep the energy and keep fighting for what we all know is the right thing.