The Big Message

When it is all said and done, I think this is the most important political message I saw all night.

I was so looking forward to using the satirical “John Kerry is not my President” for this entry’s headline, but the senator has just made his call to the White House and conceded the election to George. Oh well, current event humor has a thousand ways to die.

No Anti-Bush?

I am little hung over from my election night excursion, but otherwise, I am in good shape. You can almost feel the fallout from the election in the air here in Los Angeles. When I got to the Psychobable where I have my morning coffee I noticed that the anti-Bush sign on the tip jar (it had Bush in a turban set against a background of oil pumps) has disappeared. Now that he has won, are they no longer anti-Bush? I may be reading more into things than are actually there, but as I look around me, no one seems to be smiling. My guess is they are all shell-shocked. Not as shell-shocked as what I witnessed last night, however.

I left the house last night at around 7:30, and started my evening at Akbar. Akbar is in the Sliver Lake area of Los Angeles. Silver Lake is that “artist section” that every city has, filled with real and wannabe actors, writers, filmmakers, dancers, etc. They live there mainly because the rents are cheap in those apartments that one suspect are not quite up to code. There is also a significant amount of gays in Silver Lake (gays with no money live in Silver Lake, those with money live on the West Side).

The Akbar

The crowd was decidedly anti-Bush, and on edge when I went in. I had looked at the numbers on the net before I left, so I know that NM, FL, OH, NV and AR were basically Bush and the media just was too afraid to call it (which I am fine with, BTW – I would rather they call it late than too early), but no-one at the bar knew that.

The Contenders

I grabbed myself a Boddingtons (mmmmm…. Boddingtons) and headed into the room where they had a projection TV set up. The place was decorated with signs that said things like “Four More Wars” (which I thought was kind of clever) and “Barons for Bush” (Barons? Do we still have Barons?). Though I did think the blood soaked red, white and blue decorations was a little over the top.

mmmmmmmmmm

I sat down next to a woman who was with her boyfriend and we started getting into a conversation about the Electoral College. She did not know how the Electoral College worked, so I explained it to her and how it came about. She thanked me and said whenever she had asked anyone about the Electoral College they had just treated her like she was stupid.

Those Evil Barons

There was one point where the broadcasts where displaying the results of the various anti-gay marriage initiatives; which was met with a mixture of groans and cheers. At first I was confused since I would guess that about half the crowd was gay, but apparently the cheers were coming from people who thought that the series of “yes” wins meant people were voting for gay marriage. It had not occurred to many in this crowd that eleven states would go out of their way to create initiatives that would explicitly ban (They do not know anyone who is against gay marriage, so they assume most of the country agrees with them). I had to tell the woman next to me that these were votes banning gay marriage. She had thought that gay marriage was already legal in several states (her uncle was married during the short window in Massachusetts), and I had to explain what the situation was to her.

The Bloody R,W & B

I have to admit that I felt for these people. Personally, I have no problem with gay marriage or homosexuality, and it must be difficult to see in stark black and white how many people in the country do. I believe in democracy, so I will support a popular referendum, but I still have the right to say that it is wrong.

The Continental

I decided to move on. Next stop… The Continental in Beverly Hills. The Continental is a super club, and is known for its martini (mmmmmm… martini). I had a Bombay Sapphire martini, a little dirty, with an olive.

Oh No, It’s Bush!

I thought since I was in an upscale neighborhood that things would be a little more subdued, and there might even be a few republicans in the audience. Boy was I wrong. I do not know if it was the different neighborhood, or if it was just the fact that it was clearer that Bush was going to win, but people were visibly angry, and were not afraid to make their opinions known. There was a guy behind me who kept yelling at the television screen. The most vivid quote I remember was when NBC was reporting live from Ohio, “All the people in Cleveland should F***ing die. You killed us. Don’t you see you killed us. You have no jobs! You have no jobs! Everybody in Cleveland should be strangled.” And then later, “You bet they should call it. They should start f***ing strangling people.”

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

After about an hour of people realizing that Ohio was not going to be called (and I suspect realizing that Bush would take it) the disappointed patrons cleared the place pretty quickly.

Got Dots?

So I moved on to the Lava Lounge. On my way there I saw one of the buses with the “Got Dots” campaign that’s been floating around during this campaign. For this election they got rid of the punch cards and replaced them with similar cards that are marked with a small ink pen instead (no hanging chads). I guess they figured letting everyone know would help with voter turnout (as I posted here it did not work).

Lava Lounge

The lounge was very subdued when I arrived at around 11:30pm. Located in the heart of Hollywood (located between Hollywood Blvd. And Sunset Blvd.) it attracts a very laid back 30 something crowd. They were as laid back as usual, despite the fact that I am sure everyone there was a Kerry supporter (and at this point, all but the most naïve had to know that Bush had won). Everyone was cool – they were disappointed but did not seem especially angry. I had a Corona (forgot to take a picture – I was a little buzzed by then) and went home about an hour later.

The Republic Will Survive

However people feel, I suspect the Republic will survive.

Stay Free

Posted by Jason Ramsey at November 4, 2004 06:47 AM | TrackBack