Try to Remember
Posted on Oct 25, 2008 at 11:14 am | Tagged as: Language, Vagaries
So, I’m surfing around the Web today, and I see one of many ads for Obama, exhorting me to vote for him. Fine as far as it goes, but this one attempts to engage me by asking if I’ve voted yet. Then it has three radio buttons I can click with different answers: Yes, No, I’m Not Sure.
“I’m not sure”?
How exactly would that come about? “I tell ya, I had a lot going on that day. Had to pick up the dry cleaning, get the groceries, drop the kids off at soccer practice… I might have stopped off at a voting center, stood in line, signed in, entered the voting booth, and made a selection for president, but damned if I can remember for sure. Like I said, lot going on.”
Guess we’re going after the former Bush voters.
Or, perhaps, just going after McCain himself, who is also not likely to know where he is or where his pants are. “When’s Jell-O?!”
Here’s a better one. Exit polls came out yesterday from early voting in several states. So these are people polled who HAVE ALREADY VOTED. The question was “Who did you vote for?”
6% answered “I Don’t Know”
Huh? No wonder we end up with people like Bush in the White House if 6% of the electorate doesn’t even know what button they pushed in the voting booth.
Even worse, 23% said, “You know, the black dude,” 14% said “Tina Fey,” 6% said “Who wants to know?” and 1% thought they were entering a contest to win Metallica tickets.