Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Fear and loathing

I came to a sobering realisation last night.

Despite all my fretful, paranoid self-chastisement upon each and every optimistic thought.

Despite the hours spent going back over old news articles and blog posts from October 2004, in an attempt to re-live the sting and despair.

Despite the analysis of the ‘softness’ of the current polls, which should really have brought me back down to earth.

I admit it.

I have gotten my hopes up.




"Yeah baby! This thing is in the bag! Nothing could possibly go wrong now!"

I guess it might seem like there is nothing wrong with this.

But the dreadful depression that followed the 2004 result was, I think, made so much worse by the fact that I had somehow deluded myself into thinking there was a chance of ALP victory.


"Wow, you really ARE stupid, aren't you?"

And can you imagine how much worse it would be this time?

There’s such a feeling around the place that a change is a foregone conclusion, any victory for the Government will be doubly revolting. The crowing and bleating will just be unbearable.

A coaching suggestion made to football teams that have won the minor premiership and are facing the prospect of complacency in the finals series is that they should carry a brick around with them at all times.

Having used all my spare bricks for throwing off the overpass at 4WDs, maybe I should stick this photo up at my desk, to bring me back down to earth.



But people might get the wrong idea.

It is for these reasons I am undecided about whether attending any election parties is a good idea.

Who can forget 2004 when it was all freaking over before the party pies had even defrosted?

I guess, in the end, defeat is defeat and I am just deluding myself even further if I think I can mentally prepare for that outcome.

I'll have to come up with some way of coping. I think I'll choose....crack-smoking!

"Congratulations girlfriend. You worked it out."

Seems to be all the rage these days.

The least they could do is call the bloody election. I've been doing the slow hand-clap for about a month now but it doesn't seem to have worked.

At the moment it's like peeling off a really sticky band-aid, reeeeealllly slowly. Just rip the fucker right-off, Johnny!



"Nah, fuck ya!"

Yeah, well. The feeling's mutual, fuck-face.

8 comments:

mindlessmunkey said...

Pardon my ignorance, but can someone please explain to me the concept of "softness" when it comes to voting/polling?

I've heard it referred to several times recently, and despite scouring the relevant articles, I can't find a solid definition of what the term actually means. It's probably a basic, Year 10 Political Studies term, but, well, I never took Political Studies.

Help?

Anonymous said...

forget election night parties - no better entertainment exists than sitting at home with the election on the box and the interwebs

normally i would recommend that you have a couple of parties up your sleeve to attend once the result you want is beyond doubt - but this year i am hoping that the rout will be such that you will get more enjoyment out of staying home and watching every seat fall - than you would with drunken mates

no danger of me getting stupidly over optimistic and setting myself up for a year destroying bout of depression

oh and leeds will get automatic promotion too

Sam said...

*sigh* I know exactly what you mean. We've all tried so hard not to get too carried away with enthusiasm but it's happened anyway - hard not to when you're *so* desperate to get rid of him and his parasites.

I just don't think I could handle three years of Bolt, Janet, Mingy, Faterman, Hendo etc with the smugness and the gloating.

I'd still say have an election party though. Even if they win it, I can't see victory being a foregone conclusion five minutes into counting the way it was in 2004. They'll be time for requisite cheese and cabana on toothpicks and at least one glass of Queen Adelaide before we know either way, I reckons.

shula said...

If Labor loses, I am leaving.

In the meantime, I can't bear to watch.

Anonymous said...

Well I'd just gather some of those nice fire crackers you sell in the ACT & denonate them regradless of the result. At leastyou'll get momentary release...

comicstriphero said...

Munkey - My understanding (and I wouldn't rely on that necessarily) is that a 'soft' vote is one that is likely to change easily.

So, you'd use the phrase to describe people who indicate in a phone-poll that they will vote Labor, but who are in fact really only toying with the idea and will probably revert to the Coalition once the fear and smear campaigns begin in earnest.

mindlessmunkey said...

Ahh - that makes sense.

Cheers.

TLA said...

ELECTION PARTY AT OUR HOUSE!!!!

comicstriphero and anonymous from above (Hi!) are invited. Sorry - I don't know the rest of youse.

Regardless of what happens, we'll be getting loaded and shouting a lot.

And possibly crying. Hopefully with the joy, and not the pain and ignominy of loss. Yet. Another. Loss.

Don't fuck it up, Kevin.