From the bottom of my heart...

[CorpGovActivist]

... it was honestly not my intent to hurt, embarrass, or offend fellow members of the LGBT community, or the DU community at large.

I hope that those who were hurt will accept my sincere apology for couching a serious point - i.e., why the LGBT community is *not* represented in exit polling data as a matter of course on Election Nights - in a piece of parody and satire that (absent familiar friendship and visual cues) is amenable to serious misunderstanding.

I hope that if it had never occurred to you before that wretched piece of parody, that you will now do whatever you can to push for respectful exit polling data to be included, so that generations of LGBT voters (indeed, all voters) after us think it's routine to include that data, rather than treating us with silence.

Respectful polling > parody > silence. I apologize. Sincerely. No excuses.

- Dave

[CorpGovActivist]

1. Rachel Maddow would be an ideal - and respectful - groundbreaker for this.

Visibility matters. That's just one reason why I love http://visiblevote08.logoonline.com/">VisibleVote. It leaves no doubt, whatsoever, as to the importance of visibility.

Please. Don't let offense at a very, very wretched piece of parody stop you from taking the point, and running with it.

If MSNBC got flooded with calls and e-mails for Rachel Maddow to start providing commentary on exit poll data, we could help push one more frontier.

Please. Don't ignore the serious point, just because I fumbled it.

- Dave

[bigbrother05]

2. Not part of that community

but saw the humor in it, had not even crossed my mind that the community was not included in the exit polls.
So glad you brought it up
I told you
America is not mature enough

[CorpGovActivist]

3. The data is sliced and diced so many other ways each Election Night.

While the LGBT community seems content to remain under the radar.

I'm sorry, but I'm an uppity sort of LGBT community member. I expect others to treat my birth certicate as if it does not bear a "Second Class" stamp.

That includes those who are content to think incrementally and tactically about progress on LGBT issues, instead of strategically.

- Dave

[andyrowe]

4. Don't sweat it.

It was funny and lord knows we're short on vitamin humor around here.

[CorpGovActivist]

5. I sincerely hope...

... that in the rush to tar and feather, a few stopped to think, "Hmmm. Why *don't* we have that exit poll data provided by someone like Rachel Maddow on Election Nights?"

- Dave

[CorpGovActivist]

6. I am truly sorry. No fake politician's apology to be found here.

I am truly - humbly, deeply, from the bottom of my heart - sorry for the wretched piece of parody I offered up to make a very serious point about exit polling yesterday.

Often, it's harder to take a sincere apology at face value than it is to break out the tar, feathers, and railroad rails. That's human nature. I get it.

I've read Lord of the Flies. Scared the crap out of me. I'd been in the junior high and high school locker room. I could see the complete and utter truth of that novel, and it made me weep.

Please. As you watch the exit polling data tonight, please: do take note that the talking heads can find a tool in their handy-dandy data toolkits to slice and dice the demographics just about every which way, but when it comes to the LGBT community: silence.

If there is an exception to this, please let us all know. And please: accept my sincere apology for a very badly-conceived idea. I should've made such a serious point in a serious way. I botched that so hard, my grandchildren's grandchildren will probably feel it. But please don't lose sight of the serious point just because I stunk up the place.

- Dave