Explanation of Rachel's Pessmistic Perspective

[DarthDem]

Let me take a stab at this.

Rachel is only 35. She (like me - - I'm 37) has therefore only been eligible to vote for president four times; I'm assuming she voted for Clinton twice, Gore, and Kerry. So 50% of the time, her vote has been stolen. She's very smart, but she's catapulted almost overnight into the role of a preeminent television personality; she just can't help but be worried. Her status as a member of a class against which Republicans routinely discriminate probably heightens her anxiety. (She's never said that - - that's just speculation on my part.)

She's not trying to get out the vote; she *is* in fact actually worried. But she allowed on her radio show today that all available evidence is contrary to her fears.

So give her a break; she's just being natural. She will be just as happy as all of us tomorrow when Obama wins.

[liberalmuse]

1. Normally I'd agree with you...

but I had to turn her off tonight.

[wanpete]

41. I did as well...turned to Larry King instead.

[BlooInBloo]

2. This is one of those things where I could care less *why*. Just stop....

And a lot of us are in the same age group anyway, and aren't like that.

[SammyWinstonJack]

26. You mean you couldn't care less?

[DemNoir]

3. Thats all true

But she should not be working out her personal issues on national TV. She unbearable right now, doing her scary voice. I'm sorry but it's sickening.

[SammyWinstonJack]

12. Agree!

[fascisthunter]

4. I Feel a Bit of that Anxiety as Well

I understand how she feels, I'm 36. I also don't trust our election system.... we need to go back to paper ballots and never ever allow a private company the rights to count votes again. Those machines are junk...

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. I'm MUCH older than you and Rachel,

and the years have taught me not to bet on anything until it's done.

You don't celebrate your exoneration before the jury comes back, do you?

So, I am sitting still, hopeful, but pessimistic, knowing how thoroughly they've stolen elections before, with absolutely no assurance that they won't do it again.

Google "hubris."

[Generator]

13. Indeed

Someone should come up with some of the many happy happy joy joy posts of November 2nd 2004. I was here. I remember them. Then things changed. I don't even want to see posts before that. THAT was after the polls had closed. It wasn't just a bad dream, it actually happened. HERE even on DU.

[elleng]

6. She's SMART

.

[Champion Jack]

7. I think she's just a worry wort

[Mike Nelson]

8. I thought Gore and Kerry won

and, then, pooooof!
Bush.

[ComtesseDeSpair]

9. Well...

I had been telling my GF to avoid Rachel at all costs if you want to have a good night's sleep, but at the end of Olbermann when Rachel came on and I left the room, she foolishly left the TV on. I came in ten minutes later to find her with a sick look on her face and saying, "I'm really worried! I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight!" Told ya so...

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Yeah she has been saying this over and over and it is discouraging!

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Oh com'on part of it is real but part of this is an act

you know to keep eye balls on screen

That said... those who count chickens before they hatch are foolish

2004 was the most recent lesson on that one

[SammyWinstonJack]

22. I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. I know better. But she says in one breath that

mccain can win this fair and square, while saying that those waiting in 6 hr lines is the equivalent to a modern day poll tax. At any rate, I really don't need to her say that mccain can win this "fair and square".

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Because there are a couple ways he could conceivably win this fair and square

and given that most folks cannot afford to stand in-line for six hours yes it is a poll tax... a form of one

And we should have a system that does not require people to stand for six hours, or to have less of a chance of getting their votes count if voting while black, latino, native american or any other minority you can think off, or be fearful of being challenged since I happen to have an accent

You realize that I carry a Passport to the polls these days?

So she is correct.

Now how likely are the ways that McCain has to a legal election are not likely... but they are there.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. She ain't counting chickens before they hatch

and that is the right outlook

I understand it, and it is the mature one

I agree with her. I will be at the booth come hell or high water (and lord knows I have voted running a high fever in the past)

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. Hey we are all worried but I don't need to hear her say that she thinks that mccain can win this

"fair and square". And she has said this more than once.

[az chela]

18. I agree,I am sick of her pessimistic attitude.i really like her

but dont like the negativity that she has been bringing to the show lately.

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. Good to know that I am not alone.

:hi:

[KatyaR]

15. I agree with you--

she has a history of putting things out there that might not be what's popular or "common wisdom" and then having it come true (I can't think of anything at the moment--you'll just have to believe me). She's pretty damn smart, our Rachel, but she's pretty damn levelheaded as well, and she's surely not one for hysteria.

For some reason she's really hammering this meme, so I think she's quite worried about tomorrow. To be honest, so am--we've had too many elections go south for me to be comfortable at this point. I just have to have faith that somewhere, somehow, America will find her way back.

At this point, I just can't be comfortable or relaxed about this until it's done.

[realitythink]

17. It's election PTSD!

I believe I'm afflicted with it as well. The past two presidential elections have been traumatic for us. I am feeling quite anxious right now and will be until I hear the race called and see McCain concede. And after that I'll probably be stressed out about what the Bush crime family will do between Nov. 5 and Jan. 20. As we've learned now, these people are killers and will do anything they please. Sorry but that's my reality and I suspect Rachel's as well.

[SammyWinstonJack]

20. Well we are all stressed out and perhaps I overreacted to her saying that she think mccain can win

this 'fair and square' while she also goes on about the long lines in early voting that she calls a "poll tax" I just don't get where she is coming from or where she is going with this. :shrug:

[realitythink]

31. Time is money

If you have to wait in line for 8 hours and your a working person, particularly hourly you lose money. That's a poll tax. Rich people can afford to, although they never have to, take the day off to vote. Average people (Democrats) can't.

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. I agree with that. And it's true. She is right about that.

[fulllib]

19. It makes for good TV for her to focus on the conflict

The numbers look good for us. And all available evidence is that the ground game is going to carry out what it promises.

I believe Obama will win with greater margins than we expect, but she is right for pushing the story this way, and it makes for good TV anyway.

[dhpgetsit]

21. I'm with Rachel

Although I am old enough to have voted for Carter, I am nowhere near 100% confident in Obama's victory tomorrow.

But I wish she would knock it off with the "talk me down" routine. She's way sharper than that.

[SammyWinstonJack]

23. Yeah, back off the " talk me down" routine! I agree. She freaks people out with that.

[wanpete]

42. hopefully, after some ratings feedback, she will drop this segment and phrase

in a very short time, it has become very annoying and whiny sounding. she's better than that and that time segment could be used for some type of uplifting or inspirational story instead.

[peacetalksforall]

24. There are some of us who are manic. I like deliberate sober analysis that

deals in probabilities. Palast and Miller are telling us how it could be 'attempted'. I'll say could be attempted, not could be done.

Go Rachel. We need to be ultra hopeful and ultra cautious.

In 2004, I wasn't an excited Kerry supporter, but I was euphoric during the couple of hours in line and all that day. I couldn't believe my confident flying high happiness. It looked like a certainty. I can't get it out of my mind. I have talked about it more often than I ever thought I would. I think I always will talk about it. And I followed all the Republican crap for forty years, but their arrogant, blatant intent to steal AGAIN - left me quite knowledgeable about their crimes. I really didn't think it would happen that day or night.

No one will ever move me to accept GE/NBCs, CNN/Time-Warner, FOX/Murdoch, ABC/Disney, CBS/Viacom. I have never gone back on my word to never buy anything GE or any other products of the five corporations. (There are many stores with only GE bulbs - I drive to the next place and I often tell the store owner or clerk why I'm not buying GE - they have all understood and have told me they have heard it from others.) The Republican operatives could have never carried it off without the help of these corporations.

Surely, I'm not the only one. I don't know if that is what is going through her head, but whatever it is, I support her.

[stillcool]

25. I don't mind her wariness at all..

I'm right there with her.

[SammyWinstonJack]

38. Difference is, she has the means to reach thousands , while you and I do not..

Do we really need to hear her negativity and pessimism? We are not naive. We know what can happen.

[madfloridian]

39. Exactly, we ALL know what could happen. None of us are naive.

We know the facts and we know reality.

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. ...

:thumbsup:

[kstewart33]

27. I have no problem with it as long as her worries are logic-based.

But sometimes, she sounds like she should be taking lexapro to treat her anxiety.

The eve of the election is not the time to scream 'fire!'. Geez louise, we've all been through heck the last year with the Dem primaries and a difficult campaign. I wish she would say, like most every other host on MSNBC has basically said - the numbers look good, the ground game looks good, now let's wait and see.

And cut the anxiety. She should understand her audience better than she does.
Just my opinion.

[SammyWinstonJack]

43. Agree with you 100%. The eve of the election IS not the time to scream 'fire'

and she IS doing that. And she should understand her audience, which she apparently does not.

[depakid]

28. Seems like anyone who's not a cheerleader- Yay, yay yay team

is somehow seen by some as "negative."

Part and parcel to a lot of what's gone wrong with America over the past 25+ years.

[TripleKatPad]

30. Rachel is smart and genuine and beyond her years in wisdom

I love her to pieces. Even if I don't draw comfort from her every utterance.

[madfloridian]

34. Go to her website.

Look at the interviews. Compare them. Most are given fair time, not talked over...then find last week's with our party chairman. Talked over, interrupted. Why?

I watched her show until lately, because reality says McCain does NOT have an "easy" shot to win.

If I want to hear so many Republicans I can look all over TV. But it's her show and it's her decision.

[SammyWinstonJack]

35. mad...

:yourock:

[GhostofRichardRorty]

36. Relax

This is not 2000 or 2004. In 2000, Gore had a slight edge in the CBS and Zogby polls, while seven of the other polls leaned to Bush. The Harris poll had it tied. In 2004, Bush had a slight lead in most of the last round of polls. They were close races, and those are the ones to worry about.

2008 will not be close. I think the most sophisticated pollster online is Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight.com. He now puts the odds of an Obama victory at 98.1%. Here is his rationale:

"It appears almost certain that Obama will capture all of the states won by
John Kerry in 2008. Pennsylvania, while certainly having tightened somewhat
over the course of the past two weeks, appears to be holding at a margin of
about +8 for Obama, with very few remaining undecideds. Obama also appears
almost certain to capture Iowa and New Mexico, which were won by Al Gore in
2000. Collectively, these states total 264 electoral votes, leaving Obama
just 5 votes shy of a tie and 6 of a win.

Obama has any number of states to collect those 5 or 6 votes. In inverse
order of difficulty, these include Colorado, Virginia, Nevada, Ohio,
Florida, North Carolina, Missouri and Indiana. Obama is the signficant
favorite in several of these states; winning any one of them may be fairly
difficult for John McCain, but winning all of them at once, as John McCain
probably must do, is nearly impossible."
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/todays-polls-113-pm-edition.html

Rachel needs to do what she needs to do to cope, but this should be an evening of hope, not fear.

[madfloridian]

37. Stop talking down to people who question her show. Not directed at OP, but others in thread.

There is no reason to do that. Stop calling us Rachel "haters". Stop implying we are naive or not very smart.

Of course we can be very smart and resent the tone of her show.

That is her choice. It is ours to only watch segments.

I don't want to listen to Republicans right now.

There is a wealth of conversation on our side.

Don't talk down to me when I question her choice of guests and her rudeness to the party chairman.

[soleft]

44. Watch a devastated Rachel at the end of this clip

And you'll understand her pessimism.

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=3aPiP6gjOLY