Lose the old playbook, get some balls

The Salon reader and "black young'n" who predicted a blowout by Kerry explains where he and his fellow liberals went wrong -- and how to prevent it from happening again.

By Kevin Criss

Nov 3, 2004 | Some of my friends would say that I am very bold and abrasive, loud and passionate, direct and in-your-face. Some of you out there may have came to that conclusion as well by reading my letter posted on Salon, where I talked a lot of shit and noise. I am going to man up here and say I was completely wrong, bloated and/or whatever the fuck is similar.

First, congratulations sincerely to our president and his political supporters. They obviously had a wonderful night. They kicked our fucking asses. No two ways around it.

Since I was very wrong, I have some obligation to explain my wrong theories, which led me to believe that Sen. John Kerry would blow out President Bush. Obviously I believed strongly in my generation and our ability to decide this election. In comparison to voters last go-around, I felt it was going to be roughly even, where Bush would lose, let's say, gay Republicans and some fiscal conservatives and Kerry would lose some people who were concerned about security. With that in consideration, I felt that my extremely motivated generation would tip the scale, as we favor Kerry strongly.

Obviously it didn't happen, or rather something else happened. Bush and his crew got their base out in larger numbers (although voter turnout was up across the board, as some are reporting) where that turned out to truly be the X factor.

But let me keep it real. This is Strictly 4 My L.I.B.E.R.A.L.S. Over the last few years, we plainly got our asses kicked. We have been painted as unpatriotic, treasonous, French, weak or whatever the fuck they say. But for some reason, we have been pussies and taken it. So much so that the word liberal has become a bad word.

Hey, we actually don't want to discriminate against those not like us. We want to treat the least among us with the most compassion, don't mind paying taxes, want health care for everyone and peace by the most practical and objective means -- and yet we are bad motherfuckers. What I am saying is this: If you want to win and be perennial (and again I said that Kerry would win by blowout, so many may say, "Yeah, right, young'n"), learn that politics is played out, throw that old playbook out, get some balls and don't take shit no more.

And here is a suggestion: Whoever wants to run in '08, do something unheard-of and start running by this January.

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