Let me restate that.

President Obama, leader of the free world, was HECKLED. In his own country. By, in essence, someone from a different department in the same company. Wanna see? Brace yourself.

I also enjoyed this analysis on DailyKos.

Say what you will about President Obama. He was elected fair and square (unlike the last guy, this was a clear cut victory). In fact, I encourage people to say what they will. It’s what makes this country great. And the same thing I keep saying holds true here: When situations were reversed, this wasn’t how the last guy got treated. For the record, the last guy actually DID address a joint session of Congress and lie. But since he was THE PRESIDENT he was shown a modicum of respect and people were quiet.

In the entire speech, there were points where Obama would say something and people would stand up and clap. Not everyone in the chamber. Some of them stayed seated and some didn’t even clap. I don’t mean things that were obviously democratic, I mean things like this:

…that concern and regard for the plight of others – is not a partisan feeling. It is not a Republican or a Democratic feeling. It, too, is part of the American character. Our ability to stand in other people’s shoes. A recognition that we are all in this together; that when fortune turns against one of us, others are there to lend a helping hand. A belief that in this country, hard work and responsibility should be rewarded by some measure of security and fair play; and an acknowledgement that sometimes government has to step in to help deliver on that promise.

and this:

That’s not what we came here to do. We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it’s hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history’s test.

Got NO applause from Republicans. Which clearly means that something I was thinking before and used to kid about is actually true: Republicans only care about people UNTIL they are born. After that you’re on your own. Come back when you’ve amasssed enough zeroes and we’ll talk.

Again, say what you will about Obama or his policies or his birthplace or whatever you want. Feel free to disagree. But if you can’t do so in a CIVIL fashion, you are not allowed to be part of the debate.

Or, bluntly: You know that hole you put pie in? Shut it. Grownups are talking.

* This does not mean we are not a racist country. This does not mean there are not more people who will take a shot (literally) at him. People who are Americans.

* This does not mean we are finished. Not by a damn sight. If you made calls for Obama (as an official volunteer or using the iPhone app) you need to keep doing that sort of thing.

* This does not mean things will be immediately better. You heard the man himself say so: It may take MORE THAN A TERM to really set things right again.

* This is the first step in a long long journey to restoring the world’s faith in us and our reputation. Do not think for one second that President Obama automatically gives us back our cred.

* This is the time to knock off the cynicsm. Stop acting like you can’t make a difference. Clearly you can. And you have. Now that you get a crack at this don’t screw it up. Trying to RE-do something is always harder than doing it in the first place.

* This is the time to remember. Hit that little “Record” in your brain and try to capture this night. How it feels, how YOU feel, how you were part of it, what you did to help this night happen (hint: YOU VOTED. R or D or I or whatever, it doesn’t matter as long as it was a vote. If you didn’t, leave this blog immediately.). I know most elections aren’t really of this magnitude, but you were part of the process and that is always a good thing.

* This is NOT the time to stop. Winning the election was not the finish.

* This is HUGE for America. Whoever you voted for, please support the new guy until you have a reason not to. When John Wayne heard that JFK won he said “I didn’t vote for him, but he’s my president, and I hope he does a good job.” Let’s try to keep that in mind, ok?

* This is the perfect time to remember what the new guy has said all along: There are no red states or blue states, just the UNITED States of America.

I do some of these things already. Here’s a list of things I do now to be part of the process:

* Subscribe to Megavote. I can keep up on how my Senators/Reps vote VIA EMAIL.

* Contact people! Congress.org has a spot there on the left where you can enter your zip code and find your Congressional folks. Get ahold of them and tell them what you think! You can also check out places like True Majority and MoveOn.org to find out about issues being discussed or voted on and sometimes it’s as easy as replying to an email to get your name listed as supporting or opposing a particular issue. And you have a cell phone right? You probably aren’t using EVERY space for contacts. Put your Congresspeeps in there and tell them what you think.

* Get informed. I know I’m lefty but watch Rachel Maddow once in awhile even if you aren’t. She’s not a shouter, she LOVES talking policy, and never makes personal attacks on those who disagree with her. She loves to be engaged and in total disagreement with someone. I think you’ll like it. She’s fun to watch and there are a fair number of people watching her who probably don’t necessarily agree with all her views but watch anyway. Try it!

* Admit you’re wrong. It happens. Stop forwarding crazy emails even if they support your point of view, quit repeating things you aren’t absolutely certain are true, and mostly STOP running around saying something to people SIMPLY because CNN or Fox or MSNBC told you to. Come to your own conclusion and use that quote to back you up. (:

* Don’t gloat. Quit feeling superior, stop being smug, knock off all the superior nonsense. We are still pretty majorly buggered, and that’s not going to change just because we elected him. We gotta help him get it done.

I may add to this later when I am awake. But for now, check those out and if I missed anything please let me know.

You know what really grinds my gears? (Or as The Ambassador would prefer me to call it, You Wanna Know Why? I’ll TELL You Why!) Here it is: McCain’s campaign is having like six different varieties of cows over Obama QUOTING MCCAIN. What’s their excuse? “Oh you shouldn’t be mean he can’t type because he is a POW are YOU a POW too Obama then you can’t say anything you are a mean jerky head and YOU ARE NOT READY TO LEAD! VOTE MCCAIN! CHANGE 08!!!” and so on.

Guess what? BULLSHIT. (Sorry Mom, if you read this, but it is.) I have a friend who is deaf. She plays video games and she’s on Twitter and has a computer and does all kinds of things effectively. I used to know someone who had a degenerative eye condition and she kept a blog and used instant messenger and SENT EMAIL and did all kinds of things. With her computer, no less. So that means a deaf person AND a blind person both use their computers successfully. I know there are people with other sorts of handicaps as well who get around that pesky keyboard issue JUST FRIGGING FINE thank you very much. Some people have a computer as their only means of communication with the rest of the world. It certainly doesn’t stop them. So why is it stopping John McCain? You’re going to have to try a little harder than “it hurts when I type” because NaturallySpeaking is one such bit of software that allows you to talk to your computer to control it. It’s easy to use and would allow people who are unable to use a keyboard, for example, to be able to control the computer with their voice. I am not shilling for them, I just know they are one of the more popular software packages with this capability. So learn to talk to your computer and then you can send email with the best of them!

Here’s the thing: My great aunt was older than Senator McCain when she passed away. She had email and went to websites and was capable of all of this without getting someone to do it for her. My mom can run a spell check competently, and I have an aunt who is set up with her own gMail address now. I used my mom as a test case at a startup I used to work at. I would look at different UI elements and complain to engineers: You guys, my mom will never find this button. Can we put it at the top? Because we had decided everybody’s mom should be able to use this software, so she was my example. Also she lives in Eastern Oregon in a town of about 15,000 people. They have one “nice” restaurant in town, a couple of Mexican food places, and I think one Chinese place. It’s not the biggest place nor is it central to anything, so when my mom asks me about things (what is this Twitter I heard about?”) I can pretty much presume they’ve been around. My mom totally knows how to get her machine to check email, what her homepage is, and how to report spam. These are BASIC skills.

I am not saying McCain’s service to our country is useless or stupid. However that service does not entitle him to the Presidency. This seems to be his belief and I disagree. This is America and I am well within my rights (at least for now) to do so. I think Obama was well within the bounds of a “clean campaign” to point out that McCain doesn’t know how to send an email. It is yet another startling contrast between the candidates, and I think a valid thing to point out. My issue lies entirely at the feet of Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager. He is allowing this campaign to make McCain out to be a victim of his handicap and if someone wants to be The Leader Of The Free World they’d damn well better act like it and not let a little thing like “typing hurts” turn into the big issue of the day.

I would also like to point out, while I still have on my PunditPants(tm)*, that Karl Rove is absolutely the last guy on earth who gets to piss and moan about being taken out of context. Bitch all you want, turd blossom, the part you don’t seem to get is that I learned it by watching you.

*I have no actual graphic for PunditPants(tm), but I am accepting submissions. For now this photo will do since I only wear my PunditPants(tm) for blogging:

At the very end of Hardball today with these two particular guests on (whose names escape me at the moment) Chris Matthews asked, “You know, every candidate for President in our lifetime has had a very succinct message if he won the Presidency: ‘Get this country moving again’, Jack Kennedy, ‘It’s the Economy stupid’, ‘Are you better off than you were four years ago?’, I can’t think of the line from Obama yet.”

Buchanan (OMG yes THAT Pat Buchanan*): We can’t stand four more years of what we’ve had for the last eight years?
Matthews: Do you feel like four more years of this!? That’s what I’d say.

(he goes on)

“All I know is I’d go to the numbers…every time the Senator from Arizona spoke, I’d say let me read those numbers to you John McCain, you got a tough act to defend here, and you gotta defend it because you’re the republican candidate that’s why you’re standing here. You got an unemployment rate that’s spiking, you got a debt that’s growing, you’ve got a surplus that’s disappeared into a deficit and you’ve got gas prices at four bucks, your side has BLOWN IT, don’t ask for four more years.”

To which I say AMEN! I don’t want Obama to go out and say terrible things about McCain (and while he doesn’t know how to send email is TOTALLY TRUE it is one that they are crying foul about), but I want him to go out and speak truth to power as it were. If repeating “I said thanks but no thanks to that bridge to nowhere” over and over is going to make it true, then why not repeat things over and over that ACTUALLY are true? I wonder how well THAT would go over. How do you beat him up over things that are TOTALLY accurate? More “sex ed to kindergarteners” nonsense? Even KARL ROVE said your campaign is a little out of line.

*Not only is it THAT Pat Buchanan but that link is to his blog. McCain can’t send an email, but Pat Buchanan has a blog (E I E I O).