My 2004 election involvement began by financially supporting unapologetically liberal musicians. It ended by bringing two political extremes together. This is my story.
On Saturday, October 30 my sister Aero and I took the Greyhound Bus from Washington to New York City to see Steve Earle. Between songs with titles like "Poor Man off to Fight a Rich Man's War" and "F*ck the FCC" Earle spoke to the audience at Webster Hall about the importance of voting Bush out of office. Most importantly, he reminded the audience that music can change the world. As he began to perform "Come Back Woody Guthrie" Earle added that just listening to music wouldn't change the world, but singing along would. The whole audience sang together with him. Earle's best line of the night was "I make an embarrassing amount of money for a border-line Marxist." Some well-to-do New Yorker types in their 50s were smoking a joint in front of me, Earle played three encores, and I was surrounded by hundreds of people who believed exactly what I did. Even if we didn't really understand New York (we ended up on an elevator to a penthouse apartment while trying to find the Dunkin' Donuts entry), and New York didn't really understand us (we confused the merch guy at Webster Hall was so thoroughly that he ended up throwing free stuff at us) we all felt the same. At that moment, I was hopeful that America was about to change directions for the better.
The next day was Halloween and the tenth anniversary of Aero and my first Green Day concert (1994, Arizona State Fair, free show, coliseum-wide food fight). Now we were going to see them again in Fairfax, VA. We shared a cab from the Metro station with four other fans to the Patriot Center at George Mason University. Packed into that cab like socialist sardines, I had a wonderful feeling about the youth vote. If all the over-18s in the huge arena filled with thousands of young people cast their vote, I really thought it would make a difference. Green Day was inspiring as they always are. Before my long time heroes played "Holliday" off their new rock opera American Idiot, Billie Joe Armstrong declared that the song isn't anti-government, but that "This song is anti-Bush!" I realized then that music can change the world. I was hoping in a couple days it would.
October was over. The music had stopped. I had supported my cause through concert tickets. Now it was up to the voters. I was ready to watch it all go down.
On November 2 my roommate, Kristin, and I took to the streets with a video camera to document Washington, DC on Election Day. We roamed around to various precincts and things were surprisingly calm. Washington is 90% democrat, so the conflict points were the City Council and neighborhood issues. The city seemed pretty deserted and Kristin and I decided that the real action wouldn't start until the returns started to come in. Watching election returns at a bar was an entirely new phenomenon for me, but it's one of those things that is totally normal and expected in the Capitol City. We went home to recharge the camera and ourselves. The consensus was that the most political bar in town was the Hawk and Dove in the South Capitol Hill neighborhood. They had five rooms with a different network on in each. After searching all over for an ABC TV so I could here Peter Jennings tell me what was happening, I realized ABC wasn't on because they had a camera crew in the bar. We talked with an Ex-Patriot from England who was scared to death that Bush might win. He explained to us that the rest of the world was anti-Bush most of all for the reason so many Americans voted for him: He's an evangelical. "The fact that the leader of the free world says that he listens to God when making decisions is terrifying," said our new British friend. We agreed.
The shoulder to shoulder crowd was getting old. The news people had bigger cameras than us and we felt silly. It was time to move on. We decided to hop the Metro to Dupont Circle, where everyone feels like they belong. We thought all was well: Kerry and Bush were neck and neck and the exit polls were looking good. The bouncer at Buffalo Billiards gave me one of his Miller "Good Call" sweat bands. Spirits were high. But we'd been underground for about thirty minutes, and things had changed. Bush had picked up states and the bar was oddly quiet. Still, we got a good table by the huge TV and decided to stick it out. Soon, the chaos that we were waiting for began, but by then it was too dark to video-tape. So here is my account:
When Arizona was officially called red, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Since I couldn't throw anything at the TV, I decided it was time for more drinks. I rushed up to the bar and announced that my state had just gone for Bush and I needed two beers, stat. A group of Young Republicans (which I still think is kind of an oxymoron) began cheering. In my liberal rage I yelled "I hope you all get drafted!" The YR closest to me tried to tell me there wasn't going to be draft. An argument began. As we bantered back and forth a European came up to the bar between us and started yelling at us for being so loud that he couldn't order. I thought it was highly inappropriate for a Euro to try to tell two Americans to be quiet on the night of a Presidential Election. The bar tender, back with my drinks, felt the same and yelled at the Euro.
"Do you know this young lady?" asked the bar tender.
"No," said the insolent Euro.
"Then why are you yelling at her?" the bar tender demanded.
I quietly escaped back to my table. Things were better there. Kristin was in a good mood because someone was buying her a drink. We were still hoping more swing states would go for Kerry. I relayed to her the strange four-way argument that had just gone down at the bar. Then her free drink appeared. And who had bought it but the Euro!
"This is the guy that bought you a drink? He's the one who yelled at me!" I was baffled.
Things were getting weird. Next to appear at our table was the YR whom I'd wished the draft upon moments before. I pointed out that the Euro who yelled at us was sitting across from him. The YR's lobbyist friend joined us too. We were an unlikely group. Only in Washington. The Euro eventually left because he just wanted to talk about soccer, which he called football, and nobody cared. The YR, the lobbyist, Kristin and I all went across the street to the Front Page. This is where Kristin lost it. A true Massachusetts liberal, she announced "This is like hanging out with Yankees fans on the night of the World Series!" She stormed off in a huff, but gave me the international be right back symbol all girls know. Only she didn't come right back. When it became clear she wasn't just in the bathroom I called her cell phone.
"Kristin, where are you?"
"I'm with Nick Novocain."
"Who the hell is Nick Novocain?"
Oh no, what had I done? Kristin was obviously with some nut-job and I was responsible. I told Edward, the YR, I had to go get her. He insisted on walking me there. I found Kristin on the sidewalk with Nick Novocain in front of Kramer Books. He said he was homeless. He looked like Zack Morris if Zack Morris was an insane anti-establishment street guy. I could see how Kristin, in an extremist moment, would find him comforting. So there the four of us were: Kristin and me, a homeless anarchist, and a yuppie republican in a suit. Nick Novocain began his words. Kristin bobbed her head in agreement and admiration. Edward looked confused and amused. I rolled on the ground laughing at the situation and the company. After developing a plan through international girl signals, Kristin and I took off giggling down the street.
We looked back to see the two of them together: Edward, with his Presidential appointment pin on his lapel, standing there in the gay district listening to poetry by Nick Novocain, a failure of our capitalist society. We decided that we had brought two Americans together in a way that could only be done in Washington, DC on election night by two defeated Kerry supporters with a sense of humor and an appreciation for irony. We couldn't celebrate victory, so we celebrated Ed and Nick's bipartisanship. We had done our part for Election 2004.
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