Courtesy of Salon, a video from Fox News, and a bit of context: "[Juan] Williams is a contentious fellow who has long borne the burden of being the designated African-American centrist on both Fox News and National Public Radio. His antipathy toward Barack and Michelle Obama has been evident throughout this election season, but on Tuesday night, faced with the almost unbelievable spectacle before him, Williams had his finest moment."



Full article here.

We stood on street corners in Mountain View this morning, holding "No on 8" signs and handing out small cards to people who were interested. It turned out that most of the people walking by either already knew their position or had already voted. But holding the signs was still a great experience. We spend a lot of time in this little town we live in (population: less than the attendance at Comic-Con), but we don't often interact with our neighbors. We sure did this morning.

Rolo has a video log, which he'll post in a bit, and we have some other stories, but for now, I'll summarize our thoughts after our three-hour shift. It was misleading in some ways, because opposition to Prop 8 in this area is so strong that it gives us a false sense of hope. Pass or fail, the margin isn't going to be anywhere close to our sampling this morning. On the other hand, though, it's an amazingly powerful affirmation that we live in the right place: in an educated, progressive, positive and vibrant community. Malin counted five negative reactions in three hours, and more smiles, thumbs-up, waves, or shout-outs than he can count. Rolo counted maybe six or seven on his street corner, but at least one of those was the same person (a woman who felt the need to roll down her window and shriek, "I VOTED YES!" at us). We were thanked over and over, had people stare at our signs as though they'd never heard of Prop 8, were engaged in bizarrely abstract conversations, and even called dirty names.

Malin's one story to end this post: The first really thumbs-down reaction I got, oddly, made me feel okay. It was a couple driving by in a minivan with an infant in the back seat. They saw me, smiled, and both gave a "thumbs-down" sign. I smiled back and waved, and they waved to me--still smiling--as they drove away. The van had a "Yes on 8" bumper sticker on the back, so I'm sure their thumbs-down was at me, not at Prop 8, but regardless, we still smiled, we still behaved courteously to each other. I felt like there was at least a chance that we could sit down and have coffee and a civil discussion, and that made me feel good. As opposed to the b*tch who had to scream out her window, y'know.

That underscores what John Scalzi said about the Yes on 8 voters: by and large, they're not bad people. They're people who think they're doing a good thing for a good reason. He said he feels sorry for them, that he hopes that someday they wake up to what they've done and that the consequences won't be too horrible. That's what I wish for the folks in the minivan. I hope they teach their kid to love their neighbors, and that in time they realize that love is larger than what is preached in the church or written in the Bible, that love begins with respect and tolerance. I hope they have a chance to make up for what they did today.

Pass or fail, I feel like California is on the right track. We're good people(*).

(*) Except for Jeff Kent. Asshole.

Outside the farmer's market in Mountain View yesterday, in the heart of well-educated Silicon Valley, we heard someone discussing with a patient "No on 8" worker whether a vote of "Yes" or "No" on prop 8 supported gay marriage.

(It's "No.")

This is one reason we're going to volunteer tomorrow morning. I don't want our rights to be decided by people who wanted to help but couldn't figure out how.

We're going to stand outside polls on Election Day and urge people to vote no on Prop 8, and hand out cards and stuff. Yes, we're becoming those people you hate when you go to vote, but we're doing this because there are still (believe it or not) some undecided voters in the area. There are also people who think that they need to vote yes to support gay marriage. Every extra "no" vote we can get here in the Bay, where they should be easy to get, counteracts one "yes" vote from Orange County or the Central Valley. And every vote is going to count.

We're doing the 7-10 am shift in Mountain View. If you want to volunteer in your area, check http://www.noonprop8.com/action/gotv (right now it appears to be down; I know they were having hacking issues earlier this week) or call them at 415-845-9460. If you live in the Mountain View area and want to meet up with us at 6:30 am, drop us an e-mail or leave a comment here (screened) and we'll let you know where to meet. We just need to let them know how many extra people we're bringing.

There are a lot of people volunteering, but there's always room for more. If you really feel this is an important issue to you, and you want to do more than just write on the Internet to your friends about it, please consider spending a few hours on Tuesday to help. There's a 6:30-10a shift if you can go in to work a little late; there's an 11-2 shift, and there's a 4:30-8:30 shift if you can get out of work a bit early. We know, we don't much like the idea of being THOSE GUYS outside the polling place. But we like even less the idea of watching the votes roll in on the Yes side on Tuesday night without feeling like we did our part to stop them.

[Malin] After reading some No-on-8 discussion from John Scalzi, I feel the urge to film a commercial:
( Cut for length and self-indulgence )

I find amusing things for your amusements!

( Okay, also possibly scary. Definitely political. )

Political debates in general are like NASCAR races. You watch the contestants go around and around the same track without any deviation, and the only reason you keep watching, the only reason TO watch, is in case there's a spectacular crash. (Two different post-debate columns tonight used the word "crash," so it's not just me.)

And the VP debate is like a Nationwide Series race (formerly Busch series).