Embarrassing vote confessional thread
Everybody makes mistakes. Maybe you signed your best friend’s high school yearbook with Teddy R’s In the Arena speech, or bought the Knack’s first album on eight track, or married a charming sociopath with a drug problem, or ordered the invasion of a Middle Eastern country on the basis of a pack of transparent lies. Hey that’s why pencils have erasers . . .
Anyway almost everyone has at least one vote they’ve cast that is similarly cringe-worthy. I’ll start:
1980 presidential election. My college roommate voted for Barry Commoner (he is now a subscriber to the National Review). I voted for Ed Clark. What can I say, I was young and stupid. I’m glad to report I’m no longer young.
Steve M.:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:45 am
Confession: I voted for Commoner in 1980, too. (First presidential vote — I was 21.)
And I voted for Nader (but in 1996, not 2000, when I assumed correctly that Clinton had it in the bag).
Eric:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:47 am
My first vote was for Bob Dole. I wanted to have a choice in the 1996 primary elections, so I registered as a Republican and voted for Dole. (I voted for Clinton in the general election, though.)
Mike Timonin:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:48 am
I once voted for someone for student body president because she promised everyone in the school a Coke if elected. I never got my Coke.
Malaclypse:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:55 am
9th Grade mock election, 1980. Voted Reagan. Believed in Peace Through Strength.
Steven desJardins:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Another 1996 Nader voter. So retroactively embarrassing.
Karate Bearfighter:
November 6th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Nader 2000. And yes, I deserve your scorn.
Andy:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:00 am
F-in’ hilarious! I did buy the Knack’s first album on eight-track! :)
Uncle Kvetch:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:01 am
Hmph. I saw the Knack in concert. Tower Theatre, Philadelphia, 1980.
And argued passionately with my grade school classmates in favor of Nixon in ’72 and Ford in ’76.
Buncha pikers.
Left_Wing_Fox:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:01 am
Susan Collins, 2002. Despite being against the Iraq War in 2002, she voted for invasion the next year. As the Republican party became crazier, her “moderate” position was only ever in relation to the rest of the party. What was Republican with Democratic appeal is now insane with flashes of lucidity.
Last time I ever voted for a Republican.
catclub:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:02 am
I might have voted 1980 for John Anderson.
I know I voted for someone who did not win that year.
Voted for a republican for city council, a neighbor and friend, but still, really?
Sly:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:03 am
I voted straight third party in 2000 (New York… don’t get huffy) mostly out of spite; not against Gore or Hillary Clinton, but because the state party apparatus gave Hillary Clinton the nomination on a silver platter and told us we needed her “star power” to stop the nigh-unstoppable Rudy Giuliani from going to the U.S. Senate.
Then the Midtown Mussolini’s marriage, which everyone knew was a sham and would be brought up during the campaign, disintegrated on live TV six months before the election and we ended up running against the sheer animal magnetism and political brilliance of Rick Lazio. So I said “fuck it.”
Karen:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:03 am
In 1984, I was one of the few, the proud, the Mondale voters in Waco Texas. Because I did not wanto to vote a straight D ticket – I was a 21-year-old law student, in WACO TEXAS- I voted for an R against Chet Edwards. Said Repub perfected my bingo card of hopeless losing candidates, thankfully, because he was an officer in the local John Birch Society chapter. Lat time I voted for anyone I didn’t research at least a little.
parrot:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:03 am
commence to shoe tossing …. now my skeleton … i didn’t vote until i was 38 years old … my apathy was outweighed by my ignorance (still fairly true) …
Malaclypse:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:04 am
In 2000, I voted Nader in MA, because I genuinely believed that conservativism had been so thoroughly discredited that the Greens could build up to major-party status in liberal states, and the 5% we were bound to get was the first step in the process.
As an excuse, I was doing a lot of drugs back then.
Jonas:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:07 am
Yes, Nader 2000, but it was Ohio where Gore had already conceded and had stopped campaigning more than a month before the election. Stupidly, as the Bush margin of victory was only 3%.
ralphdibny:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:08 am
That Knack album is good–nothing to be ashamed of there. My purchase of Whitesanke’s eponymous 1987 album, on the other hand . . .
stuck working:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:08 am
Wait a minute, what the hell was wrong with the Knack’s first album? Or was the problem just that you bought it on eight track?
vacuumslayer:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:12 am
My first vote was for Gore. I was in my late 20′s. I should been voting earlier.
J.W. Hamner:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:13 am
I voted for an actual communist for Cambridge City council one year because I could. I’m actually kind of proud of that one, but know I should probably be ashamed of being so flippant about something as serious as local governance.
I also meant to vote for Nader in 2000, but in the end was too lazy… so I am embarrassed both by my intention and the fact that I couldn’t get off my butt for a Presidential election.
Joshua:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:17 am
My first election was 2000 and I voted for Dubya. There are no words.
Jameson Quinn:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:22 am
Nader ’96 and ’00. And I was actually partly happy about the mess in Florida because I thought it would lead to voting system reform (at the time, I thought that meant IRV).
In my defense, I was in a safe state both times (CA in ’96, WA in ’00).
No, wait. In ’96 I intended to vote for Nader, but was disenfranchised because I’d moved to a neighboring precinct, and mail had bounced from my old address. And I shrugged it off as unimportant. In retrospect, I’m more ashamed about my nonchalance about getting disenfranchised, than I am about either of my safe-state Nader votes. (After all, I voted Stein in CA this time, and I see no shame there as long as I don’t brag about it on the internet where it might influence swing-state votes)
On the “proud of it” side: I made over 200 calls for Al Franken in Minnesota. Even if every voice mail message I left resulted in a Franken vote, that’s probably not quite enough to have swung the election, but using reasonable assumptions, any 50-100 people like me were easily a deciding factor.
Jameson Quinn:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:23 am
Jameson Quinn:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:25 am
Oh, one more shame: I habitually sign the envelope that says “I certify I reside in this precinct” even though I live in Guatemala. I refrain from most of the municipal issues, but I don’t want to be cut out of having a congressional vote, as I would if I were honest about being an expat.
Jameson Quinn:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:29 am
I was in 4th grade in 1984, and I remember feeling deeply offended by Reagan’s “magic missile shield” commercial. I mean, seriously… does he think I’m some preschool baby who draws in crayon?
burnt:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:31 am
I voted for Nader in 1996 because Clinton didn’t need my help.
In the spirit of “know your enemy” I subscribed to the National Review from mid-1988 until this issue arrived:
Let your dim bulb shine, Rich. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
(the other) Davis:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:32 am
Also Nader 2000. But as a mitigating consideration I was in NY, where I knew it wouldn’t affect the outcome.
burnt:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:32 am
Well that worked well. How about this:
http://photos1.blogger.com/hello/145/1296/640/nat_rvw_iraq.4.jpg
(the other) Davis:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:34 am
My other (more minor) shame is that I didn’t vote in the first presidential election where I was eligible, in 1996. Something went amiss with my voter registration, and I never followed up on it.
wilson:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:35 am
Commoner in ’80. And I don’t subscribe to the NR today. Never voted R in any election.
I am a Yes fan and would vote them and the late Bob Welch(for his FM work and Paris) into the R&R Hall of Fame without embarrassment, if I thought that that institution was worth it – as opposed to the Presidency of the US of A.
Dirk Gently:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:39 am
In a high school mock election in 1992, I voted for Bush, Sr.—and the majority of the class made me feel embarrassed for not voting for PEROT.
parrot:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:39 am
perhaps you thought you were voting for buchanan? … i josh of course
DrDick:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:39 am
I voted for John Anderson in 1980, who actually did better than most third party candidates (and better than Nader ever did).
thefax:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:40 am
Jim Gilmore for VA governor (1997) because he promised to get rid of the car tax, and I’d just gotten a tax bill for my crappy Ford. Hey, I was young and poor. And I’m still not keen on car taxes (I’d rather see more highway tolls.)
Sherm:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:41 am
Not very proud of my first vote ever – Jesse Jackson in the 1988 primary. Not ashamed of Nader in 2000 because I lived in New York and would not have voted for him if I lived in a battleground state.
Cody:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:43 am
I’m also a huge fan of pot-hole ridden interstates that I have to pay to drive on.
Seriously though, owning a toll road is literally a license to print money. I need to get in on that.
SeanH:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:43 am
Farooq Qureshi, my local Liberal Democrat candidate in 2010. In my defence, most people didn’t anticipate the Lib Dems’ betrayal, I was in a safe Labour seat, and I was pretty much just hoping for some electoral reform.
Joseph Slater:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:44 am
Harrumph. I at least bought the ALBUM version, which totally isn’t embarrassing at all. . . .
Joseph Slater:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:45 am
I’ll say that “My Sharona” was a pretty great power-pop song, but beyond that. . . .
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:51 am
My first vote was (essentially) for Kim Campbell. Without me, the Tories couldn’t have gotten those two seats!
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:53 am
Look, the work of an international sports tax lawyer and supermodel leaves only so much time for voting.
CaptBackslap:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:53 am
1994 was the first election after I turned 18. I voted for a Libertarian Senate candidate named Jon Koon, despite his previously having held a gun rally on the steps of the State Capitol.
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:54 am
I owned Kilroy Was Here on vinyl!
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:56 am
Hmm. I wonder if there was some factor that forced Gore to waste time and resources in states like Washington and Minnesota rather than expanding the map? I can’t remember…
rea:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:56 am
I voted for Geoffrey Feiger for governor, whose brother was the lead singer of the Knack. I can combine both types of embarrasment!
Tyto:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:57 am
1. Paid to see The Adventures of Ford Fairlane in a movie theater; and
2. Voted for John Edwards in the 2004 primary.
I don’t have it in me to bash the Knack–that was pretty decent power pop. I mean, it isn’t as if you’d bought a Creed album.
Richard:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:58 am
I agree. First Knack album was a good record.
kindness:
November 6th, 2012 at 11:59 am
Excuse me. My first and only Knack album was vinyl, not 8 track. I don’t think that 8 tracks were still sold when it came out as that was late 70′s. In that era cassettes ruled.
Norsecats:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Voted for Jesse Ventura for MN-Gov in 1998. Made the snap decision standing in the voting booth (“the Democrat is an ineffective milquetoast, and there’s no way in hell I’m voting for Slippery Norm Coleman–what the hell, let’s vote for the wrestler”). I think no one was as surprised as Ventura when he won.
Also, Nader in 1996, and flirted with Nader in 2000. If McCain had won the Republican nomination in 2000 I might well have voted for him.
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Paradise Theater may have been my first album purchase ever. At the very least it was futuristic!
My Hall & Oates and Rick Springfield 45′s would be more embarrassing admissions.
gorillagogo:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Indeed.
MikeJake:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Today. The ballot confused me, and I accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan.
Linnaeus:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:05 pm
I voted Anderson in my school’s mock election that year.
bill:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
I, too, voted for Commoner. Nice to see his entire constituency is represented here at LG&M. My worst vote was Reagan in ’84. After McGovern, (unknown) and Commoner, I wanted to go for the sure winner. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Ugh, you just reminded me…different species, but still. At least it was on cassette. And I bought it because of the great lyrics on When The Children Cry. Ah to be 10 again.
gorillagogo:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
I voted for Tom Ridge when he was a Congressman. I didn’t vote for him when he ran for PA governor, though.
Jacob T. Levy:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:07 pm
I voted– many times– in Chicago Democratic Party judicial primaries. Doesn’t matter who I voted for; that fact is enough to be ashamed of.
Linnaeus:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Gasp! Fraud!
somethingblue:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:09 pm
I regret voting for Carol Moseley Braun in 1998. Also Kerry in 2004, though not quite as much.
I don’t regret voting for Obama in 2008, or for Jill Stein this morning. But I’m sorry I didn’t think of writing in “Scott Lemieux” for Senate and “Joe from Lowell” for Congress, instead of “None of the Above.” Oh well. Look forward, not backward!
vacuumslayer:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:10 pm
ROFL! I’m afraid you’ve got me confused with someone considerably more interesting.
thefax:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
I’m not advocating privatized toll roads. Ideally it would be a license to print money for the state so highways aren’t pothole-ridden, but yes I realize this is America and things don’t work that way
hickes01:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
I also voted for “The Body” for Gov, and I stand by that vote. Light Rail, got rid of the Meter Ramp Lights, it’s all good. Now the time I PAID to see “Troop Beverly Hills”, there was girl involved…
chuck:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
No Nixon voters reading this? My first presidential election was 1972, and having grown up in a Republican household, it naturally followed that I would vote for Nixon. Watergate took whatever blinders I was wearing off though it took me six more years to switch my registration from Republican to Democrat. I have never voted for a Republican since that Nixon vote.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
*cough*
That was I. New nym. Still not that interesting.
parrot:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
the past is always in front of us …
hickes01:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
Dumb question. Who is THE Commoner?
Sherm:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
1. Paid to see The Adventures of Ford Fairlane in a movie theater;
Ditto.
2. Voted for John Edwards in the 2004 primary.
Donated $350.00 to him in 2008.
You’re not alone in your idiocy.
Randy:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Gene McCarthy for President in ’76 (yes, he was on the ballot in some states).
I was also head of the Nixon campaign in my 6th grade class in ’68, and I still own an 8-track player (unused for at least 25 years).
Craigo:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
I actually bothered to vote for Edwards in the PA primary in 2004, long after Kerry had sewn it up. It was a pseudo endorsement for VP.
I would have voted for McCain in 2000, but I was a mite too young.
Joe:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
comrade! one of three in my school.
Craigo:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
And always twirling, twirling, towards freedom!
Joe:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
only if it was a swing state.
Incontinentia Buttocks:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
I’m an unrepentant ’96 Nader voter. It was a protest vote in a solidly blue state. Although I think a lot less of Nader now than I did then, I don’t regret that vote one bit.
gorillagogo:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:19 pm
Yeah, that whole 80′s hair metal scene was pretty much the nadir of western civilization. I can’t believe I paid good money for gems like these
Incontinentia Buttocks:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:21 pm
The last Democratic primary vote I cast was for Edwards in 2004. If I had that vote back, I’d cast it for Kucinich (Kerry had effectively sewn things up by the time Oklahoma voted, so a vote for anyone other than him was symbolic).
JBJ:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:23 pm
I was 8 in 1972, in 3rd grade in suburban Washington, DC. My memory is I had a secret affinity for McGovern, but in my class full of front-running snot-nosed Junior Sycophants, it was socially unacceptable not to be for Nixon, so publicly I was for Nixon.
In ’96 I wrote in Ralph Nader’s name for President. Merely symbolic, I knew, but I was disillusioned to learn later that in North Carolina, the good ol’ boys laugh as they spit on your write-in ballot in the process of wadding it up and throwing it away.
laura:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
That IS embarrassing.
rea:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:29 pm
See Proposal 6 in Michigan.
Larry Lennhoff:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Of the 4 people in my household in 1980, 3 voted for Anderson and 1 for Commoner. I was the 1, because I thought he was trying to build a party and Anderson wasn’t.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:32 pm
I recently watched “Rock of Ages.” Pretty embarrassing!
Jon H:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:35 pm
I owned Genesis’ Invisible Touch on vinyl.
witless chum:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:43 pm
Perot in ’96, because I was annoyed at Clinton for fighting the drug war and lying about his own pot smoking.
That’s way more embarrassing than Nader in 2000, even in Michigan, because at least Nader was a crank who wasn’t going to win that I agreed with on every issue.
And more embarrassing than my fake school vote and enthusiastic campaigning for George Bush I, which was rational as it was predicated on the desire to see more cool fold out spreads of weapons systems in Time.
Colin:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:44 pm
My dad voted Reagan in ’84 for the same reason, and has the same bad taste in his mouth. My mom still gives him grief about it 28 years later.
Marc McKenzie:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Bill Clinton in 1992–I had become a naturalized citizen the year before.
I have no regrets about my vote. Clinton wasn’t perfect, but compared to his predecessor and successor, he’s miles ahead.
Malaclypse:
November 6th, 2012 at 12:49 pm
That was I
The big pink bunny ears were a bit of a clue…
zombie rotten mcdonald (hardly evil at all):
November 6th, 2012 at 12:53 pm
1972, I went strongly for Nixon. Of course, it was fifth grade.
Nader 2000. Safe blue state, I bought into Michael Moore’s logic of supporting third parties in safe states. Even if NADER wasn’t really supporting his own third party. Shit, he should have just gone the Lieberman route and established the America for Nader party with one member.
zombie rotten mcdonald (unashamed Knack fan):
November 6th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
Also, not only do I really like the first Knack album, the subsequent ones are worth looking for also if you like power pop.
zombie rotten mcdonald (unashamed Knack fan):
November 6th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
ME TOO.
It was so confusing and messed up that Somehow, I wound up voting for a black man, a gay woman, and a black woman.
HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN IN A CENTER-RIGHT COUNTRY??!?!?
burnt:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
What was wrong with Ventura?
There would be no light rail without him.
No public funding of stadium boondoggles
Held the line on gay rights
Held the line on abortion rights.
mark f:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Nader in 2000. Massachusetts, in my defense.
Worse: after the 1996 elections I told my mother I would’ve voted for Dole, had I been old enough, because he was “against welfare.” In retrospect it’s one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever said.
Brett Turner:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Bush I, in 1988. Thought he would govern as the moderate Republican he was in 1980. Boy, was I wrong.
Seeing Bush I pander to the right wing convinced me that liberal Republicans had been fuly cast out of the party. So I became a Democrat.
Landru:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
I owned Frampton Comes Alive on vinyl. And thought it was a good thing.
arthur:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I came of age to vote in time for the 1982 primaries. The only disputed race I recall was for State attorney general. I voted for the leftiest, hippiest, candidate, Joe Lieberman.
Landru:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I used to regularly vote for Connie Morella, partly because she was mostly not a Republican, and partly because she was my little brother’s English professor at the local community college, and it was a good way to tweak him without much social cost.
AuRevoirGopher:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:18 pm
“but it was Ohio” was probably the most delusional thing I’ve ever read from a 2000 Nader voter. That is,until I finished the sentence, where you managed to top even that. Seriously, I am gazing at this sentence with something approaching awe.
witless chum:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Compared to Whitesnake, those actually hold up pretty well.
Halloween Jack:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
FTFY. And I, too, threw a protest vote to Nader in ’96, and sometimes wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat at the thought that I helped encourage him.
Also, in something that occasionally still makes me cringe to think about it (and every time I watch Election, I made a big deal out of running for Student Council rep from my homeroom in junior high, came in second, made a big deal out of being the alternate, and then found out that the kids that were in it really didn’t even give a shit–they were the popular kids and it was just another way for them to get yet another picture in the yearbook.
Jonas:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:33 pm
Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have said stupidly, he didn’t have the almost unlimited supply of money that Obama does now so that he could flood the airwaves with ads.
But if it wasn’t for idiots like me, 2/3 of that margin could have made up by Nader voters, and you figure at least another 1% could have been produced by an actual campaign. Sigh.
PSP:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
My vote for Nixon was in the First Grade Easy Reader Election. Mom was not pleased. Later, she looked everywhere for a “Don’t blame me. I’m from Massachusetts” bumper sticker.
Eric:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
I drove to Iowa 7 times to canvas for him, including once in an ice storm. And I donated $500 to his campaign.
Jonas:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Seriously, the polls were so bad for Gore in Ohio that he gave up on it in September of 2000. No more campaign visits, no non-national ads. Not like ’04, ’08 or ’12 at all.
joel hanes:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
I voted for John Anderson in the primary.
somethingblue:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
My vote for Lowell Weicker in 1988 is the one I’m most proud of.
joel hanes:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
I bought Vanilla Fudge’s eponymous album, on which they tortured “Season of the Witch” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”
JazzBumpa:
November 6th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
My first chance to vote was in 1968, and to my everlasting chagrin cast my ballot fro Milhouse.
On a much brighter note, I never even owned a 8-track.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Nonsense. They’re barely noticeable.
sharculese:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Bringing up his vote for Nixon is the best way I know of to fluster my dad, if that counts.
Oregon Beer Snob:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Another Nader 2000 voter (in safely blue Oregon).
Even though it was safe I certainly didn’t feel good about it afterwards.
My first vote was for Dukakis in ’88 — and Oregon was one of a very few states he won.
Dr.KennethNoisewater:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
That is embarrassing. He wasn’t even on the ballot.
JazzBumpa:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
I also used to do stupid things in local elections like vote against all incumbents, vote only for women, or vote only for third party candidates.
It was fun in the same way that mooning nuns is fun.
Either I got more serious, or conditions got more dire. The Clinton impeachment, following Gingrich’s Contract on America woke me up.
As things stand now, I wouldn’t vote for a Rethug for drain commissioner.
Scott Lemieux:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Hey, I had Working Class Dog and whatever the follow-up was!
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:32 pm
But aside from their looks, Twisted Sister and to a lesser extent Quiet Riot, were pretty good heavy metal bands. I mean good heavy riffs, angry vocals. I was super-into TS as a kid. I was initially sold on the two big hits: We’re Not Gonna Take It, and I Wanna Rock but ended up owning all their albums. The vast majority of their material was light-years heavier and dare I say more substantive than the rest of the hair metal bands. They may have looked just as silly as Poison, Whitesnake, Great White, etc., but in their defense, Twisted Sister had songs like Under The Blade, Captain Howdy, Burn In Hell, SMF etc., rather than mostly singing about partying with girls. From a Metal perspective, I view Twisted Sister as belonging somewhere in the Judas Priest/Metallica rather than the Posion/Whitesnake end of the spectrum. Really the outfits, hair and two big hits are the only reason they get lumped into the greater Hair genre, imo.
Bill Altreuter:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Working Class Dog holds up.
Malaclypse:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:38 pm
I spent my college days working night shift in a cheap motel. Not infrequently, people would decide it was easier to pass out in the lobby rather than pay 23.95 for the room, and one of my jobs was to keep that from happening.
My solution was to keep a cassette tape of Ratt’s Out of the Cellar handy, and play it at loud volumes until the people left, whether for rooms or simply elsewhere.
Wido Incognitus:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
You also voted for a Koch brother for Vice President.
Bill Altreuter:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:41 pm
I voted for John Anderson, and I can’t remember why. It must have been meant as some sort of gesture.
Tom Hilton:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
Barry Commoner, 1980. I was 19, and Selective Service registration was the dealbreaker issue for me (I never did register, by the way).
advocatethis:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
I was going to say that my most embarrassing vote also was for Ed Clark in a 1980, but then when talking to a student about my first time, it dawned on me that I may have voted yes on Proposition 13 in 1978.
I am so sorry.
Randy:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:55 pm
I voted pretty much the same way in local elections and primaries if there was no serious contest. The guy with the funniest name was my pick. In a few elections, I wrote in the names of local pornography kingpins for Library Board.
Big Al:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Although I was too young to vote for Nixon, I did in 1981 write a Slate/TNR-worthy contrarian term paper for a high school sociology class that was quite sympathetic to Nixon. I seem to recall the thesis being that he was “misunderstood” Truly shameful, even at that time and at my tender age.
I have never voted for a republican in a national election, so at least I have that going for me.
advocatethis:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:09 pm
Oh, I voted for Edwards in the 2008 primary, mailing in my ballot just days before he dropped out.
Jackass.
advocatethis:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:13 pm
I was too young to ever vote for Nixon, but I remember I and another 4th grader made “Vote for Nixon” signs and paraded them around the polling place at our school.
actor212:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
Maybe you signed your best friend’s high school yearbook with Teddy R’s In the Arena speech, or bought the Knack’s first album on eight track, or married a charming sociopath with a drug problem, or ordered the invasion of a Middle Eastern country on the basis of a pack of transparent lies.
My editor promised that the proofs of my autobriography were secure!
Western Dave:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:21 pm
Did the same thing in 2004 in PA.
gorillagogo:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
I never expected such a spirited defense of Twisted Sister! I guess you could argue they weren’t as bad as some of the later 80s bands but I think the Priest/Metallica line is a step too far.
gorillagogo:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:42 pm
I’m convinced that Ratt never would have achieved the level of fame they did if Milton Berle hadn’t appeared in their first video.
(the other) davis:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Oh man, those were my favorite issues of Time when I was in middle school. (Somehow I had convinced my parents to get me my own subscription to Time and Newsweek.)
Mike Timonin:
November 6th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
I was too young to vote in that election, but in the next election I voted for the Marxist-Leninist candidate, on the grounds that he was the only one not talking about raising tuition rates.
Bitter Scribe:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
Rod Blagojevich. Twice.
What really makes me pissed at myself is that I’d met his second Republican opponent and liked her (wrote a newspaper profile of her when she was elected to the legislature). But I couldn’t bring myself to vote for her because I was afraid her much-vaunted “frugality” would translate to mean penny-pinching on Medicaid and other programs for the vulnerable.
Hey, Actor–how come you never hang around S,N! anymore?
DrDick:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
That makes two of us.
AuRevoirGopher:
November 6th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
I voted Blago not twice, but thrice, in the primary and both general elections.
Royko:
November 6th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
I voted for him 3 times: House once and governor twice. In the first one, I was a low-information voter, plain and simple. In the second one, I liked some of his rhetoric and was excited to have someone from my district moving up.
But yeah, by that second gubernatorial election, I should have known better, and like you, I just didn’t pull the lever for Topinka (who seemed decent) because I was afraid she’d cut too much.
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 6th, 2012 at 5:27 pm
My point is that musically they are far more like Judas Priest than they are like the really successful hair metal bands (Warrant, Great White, Poison, etc.) It’s the image: hair, makeup and couple of hit videos that I think gets them associated with the latter bands.
Uncle Ebeneezer:
November 6th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
What comes around goes around…
Jberardi:
November 6th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
I lost my electoral virginity to Nadir back in 2000. It was Massachusetts so it didn’t matter, but still…
gorillagogo:
November 6th, 2012 at 7:08 pm
I understand your point. I guess I will just always be more embarrassed by the early 80s bands because that’s what I was listening to in middle school. By the time Warrant and Poison hit the scene, I had moved on to the Misfits and Husker Du. At that point I was pointing and laughing at the hair metal guys.
M. Bouffant:
November 6th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Never voted for a Republican in my life. McGovern in ’72 onward, until this yr.; Orly Taitz for U.S. Senate (Just for fun!) & whoever’s running against Dianne Feinstein ’cause DiFi is no good.