Well, it's a shallow and mean-spirited joke whose punchline is "these folks wanted change; I gave it to them." Because, of course, not all change is for the better. Nothing more than that to get. You'd have to dislike Obama to laugh at it.

Oh by the way... I apologize for all the spaces and stuff, but that was the way it was posted.

I PMed the guy and we had a fairly rational exchange back and forth. I just feel sorry for people who feel so.... wrapped up in this political stuff.

Listening to talk radio too much is bad for the soul, in my opinion. I don't understand the mindset of people who listen to that stuff all day, whether it's right wing stuff or Air America.

It's funny because then he gets in trouble for discrimination, and we all feel relieved that someone who said "I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack [sic] Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way" will hopefully be made to realize how totally nonsensical/linear that statement makes this story.

Sometimes people mis-identify politics with religion, or some other way of seeing the world, and what we get are essentially holy wars.

I'm seeing some "buck up" humor and jokes, but for the most part people on the right are settling down. I was glad to see Mike Huckabee saying "yes, he is my president" the other day.

It's the ones calling for the purges and the inquisitions that will eat stuff like this up.

I hear you on the talk radio. I almost had an aneurysm last night trying to listen to some guy talk so illogically it made my brain hurt. Usually I can laugh it off, but this fellow was dead serious about whether Minnesota's votes would be "counted fairly", meaning the Republican winning.

Hm. At 140 employees, that business is subject to anti-discrimination laws.

/hr wonk mode=off

And 140 employees and eight Obama stickers?

I would like to say that this imaginary factory must be in Utah or someplace, but it's probably just as accurate to hypothesize that the imaginary bossman is no stranger to stifling his employees' political expression.

"to compensate [for the destroyed nature of the economy] I'm going to double down at present staffing levels and give all of you a set of new directives. We're going to create new revenue streams by offering more fully integrated services to clients, adding value and ensuring loyalty. We're exploring partnership opportunities and stepping up our customer support and service standards. We're right for these times, and if we live by our values, we'll see success and be part of the solution set that turns this economy around.

"Or, I could fart around in the parking lot checking people's bumper stickers. Because that's much easier than actually doing a better job."

due to the dismal state of our economy,

Which has nothing to do with the Republican government that we've had for the last eight years??!! He's not even president yet and they're trying to blame things on Obama.

I almost had an aneurysm last night trying to listen to some guy talk so illogically it made my brain hurt. Usually I can laugh it off,

I used to be able to laugh it off, when I thought no one took people like that seriously. Then one day I heard people I had viewed as rational spewing the same lines and thinking to myself wtf??

And 140 employees and eight Obama stickers?

Actually, this could describe any red state. I live in Texas. Most people would never put an Obama sticker on their cars... not because of workplace discrimination, but because there are so many right wingers around, their circle of friends would undoubtedly include some and you just get tired of talking politics based on illogical propositions.

"to compensate [for the destroyed nature of the economy] I'm going to double down at present staffing levels and give all of you a set of new directives. We're going to create new revenue streams by offering more fully integrated services to clients, adding value and ensuring loyalty. We're exploring partnership opportunities and stepping up our customer support and service standards. We're right for these times, and if we live by our values, we'll see success and be part of the solution set that turns this economy around.

"Or, I could fart around in the parking lot checking people's bumper stickers. Because that's much easier than actually doing a better job."

Very good, Miko!

Which has nothing to do with the Republican government that we've had for the last eight years??!! He's not even president yet and they're trying to blame things on Obama.

That was my first response to the guy who posted the letter.

You might be right about that any-red-state thing, Doohickie.

I was going to say something, too, about how, often, whole industries lean in one political direction or the other.

What I find funny are the people still driving around with McCain-Palin stickers.

The Republican party has been hijacked by idiots. It's been a growing feature of them since Gingrich, and for sure through the W admin, but there does not seem to be room anymore for any rational discourse over there. It's really too bad. There have been some honorable Republicans. You just don't see much of them lately.

We're watching the death throes of Reaganite neoconservatism. Expect paroxysms of denial, shrill fear cast as humor, and lots of "la-la-la-la-la-i-cant-hear-you".

We WON.

We elected a competent, smart, TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY PRESIDENT.

The bitching from the right will only get worse.

But it will subside.

About the middle of Obama's second term.

"We WON..." I would really like to believe that is true.

I've given it some thought and I really do hope the republicans can take back their party from the aggressively ignorant.

slightly off-topic, but not really:

the day after obama was elected, i talked to my best friend from high school. she's always been a pretty conservative republican, which was fine before i went to college and became the biggest pinko-commie liberal you've ever met. anyway, my friend said the following:

1. "obama" sounds like an "un-american" name.
2. we are going to get bombed because he was elected.

i haven't talked to her (the bff) since, not because i don't love her, but because it's going to take me awhile to recover from that. then again, i live in a place she won't even visit because she's afraid of the crime. my neighborhood is the awesomest place ever, thank you very much. the celebrations here in bed stuy were unbelievable, and i would not have wanted to live anywhere else when our first black president was elected ... by a landslide.

Actually, this could describe any red state. I live in Texas. Most people would never put an Obama sticker on their cars... not because of workplace discrimination, but because there are so many right wingers around, their circle of friends would undoubtedly include some and you just get tired of talking politics based on illogical propositions.

Except in Austin. Everyone had/has Obama stickers except a few outliers*. Most non-Obama stickers were for Ron Paul. McCain had a tiny minority of the stickers. Of course, I drive outside of town in any direction and it was completely the opposite.

Getting back to the original story, I think a lot of the fear-mongering is standard fare for some on the right. Our taxes are all going to go up! He's going to take our guns away! And some of these people have defective humor genes and find these "revenge on the libs" stories funny (or like the one going around before the election that people shouldn't tip their servers in restaurants, but instead give the tip money to hobo on the street so the servers feel what it means to "spread the wealth around"). Had it been Hillary or any other candidate we'd here the same things coming from these people.

* of those that have bumper stickers on their car proclaiming their preference. Most people -- myself included -- do not use their automobile as a platform for political speech.

I used to be able to laugh it off, when I thought no one took people like that seriously. Then one day I heard people I had viewed as rational spewing the same lines and thinking to myself wtf??

Yeah, that's why I was getting pissed off. The host and caller were a happy little echo merry go round. No challenge to think, no way to let in another point of view.

Oh, and according to the host, the "Fairness Doctrine" is the "Unfairness Doctrine". The more you know..

What I find funny are the people still driving around with McCain-Palin stickers.

I kept my Kerry sticker on my car for several months. I sold that car in September 2005 and took the sticker off just before I sold it.

My parents, former Republicans (though before Bush), over 70, voted for Obama, but I'm 100% positive without asking that they never sported an Obama sign or sticker, and probably danced and sidestepped around any political conversation with neighbors/friends/family, except for me (they are pretty much from the don't-talk-about-politics-or-religion wisdom). It's quite possible that I'm the only one they discussed the election with, because they live in an extremely ruddy state (realize that when I lived there we had a bumper sticker campaign that actually said, "Vote for the Crook; It's Important!" to try to keep a former KKK Grand Wizard from being elected governor, going all out to support the totally corrupt and vile opponent as the best choice under the circumstances)... and most of our relatives live in even redder states. My parents would never participate in a phone poll, or exit poll, I'm sure.

I bet there were quite a few people like my parents, silent and nearly invisible, from a somewhat unexpected group, and they sort of balance this kind of thing.

The advice columm at Slate.com answered a similar question today:

Dear Prudence,
In the weeks following the presidential election, my e-mail inbox has turned toxic with virulently nasty e-mails about our new president-elect. The messages are harshly worded, patently untrue rants. I read and delete. The problem is, I work as a small-time entertainer, hosting events all over the country. My politics, which I keep to myself, are very liberal. I do not host political events of any kind because my business depends on as many bookings as I can manage, especially in these hard times. I don't want to shut off potential customers because of perceived leanings. Lots of customers and their friends have my e-mail, and because they have taken my political silence to mean I must support their extreme views, I'm getting these truly distasteful diatribes. What should I do? This is making me ill again about my country.

—For Obama

Dear For,
Don't feel ill about your country—your guy won! It may be distasteful and ridiculous that you're still getting invective-filled rants and lies about Barack Obama, but you can chuckle to yourself as you hit delete, because they lost and your guy won! Aside from the e-mails, you say that when you get together with these correspondents, you are providing entertainment for social occasions, so it should be easy to put their political views out of your mind. If politics does come up, make some noncommittal sounds and happily think to yourself: My guy won! And, surely, given the economic statistics, you will ultimately be doing more for the fortunes of President-elect Obama to be a quiet, employed supporter than a vocal, unemployed one.

—Prudie

I think the solution is to put Obama bumper stickers on all the cars of the executive board. Just sayin.

This would be have been hilarious if it had been about George Bush and it'd been published 4 years ago. Truly hilarious to read something showing that right wing zealots were to blame for their own problems.

As it is, it doesn't make sense, and it's plain mean. I mean, Obama is a good man. Why would you even send this email?

I'm almost equally "flummoxed" by the people I saw campaigning angrily and vociferously for McCain/Palin who then, the next day, calmly said to others "That was just campaigning; the election's over, Obama's the new President, and I support him." What's disturbing is to realize how much of an 'anything goes' mentality reigned during the campaign - if it stuck to the wall, they were running with it, no matter how ridiculous. The dawning of calmness and reason on Nov. 5 is, certainly, a good thing, but isn't it scary how, if those tactics had been effective enough, no regret would need to be expressed? It would just be "We won, suck it," kind of like it was with Bush in 2004.

That's such disossication - "that wasn't me, it was my campaign personality." I find it distasteful on either side - it IS possible to have a debate on reasonable terms without resorting to irrational extremes and angry, baseless caricature. Being able to switch the angry on and off so easily is part of the problem, politics as performance.

My Dad got a Mac, anything is possible in this new administration.

Miko -- I have the same feeling as you do. I can't both feverently wish/agitate for a new administration and resign myself to the same old same old and I get a little freaked out by the "aw, it's just campaigning" people. While I'm happy that Obama made a big deal out of how he's everyone's president now, which I thought was gracious, I still hear the mean things that people who were aggressive McCain/Palin supporters were saying about "my people". Also, how can you tell who had the "it's just campaigning" mentality and who didn't, absent talking to each and every one? You can't. It's spooky.

That said, not being able to sort of deal with this was one of the reasons that I wasn't more in the tank for Obama, because I also felt like I had to prepare that I might be stuck with McCain.

Doohickie, I find that joke you posted really scary in that regard. It's so full of spite and retributive hate.

i haven't talked to her (the bff) since, not because i don't love her, but because it's going to take me awhile to recover from that.

I had the same experience with my friend who insists that Obama's election was "racist" and he was only elected because so many black people voted for him just because he's black. It's hard to hear someone you love spout such utter crap.

Those Bush assassination t-shirts are so calm and reasonable, nothing over the top there.

So, get this my Liberal friends, not everybody is going to line up behind the Democratic party. That's a good thing. The falisy of unity is that it is just totalitarianism with a pretty bow.

We have a split country on everything. We need to be divided internally so that there is a competition of ideas. I disagree with most of the Democrat positions and, frankly, find the Republicans trying to be Demo-Lite and that's not for me, either.

But I recognize that it is essential for a healthy country that we have these disputes and that ideas fight for their share of the electoral marketplace.

I'd much rather have the philosophies duke it out than the present DC corruption on both side. Once people let Congress buy their votes with their own money we, as a country, are doomed.

Heh, sorry for the typos.

it is just totalitarianism with a pretty bow.

I take it you're posting this from an Obama re-education camp (or if you backed Palin, an education camp?)