# How Many of Us Will Totally Lose Our Shit Before Election Day? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2008, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896 "2008-08-05T08:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/1 "2008-08-05T08:16:15Z")
Just wondered that, reading about the “Brittany-Mandingo” ad, looking back on months and months of drivia like that, looking forward…August, God! September, oh, have _mercy!_…October, I confess, I confess!..getting to November will be like crawling over broken glass on your hand and knees for a mile and a half. And lets face it, some of us are just going to lose our shit. The strain is already showing on some of us, not mentioning any names, hell, even I’ve thrown a sharp elbow or two. No, really! Its much, much longer than twelve parsecs, its vast chasms of time, eons, geological time. Now, I lived through the Nixon administration, so I know that eternity is just a bit less than eight years, and it can be survived, with the majority of your marbles. Not all, of course, lets be honest. But if you’re young and psychoactive chemicals are freely available, it can be done. But the strain is already beginning to show on some of our more docile and civil Dopers, growing a bit…snappish. Its the strain. Waiting for the other shit to drop, waiting for one or both of them to totally screw the pooch. Obama re-enacting that scene from _Blazing Saddles_ (“Its twue! It’s twue!”) and saying “Hey, John, hear you gave your wife an antique organ for Xmas!” McCain confusing Iraq with Ipod. Obama dumping Michelle for Oprah. McCain dumping Nurse Ratchet for Oprah. This must be what Shrodinger’s cat felt like. Waiting. Waiting. Roughly, I guess this: if Obama takes a commanding early lead and doesn’t step on his dick, literally or figuratively, about five percent of the Board will go apeshit. If McCain takes commanding etc., maybe twelve percent (considering volatility vectors against stochastic apathy). Myself, I’m thinking I’ll make it to October before I gibber and greeb. Kitang! Kitang! How about you? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/2 "2008-08-05T08:24:26Z")
Being several thousand miles away does have its advantages. Pass the popcorn, will ya? ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/3 "2008-08-05T09:29:27Z")
Oh indeed, this is one of the most entertaining FUBARs I’ve seen in a long time. _Hands Quartz the popcorn and breaks out some icecream_ ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/4 "2008-08-05T11:49:40Z")
I have to join in with the overseas crowd on this. Despite being a US citizen, I am very thankful for the intervening ocean and encompassing cultural shield that allows me to sample only as much of the campaign as I want to experience. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/5 "2008-08-05T12:33:48Z")
What \*\*Sublight \*\* said, word for word (except that the fact that I have both an ocean and a continent - in either direction - between me and the States). Nice of \*\*Luci \*\* to start this thread when only us furriners (or semi-furriners) are awake. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/6 "2008-08-05T12:34:33Z")
All of you peanut gallery, over the pond folks can piss off! I’m going to have a heart attack in my 30’s and have to think happy, happy, thoughts until the light shines again on November 8th. What really chaps my ass is that everyone in the world is expecting us [the US] to continue to make idiotic decisions and vote McSame into the oval office. I really hope we can change up the fray a little and vote the young one in so we can have a chance to see what he can do…but I won’t be surprised if more of my American brethren vote Sparky Mick-Sparkerson into the white house instead of Obama. I hope they can for once prove me wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/7 "2008-08-05T12:54:54Z")
I have not tuned the politics out, but I’ve tuned it down significantly. If I lose my shit in the next three months, I’ll be damned if it’s over this. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/8 "2008-08-05T13:00:43Z")
I’m so, so glad we don’t have cable. Because I live in the mountains, we get no TV reception without it. I get campaign news from the Internet and the radio, and I’ve started turning off the radio when they get into the horse-race coverage. If I had to put up with political ads on TV, I don’t think I could bear it. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/9 "2008-08-05T13:07:58Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I have not tuned the politics out, but I’ve tuned it down significantly. If I lose my shit in the next three months, I’ll be damned if it’s over this. [/QUOTE] Here Here! ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/10 "2008-08-05T13:19:45Z")
I’m usually about one bad day away away from losing my shit as it is. I think I’ll keep it together until the returns start coming in on Election night. Anybody see that movie _Bowfinger_, where Eddie Murphy plays the unstable move star? He keeps muttering his mantra, “Keep It Together…K.I.T…Keep It Together”. That’ll be me. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/11 "2008-08-05T13:33:09Z")
Hell, kids, I have to COVER the damn thing. I can’t afford to lose my cool over an election but keeping my team together is going to take some work, I’ll tell you that! ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/12 "2008-08-05T13:34:28Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] I’m so, so glad we don’t have cable. [/QUOTE] Tell me about it–most of my exposure comes from the Dope. Yet, at the same time, this election is making me think something I never thought I would say–I wish I could vote. Oh well, maybe next time. ---
**Author:** ![nashiitashii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7c8e57/32.png) [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/13 "2008-08-05T13:35:39Z")
[QUOTE=burundi] I’m so, so glad we don’t have cable. Because I live in the mountains, we get no TV reception without it. I get campaign news from the Internet and the radio, and I’ve started turning off the radio when they get into the horse-race coverage. If I had to put up with political ads on TV, I don’t think I could bear it. [/QUOTE] I seem to live in an area where, if you don’t have cable, the politicians aren’t interested in you. I very rarely see any campaign ads on tv, and I haven’t seen much in the way of “on the street” political posters for the presidential election yet. The worst election coverage I get is the old people on the local PBS station kvetching about the “dirty campaign” ads that are going on that I’ve never seen. The most annoying thing I have on television is a regular stream of daytime ads aimed at people who don’t have jobs because they’re either injured (_and should sue!_ :rolleyes: ) or undereducated (_and should be spending their time in some unheard-of “university” that’s barely accredited_); this definitely beats out anything I have to “endure” when I watch tv with my antenna. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/14 "2008-08-05T13:37:04Z")
Here. This song always makes me think about the eternal nature of Man. It’s soothing. Really. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8LsJKaYwkg) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/15 "2008-08-05T13:44:27Z")
All my shit done been repossessed. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/16 "2008-08-05T13:49:29Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I have not tuned the politics out, but I’ve tuned it down significantly. If I lose my shit in the next three months, I’ll be damned if it’s over this. [/QUOTE] _jazz hands_ ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/17 "2008-08-05T13:51:43Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] Here. This song always makes me think about the eternal nature of Man. It’s soothing. Really. ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/r8LsJKaYwkg/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/r8LsJKaYwkg?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque [/QUOTE] THANK YOU ! I laughed a lot. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/18 "2008-08-05T14:09:45Z")
If I get one more e-mail forward about Obama’s plane or something like that, I will lose my shit. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/19 "2008-08-05T14:24:18Z")
I have yet to see a single TV ad for either candidate. Apparently the candidates aren’t interested in trying to secure the gay poker and MMA fan voting bloc. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896/20 "2008-08-05T14:26:56Z")
I’m pretty sure I won’t lose my shit before election day. The smell is pretty distinctive, for one thing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-of-us-will-totally-lose-our-shit-before-election-day/458896.md?page=2)