It Ain't Over till the Fat Lady Sings...

KEEP ON KEEPING ON - The End Is Near

The full ramification of today's amazing Measure C developments are still to be determined. but there can be no question that the sweet scent of victory in the air, and it will come if we stay committed to defeating Measure C.

If C passes, I don't think there are any among us who believe for a second that the special interests behind the Yes campaign still won't snatch the Leveroni site if their desparate, cobbled-together-last-minute Hail Mary site plan falls through. And of course, there is still NO indication it will be successful, or that 66.7% of the voters will approve the deal.

The YesMen are simply hoping that this 'gesture' -- which is all it is at the moment -- is something no one will oppose. While they may be right, I see in their proposal all the Good Ol' Boy arrogance of "father knows best" that got them in this mess in the first place. They just don't get it, and maybe they never will.

As for tonight's little "announcement." --- Bill, Ned and I tempered our remarks tonight to allow the scenario to bleed out in all its awkwardness, and to stay focused on defeating C. There is an old Latin agricultural _expression that, loosely translated, says "You can't shine a turd," and I think we saw an example of it tonight in the Paige-Mazza duet trying to explain, "Gee, look what we found in the last 48 hours to fix all our problems for everybody!". The incredible thing is that I think they actually believed what they were saying, and believed that we believed it.

The board's face-saving proposal -- a yet-to-be-finalized-maybe-deal involving four property owners and a reluctant Moose Hall -- is a grasping at straws and not the sort of "hospital Fairy" (to quote Steve Paige) that would cause any sanely run campaign to suddenly be called off in mid-voting if it did not know it was already in a death-spiral.

I hope we can get a satisfactory site but with the Five Stooges & Friends running the show, every day is another surprise. The three of us let them spin it, out of politeness and in the interest of future community harmony (and on the belief that we should be "magnanimous in victory"). But we all know tonight was -- at best - nothing but a face-saving exercise by people who have ruthlessly savaged this community for months without shame and without remorse and who are now facing the specter of embarassing personal and political consequences, not to mention heavy credibility deficits.

At worst, it is a cheap campaign trick (they still haven't fired Tramutola) . The same people who tonight would have you believe that stones would melt in their mouth STILL refused to disavow OR EVEN APOLOGIZE for their shameful "Close and Die" campaign, or their still-active designs on the Leveroni property. Or for causing the unnecesary expenditure of tens of thousands of dollars in public and personal money (and campaign donations) spent on both sides in this senseless and ill-conceived farce.

Imagine how you would feel tonight if you were a "Yes" loyalist or hospital employee who had donated time and money and reputation -- maybe even sacrificed friendships -- to a campaign so delusional that it folded in mid-vote??? When was the last time any political campaign folded during the balloting???] Of course. they say their gesture is in good faith and not a campaign trick. But these are the same people who have spent the last three months lying, intimidating the sick and elderly and hospital employees and publicly calling us and our friends ignorant, amateurs and political opportunists. And in the press, too. Let us not ever forget Charmin' Billy.

Now they want Kumbaya, because Kumbaya is all they have left. They now realize -- thanks to the dedicated, passionate and relentless effort of everyone who is No On C -- that this disparaged, disrespected, much-abused, rag-tag hodge-podge bunch of politically diverse ignorant amateurs are kicking their asses good, and it will take a lot of lipstick to pretty up that pig.

I will be the first to say that the community needs to come together, but part of that "healing process" is for those who have ripped the community to shreds to acknowledge what they have done and to publicly apologize for it. Until they do, and until Joe, Pat and Bee's property is fully out from under the hammer of eminent domain, I for one am not singing kumbaya.

If they apologize, I can forgive them all. But I will not forget what they did, and I will never forget what WE have done -- together. Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Blues, Reds, men, women, children, Dogs, saints and sinners -- ignorant amateurs all -- against Big Money Deep Pocket Fat Cats and their vaunted "political consultant" with the 95% success political track record. If we can see Measure C's defeat through to the end of the balloting, that record will have just taken a BIG hit. So say it over and over till you fall asleep: We are kicking their asses good...we are kickng their asses good... we are kicking ....ZZZZZZZZZZZZ.