Posted on 10/19/2004 10:39:59 AM PDT by crushkerry
Kerry Crushers will recall that my wife (who gave birth to the cutest baby of all time, by the way) was duly impressed by our dear president’s performance in the second debate and is generally very fond of him. Well, I thought we had her. But as it turns out, she is still one of those pesky few undecided voters left out there in America. To make matters more complicated for her, she has a rightwing, Bush lover for a husband and a leftwing Bush hater for a mother, both working over time to win her vote.
So a couple of days ago we sat down at the computer and she took a test on presidentmatch.com to determine which presidential candidate she agrees with the most. Sadly, she came up with a 53% Kerry match and only a 47% Bush match. (I’m suspicious about the scoring, though. She named “social issues” as her most determinative factor in the voting both, and on those social issues she is even further right than the president himself.)
The other day I caught my mother-in-law e-mailing all manner of leftwing propaganda to her, in a cynical attempt to poison her mind. So I have begun to foist stacks of articles on her to read as well. I’m actually quite proud of her for putting so much work into making the right decision.
But it’s the little things that will win her over I think. Turns out she was strolling through beautiful downtown Annapolis one day with a friend of a friend. The city streets were filled with hideous leftist gasbags decked out in full Kerry-Edwards regalia, as there was an overactive Democrat booth nearby handing out stickers and signs, etc.
“Ugh. I can’t stand John Kerry,” my wife's companion said. And that opened up the floodgates. These two women who, as I stated before, were really only getting to know each other, bonded immediately at John Kerry’s expense.
Later, my wife had a long phone chat with her mentor, a fellow child therapist, during which the 2004 election came up. This woman, too, opened up a can of whoop-tushie on America’s Most Liberal Senator. Surely, if these two reasonable, professional-class, intelligent women find Kerry as repugnant and Bush as endearing as my wife does, then her decision cannot be far away.
Follow up Ping.
Keep up the good work. As a woman, I've got faith in your wife's reasoning power that she'll make the right decision and join the rest of the sisterhood in: Women for Da Bushman!
I encourage you to focus on saving your relationship because getting your wife to truly change her mind is like trying to herd cats. :)
FWIW, my girlfriend (who leans left--especially on social issues) is voting for GW & I didn't bug her nearly as much as her daughter did...
Follow Up Ping to all of you who enjoyed and responded to the original FR post on this topic.
Good news (or at least no bad news) bump.
I got 77% Bush, 15% Kerry.
Simple choice, vote Kerry, you go live with mama! Vote Bush, we live happily ever after...:) Said in jest of course.
My wife, who has only been in the U.S. for 3+ years, is from England, and arrived here quite Liberal in her thinking. She knew that I was a rabid Republican, but she wasn't interested in politics enough to care.
I made a concious decision to not try to sway her mind, and just see where she went. I answered any questions she asked as honestly as I could, and let her make up her own mind.
The good news is that she is almost as conservative as I am. She is a fireball when it comes to supporting Bush, and is sickened by the thought of sKerry as President.
That way she won’t make silly decisions at election time and it’ll be one less thing to cause friction.
OTOH, you’ll have to let her take care of something (or someTHINGS) in return and without complaint. All in all it works pretty well.
I was 82% Bush. As usual, some of the questions were phrased in such a way that I had a hard time knowing if I was strongly in favor, or strongly opposed.
how did the change happen? Rush? You?
Got a whiff of an anti-Bush lunatic?
Thanks for the smile. I generally agree with the wisdom in everything you've said.
However, there is one issue on which we will never agree, I'm afraid. My own daughter happens to own the title of "cutest baby ever!"
Going up against a mother in law, ah, that is a fight rarely won....but we are all cheering you on!
Somethings to consider:
It was a Democrat President and congress who got us into World War I;
It was a Democrat President and congress who got us into World War II;
It was a Democrat President and congress who got us into Korea;
It was a Democrat President and congress who got us into and kept us in Vietnam for 12 years;
It was a Democrat who became the only leader in the world, in all of history, to drop TWO weapons of mass destruction; nuclear bombs, on innocent civilians in two major cities in Japan---not on military targets.
It was a Democrat who allowed 66 employees of our United States Embassy in Iran to become hostages for 444 days, because he did not want to "offend" the inflamed Iranians by heeding military advice and beefing up security, during the Iranian revolution. This Democrat's ill planned rescue plan was aborted at the last minute, causing the 2 helicopters to crash and killing the 8 military personel involved--whose bodies were drug through the streets of Tehran. The Democrat response was to apply "economic" and "diplomatic" pressure on Iran. This Democrat also caused interest rates to soar to 20 percent and inflation to 18 percent!
It was a Democrat who sent retaliatory cruise missles around Iraq and Afghanistan with no plan, just killing poor, innocent civilians....this democrat who left our boys hanging in the streets of Somalia, where 18 died and were drug through the streets; this democrat refused to send air support, and ultimately gave aid and transportation to the Somali warlord, Farah Aideed, who the Democrat had ordered the boys to CAPTURE! The guy 44 American troops actully died to capture, the Democrat ordered to ride in a U.S. military transport plane to safety! .. It was this democrat who set this whole terror situation up, by doing nothing with Bin Laden after the 1st WTC Bombing (1993), Somalia (1993), The Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia (1997), the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya, The U.S. Embassy in Tanzania (1998), and The Cole bombing (2002)! When offered Bin Laden THREE TIMES, by Saudi Arabia, this Democrat refused to take him! This Democrat taught the terrorists that we lob in a few missles, pick up and leave them alone, if they attack us...so, they attack more and more. Osama Bin Laden actually pronounced that Somalia was a turning point for him and his organisation: "It cleared from Muslim minds the myth of superpowers," Osama bin Laden said of Somalia in his interview with ABC News journalist John Miller in May 1998. "The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat.". This Democrat also made a huge blunder by sending troops into Haiti to set up the despot Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
There were SEVEN terror attacks on Americans during this last Democratic administration. Count them folks. Including the Oklahoma City bombing, the last democratic administration allowed 7 terror attacks to happen! The last democratic President did NOTHING to beef up security and prevent further terror attacks. No policy changes or intelligence changes.
During the last Democrat administration we also had; The Waco debacle; The Ruby ridge mess; and the Elian Gonzolos tragedy. Remember a Democrat president appoints all new department heads, just like the ones who made these monumental mistakes.
A REPUBLICAN put an end to slavery.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 would never have passed without A REPUBLICAN (Everett M. Dirksen ) and REPUBLICAN Senators who voted to end a DEMOCRATIC filibuster on the bill! More Republicans than Democrats voted to pass the legislation.
It was a Republican who got us out of Vietnam--and banned the use of Nerve gas in warfare.
While a Republican was sworn into office our Iranian hostages were released. A Republican who made peace with Russia, and ended the cold war. A Republican who reduced the inflation rate from 12% down to a low of 1.10%
It was a Republican congress elected for the first time in 40 years, in 1994 who balanced our national budget--and reformed welfare. The economy soared.
And now we have a Republican President who decided to stop playing games and put a stop to terrorist acts around the world. A Republican who got rid of these evil dictators during his 3 year administration: The Taliban, Saddam Hussein, Charles Taylor and Jean-Bertrand Aristide (Put in office by the last two former democratic Presidents) This Republican got Libya to give up their Nuclear weapons, and North Korea to accept inspectors. Thousands of terrorists have been captured, hundreds of terror plots foiled.
We had ONE terror attack during this Republican administration. Changes were made, and security beefed up. A "Homeland Security" department was created; the intelligence community reshaped and reformed; and a huge increase given to security agencies. Interest rates are around 4% and inflation is at 2.29%.
And you are going to vote Democrat?
A little Rush, occasionally Boortz, and I'm sure I had some influence. It helps that the only news we ever watch is Fox.
Undecided voter = ultimate flip-flopper
I can imagine Thanksgiving at your house this year will be something equivalent to trench warefare !!!!
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