A Racist, Homophobic, Anti-Choice, Corporate Fatcat Democrat?

[GiovanniC]

I was at a bonfire/party a few weeks ago as a guest of someone I don't know all that well. I had learned recently that this person was a Republican, so I was kind of wary about discussing politics around her.

The crowd at the party wasn't exactly what I expected. There was quite a bit of racial and ethnic diversity in an area that really isn't all that racially or ethnically diverse. I was fairly impressed.

Then, one of the guests came up to my host and asked her if she would be at a river clean-up project they are having. She said that she'd be there, and remarked to me that protecting the environment and particularly the river was very important to her.

Talking about her family, she revealed that her mother is a teacher in a small rural community. She also at one point mentioned that things like "No Child Left Behind" were really screwing over her mom, and wished that more teachers with experience in public education would run for office.

Later, when a topic somehow turned to abortion and Planned Parenthood, most of the people at this gathering were pro-choice... including my host. Obviously, by this time, I'm quite puzzled.

She turns to introduce me to four of her best friends. I turn around and standing in front of me is a guy wearing a tight t-shirt saying, "Sorry chicks, I suck dick" in large letters on the front (quite clever, I thought). She introduced me to the other three guys, and said they are collectively called the "Queer Quad".

I am puzzled, of course, and ask her about it. She says that she's friends with these guys and that knowing them has made her a supporter of gay marriage. She says that government should just stay out of it, which I agree with.

I ask if I had been misinformed... was she REALLY a Republican?

Her answer: "Yes, I'm a Republican. Every election I've ever voted in, I vote straight-ticket Republican."

Now, to me, that makes as much sense as the hypothetical guy in the subject line.

I have talked to her a couple of times about this, or attempted to. She usually just shuts me down and says that she doesn't want to talk about politics. On the occasions where she will talk about politics, she is criticizing people like Michael Moore or John Kerry - but only with non-policy, ad hominem attacks (that are obviously talking points she heard somewhere else).

How do you convince a person like this to vote in their own interests? Or are they a lost cause?

[amber dog democrat]

1. Zell Miller?

that was my first guess. did i win?

[GiovanniC]

5. I Hadn't Thought of That

I guess they have their mutants, and we have ours.

[molly]

2. Some of my DEM friends were raised in pug families

they had the good sense to be "disloyal" to their roots. Others were raised in pug families and have some sort of undying promise to remain "loyal" even tho their beliefs are obviously DEM. What they do not understand is that the pug party is not their forefathers' pug party.

[GiovanniC]

4. I Think That Might Be Part of It

I believe her family is fairly Republican. I'm not for certain though.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

10. Raised in a Republican Family

and my four siblings and I are all Democrats and Greens. My Dad is gone now, but I like to think that he would have been smart enough to know that these current Republicans are not cut from the same cloth as those he supported in the past. For cripes sake, I can find some good (at least common sense) in Richard Nixon and Barry Goldwater. Bush and Cheney? Please.

[amber dog democrat]

3. Now that I read your remarks....

This is interesting....My take is that she will need to come around on her own.
But you can still stay friends.

[GOPisEvil]

6. If you're willing to take the time...

...point out issue by issue where her views align with the Republican platform and the Democratic platform. Use the actual planks to compare and contrast.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. self-interest or knee jerk...

one or the other. Either she's so wedded to the idea that Democrats are coming to take all her money away, or she just can't turn off the portions of FOX News and AM Hate Radio that she's internalized.

Take a different tack: Point out that GW Bush isn't a "real" conservative, that he's spending "her" money willy-nilly, running the deficit through the roof, etc. etc. If it's the war and national security she's got the proverbial hard-on about, point out that Bush's policies are making us less safe, not more. Point out that, while Bush plays army dress-up, Kerry has lived it- and, like it or not, he earned the right to protest vietnam by putting his life on the line over there, repeatedly. And Bush has done nothing but screw over the average, underpaid serviceperson. Unfortunately, she probably wouldn't go see F911 (not with blathering about "michael moore") because that movie does an excellent job of showing how "the troops" don't support Bush, because they know how bad he's screwing them. Point out that someone like Joe Biden is a Democrat, and he's no dove on national security issues.. She still may have some kind of knee-jerk aversion to voting for a democrat that is impossible to overcome (Hell, if someone I really respect- like, say, the Dalai Lama- ran as a Republican, I probably still wouldn't be able to bring myself to punch the ticket, when push came to shove) but you may still be able to wave her off of voting for Bush. Point out that Bush's appointees, from Ashcroft to W. David Hager, are not only committed to criminalizing abortion, but also to criminalizing birth control as well. Point out that environmental protection under Bush is a joke, as witnessed by the treatment of Christie Todd Whitman. Point out all these things. Maybe she'll vote for someone else besides Bush, or stay home, if she still can't vote for Kerry.

[Branjor]

8. Are you on the east coast?

A lot traditionally repub east coasters are socially liberal. She needs to see that the repub party of today is nothing like that of yesteryear.

[fudge stripe cookays]

9. Find a copy of your state's

Republican and Democrat platforms (google should do the trick). Print them out, then give her copies of each to compare and contrast, and have her put an X next to the ones she supports.

Have her count the X's. Then see which platform wins.