Got helped by a Republican today - PLEASE MOVE TO GD, POSTED 2 WRONG FORUM

[shawn703]

I had a flat tire on the way home from work today, and a guy stopped to offer assistance. I had bought my car used and was unaware I did not have the tires were locked and that I did not have the tool to remove the lug nuts. He gave me a ride to the nearest dealer, and when we found out they didn't have the tools available for sale there, took me back to my car where I got a tow back to the dealer from a Democrat and was allowed to vent a bit.

I found out he was on the wrong side of politics when I saw he had some post-digging equipment in his pickup bed and some signs behind his front seat (which I couldn't see enough of to read). I found out he was putting up signs for Brad Jewitt who is running against Steny Hoyer in Maryland's 5th District. I know many of you will probably be upset that I didn't identify myself to him as a liberal Democrat who hates Bush, but I didn't find out his politics until I was already on the road. Also, I appreciated his help, I really needed to get home, and if he was a freeper, who knows what would have happened to me if I got into it with him.

Here's some of the things I had to listen to (warning, don't read if you've just eaten something)

1. He's a member of the Marine Corps Special Forces, some kind of officer - says he is planning on volunteering to go back to the Middle East around Christmas. I asked him if his family would be happy with that decision, he said probably not, but he didn't think a Democrat would dare attack someone with his military background who actually volunteered to go to war during Christmas when he runs for state office in the future. (Doesn't this sound similar to something Kerry was accused of doing in Vietnam? Hypocrite.)

2. Said his motto is to Vote Republican and Vote Often - actually went further to say he had three aliases for that purpose. I couldn't tell if he was joking about that one.

3. Said that what happened to the Congressional Districts in Texas is that they ungerrymandered them. WTF?!

4. Said only 1 in 5 of the Religious Right came out to vote in 2000, and they were going to come out en masse this year, and Bush would win in a landslide.

5. California would have easily have been a Republican state now if it weren't for Pete Wilson.

6. Said the Democrats tried to steal the election in 2000 and he knew they would try to do it again this year.


Anyway, I held my tongue, thanked him for his help, and let him go on his way. Just thought I'd share with you some of the propaganda I was exposed to today.

[mhr]

1. It's A Pity To Waste A Healthy Body With A Shallow Mind!

EOM

[Crunchy Frog]

2. This is an interesting story, but not LBN.

Please ask the moderators to move it to a different forum.

[Andy_Stephenson]

3. Ok first I gotta say I am glad you kept quiet.

Secondly...

"Said his motto is to Vote Republican and Vote Often - actually went further to say he had three aliases for that purpose."

then says

"Democrats tried to steal the election in 2000 and he knew they would try to do it again this year."


Logic escapes people sometimes.

:eyes:

[shockingelk]

4. I would have at least asked this.

I would have been curious is he was more of an Ann Coulter type of guy or if he thought that Tucker Carlson fella was rather cute.

[HawkerHurricane]

5. This doesn't fit

"1. He's a member of the Marine Corps Special Forces, some kind of officer - "

The Marine Corps doesn't have 'Special Forces'. The Marines sometimes call 'Force Recon' thier 'Special Forces', but no member of Marine Force Recon would call himself that.

2, 3, and 4 are common Repub myths/attitudes. They believe thier own propaganda.

5. Pete Wilson's mistake was that he thought there were more rascists than Democrats in California. Wrong again.

6. That's how they justify thier cheating, by claiming the Democrats 'cheated first'. Lies, Madness and Lies.

[shawn703]

6. I'm not sure

He may have said Special Forces because I'm a civilian and probably thought I wouldn't have been as impressed if he said Force Recon instead. He did say he handled the laser sight thing that is used for lighting up targets for attacks that are called in. He also claimed to have been a part of the team that took out the people responsible for the Bali night club bombing.

[HawkerHurricane]

12. Ah, my personal favorite...

"claimed to have been a part of the team that took out the people responsible for the Bali night club bombing"

an unverifiable claim of participation in a event designed to impress you. But, as a member of the CIA involved in that op, I can tell you no Marines were involved, we used Delta Force. OK, I'm joking. A person actually involved in such an op wouldn't mention it, though, not if he didn't want a terrorist revenge strike on his family. And I, personally, don't remember any such bombing.

Guy shows every sign of being a wannabe.

[Carolab]

7. I would have

thanked him for his help and then I would have offered to help him by providing him with a point-by-point introduction to the facts disputing his ill-informed claims. Maybe you were frightened of him? Happens.

[shawn703]

11. Probably was a bit scared

I also didn't think someone that far gone would have seen the light anyway.

[Gaffey Duck]

8. Open your eyes, Time to wake up...

Enough is enough is enough is enough.

[crickets]

9. Don't be fooled,

they're still wearing jackboots!

Welcome to DU, Gaffey Duck. :toast:

[anarchy1999]

10. Had to have been an unpleasant evening, but I'm very glad you bit your

tongue. Good job. I am truly beginning the best thing we can all do is to stay silent and not confront the Repubs between now and election day. Just call it a stealth campaign, you know come from behind. This is going to be so much fun. Temper/ maybe

[mr_du04]

13. Do you have a DU sticker or some kind of Dem sticker on your car?

If you do he could have just been having some fun with an "evil DUer" :). If not then he is a nutcase but, it was nice of him to help you out so it was probably a good idea that you didn't come out. We tend to forget sometimes on this board that even freepers are human.

[Carson]

14. I agree.

Freepers are still human beings. If I saw someone on the side of the road needing assistance, and noticed a "W" sign on the vehicle, I can honestly say it wouldn't effect my decision to help him/her.

I think the OP did the right thing. Why bring up politics in this situation? Thank him and be on your way.

[mr_du04]

16. And you never know

maybe the driver is a good dem and is borrowing a friend's or parents or spouses car who supports W or some sick bastard stuck it on their car without them knowing. :)

[Rochambeau]

15. With a Dem sticker on the rear bumper of your car he would have

certainly not stop to help you. You said it, he was "at work" for his candidate when he stopped to help you. In fact he wasn't helping you really, he was working. Glad for you, you met today a republican propagandist agent at work, and you were his target.

[mr_du04]

17. Never look a gift horse in the mouth

If I had a flat and Donald Rumsfeld came and changed my tire for me I still wouldn't vote for chimpy but, I would thank him kindly as I went on my way.

[drumwolf]

18. Talking point #5 isn't completely ludicrous, IMO.

California was once indeed a solidly right-wing bastion. Remember, this is the state that gave us Nixon and Reagan.

Gov. Wilson's xenophobic, illegal-immigrant-bashing policies paid short-term dividends. They resonated with a lot of the white wingnut population of the state and helped get him re-elected. But they also brought a lot of the state's Latinos out of the woodwork and into the arms of the Democrats, which is one of the prime reasons why the state went Democratic as fast as it did.

And as a resident of that state, I can vouch that there is still a strong wingnut element here even today. Living in San Francisco proper, I'm spoiled and don't have to suffer the presence of too many of these Neanderthals, but even the outskirts of the Bay Area have more than their fair share of freepers.

[calimary]

19. I can attest to point number 5. He's full of shit.

California is NOT going republi-CON ANY TIME SOON. Wouldn't have, under Pete Wilson, either. Pete Wilson was a weenie. NOBODY would have made any difference. Hell, we've had Howard Jarvis and Ronald Reagan out here, and it STILL hasn't moved California into the conservative's camp. Didn't happen then. Won't happen now. OR anytime soon.

Only thing that concerns me is point number 4 about the religious whackos. That could be a problem. Hopefully we'll have enough young people, draft-vulnerable people, and new voters to counter-act that.

By the way, don't know that you could have made any difference with a mentality like this. Some of these knuckle-draggers are just simply hopeless and unredeemable. If you're at all unsure, better to save your evangelism for places where you might actually be able to reach someone. This guy sounds WAY too far gone.