My Republican Parents & Right Wing Sister now FOR KERRY!!

[ciaobox]

You have no idea how BIG this is. I grew up in politics in a right-wing family in DC. I have been fighting with them for 25 years about politics. On 9/12 my dad specifically called me to tell me to "keep your mouth shut. Bush is consilidating power and we don't know what is going to happen to speech". After 9/11, I was not allowed to speak about politics for two years with anyone in my family. They were HARDCORE Bush.

Well, over the past 12 months they have slowly started ebbing away from Bush. They are very concerned about the courts and now believe a one party system is very bad news for Democracy. They travel to Europe a lot and really don't like the feeling they get.

After the final debate, my mom called me and quietly said both she and my dad are now supporting Kerry. In fact, many of their friends - some of whom have PERSONAL relationships with the Rummies and Cheneys have (very quietly) confirmed the same thing. Most of these people live in Maryland and Northern Virginia.

The big shocker is my sister. She is not a neocon but an old school right-winger. God guns and gays all the way. She was so disgusted by Bush's performance in the debates that she is now reluctantly supporting Kerry and has already cast her absentee in Virginia. This is a girl who calls Kerry an "Unofficial Kennedy. I can't believe I am voting for a Kennedy -- but I am".

You people have NO idea how huge this is. Even if my logic is simplistic, I have to say that if MY friggin' Washington-insider lifelong stars n' stripes Republican loyalist family has officially broken for Kerry, then these polls are a bunch of BS. Keep in mind, a lot of Republicans are quiet about their feelings. They are not going to answer pollsters accurately because they do not want their Republican friends knowing that they are breaking long-held loyalties. Many of their businesses and personal relationships depend on Republican connections. This is true whether your a small-town member of a Chamber of Commerce or if your an inside-the-beltway power broker.

The point of my rant is I see a lot of understandable hand-wringing on here with regards to polls and dirty tricks. You people need to have faith that we are going to win this thing. We need to project a unified front of confidence that Kerry is going to win hands down and we are going to make that happen. Wasting your energy worrying about rigged polls and Ge-MSRNC reports is exactly what the right wants. Just keep phone-banking and networking over the next 10 days and GREAT things will happen.

Much Luv from Hollyweird

[lilymidnite]

1. Congratulations

... and thanks for the hard work helping to bring them around.

[trespam]

8. My parents as well

My parents are long term Republicans, though they did vote for Clinton first term (they both were sick of George Bush Sr). They sent in their ballots last week: two votes for Kerry. My father, a card carrying NRA member and former marine, thought it was time for a change. My mother told me his hand wavered over the Kerry box, saying "I can't believe I'm voting for another Democrat".

All progressives must talk with those around them to convince them that this is the right thing to do. We will win. Keep up the work.

Truth and morality will prevail.

[progressivebydesign]

2. Very cool! I think A LOT of republicans are silently voting for Kerry.

No one knows what goes on in that voting both.. and it's when the REAL decisions are made. An incumbent would normally have an edge in those uncertain times, but Bush is runinng like a challenger.

I think it's awesome that your family is supporting Kerry. You must be floored, and proud! :)

[UrbScotty]

3. Thank you!

This is great news!

Keep up the good work!

[Ilsa]

4. This is great news.

I think alot of Republicans are closet Kerry supporters now. They just don't want to be "outed" where they'll have to put up with the ugly name-calling.

[opstachuck]

22. my father won't tell my stepmom that he's voting for kerry...

i felt like he was confessing a sin to me when he said he was going to vote for kerry. i was so happy and shocked at the same time

[dave123williams]

5. Yep; I'm from DC, too. Our family is swaying Left as well...

We've got high-level government people, Naval officers, etc. A strong Libertarian streak.

Many of the family are MORTIFIED by these guys, and their obvious post 9/11 power grab. The shredding of the Constitution is of particular concern; torture, secret detentions, unbridled DOJ activities, the Patriot Act...defecit financing a war, while giving away HUGE tax-breaks to people who don't really need it...you name it.

A lot of Republicans are getting ready to hold their noses and vote Kerry, just because the idea of four more years of these lunatics is unconscionable.

[harrison]

6. Hell, just tell them that they are being consistent. True

conservatives aren't interesting in blowing deficits sky high and true conservatives are interested in maintaining a republic and not an empire.

[arewenotdemo]

18. excellent advice

[prayin4rain]

7. Congratulations!!! This makes me happy for you!

[indigobusiness]

9. Welcome to DU and thanks for the insight

Your story is telling.

The tectonic forces seem to suggest a seismic shift.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. Great point on your next-to-last paragraph. Something tells me

this election is NOT going to be close.

Bush and Cheney can only market chicken shit as chicken salad for so long. And the stink has gotten so bad that even those folks with a severe head cold are smelling it.


:kick:

[calimary]

11. You are doing the work of the saints.

Thank you for this testimonial!!! YOU have no idea how huge this is, either, in terms of how much a story like yours means to people here. Not that I claim to speak for everyone here at DU. But I know my shaky feelings and worry lines get deeper seeing some of the news and the polls and the punditry out there - they seem to be clinging to a fanciful bush victory as desperately as the bush machine is. And if I can't help being affected by that stuff, I know others must feel equally vulnerable in that same way (specially reading their laments here).

Your parents and sister prove they're not just knee-jerk jerks. They are intelligent, thoughtful, principled, discerning, and rawther brave, too, I'd say. It takes REAL character and guts to look yourself in the eye and realize you're on the wrong track - that you've got to change direction, especially when it means steering away from a road you've spent many years traveling and in which you've long had confidence. That road was evidently a mighty reliable road for them for a long time. Lesser people would velcro themselves to it - JUST BECAUSE. Lesser people would never admit a mistake. Lesser people would just always insist they were correct, no matter what (strong, steady resolve, 'eh?) and believe the pablum rather than what their own eyes, ears, and consciences are starting to scream at them. Lesser people would be far more concerned with saving face than with saving our severely damaged country. Such lesser people are, in fact, running - and RUINING - the political party and philosophy that your family honestly believed in and trusted and supported. They've utterly betrayed your family!!! Makes me angry just to think about it!!!! Perhaps people like your family have been the most egregiously betrayed - of ANYBODY.

I'm grateful to them - they're true patriots, and to you for keeping the faith and helping them along the road to enlightenment.

[Unstuck In Time]

12. I think you're right on the money re: conservatives keeping mum

They may not say so, but in the privacy of the voting booth, I think a lot of genuine conservatives are going to do the right thing and vote for John Kerry.

Thank our Founders for the secret ballot! You can vote your conscience in this country without fear of reprisal from the radicals who are out to destroy democracy.

[npincus]

13. Thanks, with all the media bias, phony polls and choreogrpahed Bush events

soemtimes its easy to feel like sanity and common sense are not the rule anymore. I am praying that the disaffection runs so wide and deep that there will be a major defection from Bush on Nov. 2 and Kerry will take it in a landslide. Your post makes me think that may just not be my secret fantasy.

[Gloria]

14. I'm so happy for you...and us! I only wish my RW family nuts

would come around........

[rocktivity]

15. The debates told the world the truth about Bush and Kerry

I believe it had far more impact than anyone could have imagined. I'm not talking just in terms of numbers, though there was an average of 52 million viewers in America alone. What I mean is that the impact was as deep as it was wide.

In the split-screen glare of unscripted, unspun, quasi-spontaneous debate questions, Bush could not control himself, and for the worst possible reason: because he wasn't IN control of the situation. And as your family came to realize, leaders who cannot figure out how to deal with things that are beyond their control are not qualified for the job.

I rest my case.

:headbang:
rocknation

[freeminder]

16. Excellent! And very telling

after all, it can be worthwile to be conservative (when there is a need to conserve what you've got) and progressive (when change is needed).

I've always thought both have to be present in a democracy, it's all about checks and balances, and I can appreciate someone from the other side open for honest debate.

Likewise, I cannot believe any sane conservative voting for this neocon cabal. They are on the verge of destroying America, and it's obvious for all to see.

I think your story will be THE story. Thanks for telling it!

[seabeyond]

17. tell your family in the future

you would appreciate if they dont feel the need to repress your freedom of speech and only allowing their voice to be heard, in the smaller scheme of things. you were right. they were wrong. and they told you to shut up only to find out you were right, further asking you to do what bushco's have demanded all of us, to lose our rights

[MsTryska]

19. You know what concerns me?

"On 9/12 my dad specifically called me to tell me to "keep your mouth shut. Bush is consilidating power and we don't know what is going to happen to speech"."


that your father would say this and still be a bush supporter.


in any case - i'm so happy your family has come around! congratulations.

[deadparrot]

20. Congratulations!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

21. Well done!

I wish the Republicans in my wife's family would come around like this.

[merh]

23. Great news, thanks so much for this encouraging post!

:yourock: and so do your folks and sister!

I think there are plenty of silent repugs that will be voting Kerry. They can't stand the weed that would be king and they cannot afford to let it be known that they voted against the party, but they will vote for our country and against the weed!

[yardwork]

24. Thank you for sharing that good news!

[idiosyncratic]

25. My life-long, 60-ish Republican neighbors voted for KERRY!

And, the husband had to testify in court recently because he had been the victim of an assault. When he was on the stand, he was asked if had written something in the dust on his pickup tailgate.

He was under oath when he said, "Yes. I'm always writing stuff back there. Right now it says, '1000 dead 4 Bush. 7000 wounded 4 Bush."

So, that is "on the record" in a criminal court proceedings in San Diego County.


My neighbor was a bit surprised the judge did not say anything. Nor did the public defender object . . .

[Michigan Dem]

26. This is a good place to say..

that I got my boss at work to vote for Kerry. He was a Bush voter in 2000 and has been on the fence all year. He has been "sparring" with me for months about who he should vote for and finally said today:

"Don't worry about it, I'm voting for Kerry..."

This has been a good day!