My experience at the post office today...:(

[jab105]

My stomach feels like I'm on a tiltawhirl...just trying to get through Tuesday at this point...I've done everything I can do...canvassed a bunch, got my Kerry-Edwards lawn sign...phone banked (I didn't like that)...and I'm picking up people to take them to the polls on election day...

So, today, I'm at the post office (where I usually am on a saturday, sending out ebay stuff), and the lady who is waiting on me says that she is going to the Bush rally on Sunday...that its an incredible opportunity to see a real president...I was surprised, since I've talked to her a number of times and she was always very against the war in Iraq, and basically most of Bush's policies...so I asked if she had to sign a loyalty oath (a friend of mine got tickets to the event and said that he did)...and she seemed a bit pissed, and said no...so I just said, oh, someone had told me that you did have to sign one...

Again, I'm really confused at this point, cause I thought that she was pro-Kerry...so I said, who are you voting for/ And she says Bush...so again, since she'd been anti-Bush for the last year, I'm kinda taken aback...so I say, well...why/? So she says that the economy goes into recession under every Democratic president...and I'm in shock and say, ummm no, that's not true...then she says well name me a democratic president who didn't send the economy into recession...so I say Clinton...and she says he did...and again, I'm just mouth open...and I'm like no he didn't...a small recession started in March 2001 when Bush had been president for 2 months, but there was 8 years of prosperity under CLinton, over 23 million jobs created...and she says that those were Mcjobs...then she snaps at me, this is not the place to be talking about this...

Now, I can respect that, but, if she really felt this, wouldn't she have said that when I asked the original question/? And, if this was her reasons, then where in the world did they come form, cause they make no sense...

I was nearly in tears, the whole thing was just so mean and angry towards me, though I was nothing but nice to her...

So, now I'm off to the Republican headquarters, because I want to see if I can indeed get tickets without signing a loyalty oath...

But seriously, is this what we are up against...

I figure that the next time I go in, I'm going to apologize for upsetting her, but explain that I had thought during previous conversations that she wasn't a fan of Bush, so I was really curious as to what changed her mind so dramatically...

UPDATE: YOU DO NOT NEED TO SIGN A LOYALTY OATH (see post #18)

[Hog lover]

1. PLEASE report back on the loyalty oath

hopefully they still have some tickets so you can find out.

[Darth_Kitten]

5. Loyalty Oath? How creepy.

:scared: :(

[Darth_Kitten]

2. Don't worry about her, or apologizing.....

some people you need to write off. :( :hug:

Kudos for your efforts :)

[jab105]

8. Thanks...

I really needed that:)

[Darth_Kitten]

26. No problem!

it's maddening but despite one's best efforts, some people are beyond influencing. :eyes: Choose not to allow them to drain your energy. :)

You tried, done more than tried, actually. No one can fault you for not doing your best. :thumbsup:

[oneighty]

3. When their lips get pale

and their face gets red..IT IS THE END.. No moving that one.

180

[flygal]

4. She started realizing she was wrong...

She has been listening to wrong wingers and seemed mad she'd been taken. Good try though. Can't wait to hear about the oath thing.

[jab105]

7. I'll let you know...

I'm going now...

[Shopaholic]

10. Don't let this upset you. . .

you can't undo endless hours of brainwashing in the course of a short conversation. You know you're right and we know you're right. I know it's very frustrating to see people you know should know better and who can't see this administration for what they really are though.

[mhr]

6. Yes, This Is What We Are Up Against - The Brain Washing Has Worked

eom

[benito]

9. Don't take it personally

and don't apologize for being right!

[TwentyFive]

11. You don't owe her any apology - she brought the incident up

My guess is that she was pro Kerry at one point, but maybe got cornered by a Bush supporter. I had this experience with a customer who saw my Kerry bumper sticker - he made some very strong arguments for Bush. If I was not educated about political issues, I seriously would have walked away questioning my support for Kerry. (Translated: His BS was believable, but factually wrong.) I didn't argue back, as this person is a good customer, and I always try to omit politics/religious talk from my work.

[dirtyduck]

12. Let her read this article

"Do the Math", by Michael Kinsley, appeared in Washington Post on August 1st. Compares economic performance of democrat presidents vs. republicans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29205-2004Jul30.html

[procopia]

13. Does she think * is a real president? (nt)

.

[jab105]

14. UPDATE: You DO NOT need to sign a loyalty oath

OK, we went there...it was nerve racking...you don't need to sign a loyalty oath...though they do chec yur ID to make sure that you are who you say you are...they asked I was voting for Bush, and I said I didnt know...

it's so sad on both sides...they were saying how democrats were stealing their signs/scratching their cars/etc...I don't think they realize that unfortunately, the extreme on both sides do that...and it is a shame...

[Longhorn]

16. Try getting in if you're wearing a Kerry T-shirt!

In fact, what if you had said you weren't voting for Bush*? Do you think you would have still been given the tickets? From everything I've heard, I doubt it.

You don't own that lady any apologies. She was on the job bringing up the Bush* rally as a way to campaign for him, something she shouldn't have been doing while working, certainly not while in the employ of the USPS.

My mother and siblings are all Republicans and they do this to me all the time -- bring up the subject of politics and get their comments in, then shut it down when I try to respond in kind, saying, "Let's not get political." Well, excuse me, but you don't get to make your comments and then cut me off before I get to make mine!

I'm sure you'll be very sweet and classy when you go back after November 2 and smile and say, "Wow, President Kerry! Isn't that something?" :hug:

[jab105]

20. No...I don't think that I would have gotten tickets if I had said Kerry...

I'm scared to wear a Kerry t-shirt there...I dont want to get arrested...honestly, I dont think I'll go...I just wanted to see if there was a loyalty oath or not...

[sandnsea]

27. They did that in New Mexico

They made them sign a paper saying they were going to vote for Bush. When it got out, they stopped it. Now they're making you say you're either voting for Bush or undecided, you can't go to see the pResident if you're voting for Kerry or even admit you're leaning that way. In Oregon, three teachers wore civil rights t-shirts and were thrown out. They are very restrictive, but they have done away with the signed loyalty oath.

[Droopy]

15. Fuck apologizing to her

I wouldn't apologize to someone who is so willfully ignorant. And besides you did nothing to warrant an apology.

[goodboy]

17. bush could burn her house down and piss on the ashes, and she'd

still vote for him. It's a mental-disease I think. Hopefully, with Kerry's healthcare plan, we can cure these poor bastards.

[jab105]

18. LOL...thanks...needed that!!

I just dont understand how it can happen so fast...two weeks ago, I swear I thought she was solid Kerry...

[goodboy]

25. She's a flip=flopper...Nt

[TankLV]

19. |What the HELL is a USPS employee doing spouting political comments?

She should have kept her mouth SHUT - and she should have her ass FIRED as far as I'm concerned.

Do you think for a moment if she was supporting ANY Democrat on her company's dime and did that to a repuke, that she would instantly be a FORMER employee of the USPS by now?!?!

This stinks to high heaven.

Glad I wasn't there - she would have had a loud piece of my mind.

SHE needs to apologize to YOU - before her ass is FIRED.

File a complaint to the USPS manager. My partner is a USPS employee and they don't put up w/shit like that!

FIRE HER ASS. Maybe she'll think twice before engaging in politics witha CUSTOMER again!

[jab105]

22. I go in there so much, that everyone kinda became friends...

because of that we talk politics...I dont want to get her in trouble...I just want to understand what made her go from disliking Bush to being rabid proBush in a matter of weeks...I dont get it!!

As an aside, one of the other guys there, who I really like as a person, is a proud and loud gun toting Republican...he had a picture of Bush on his little cubby hole, and someone complained, so he stuck the newspaper article about it on the board over the picture...

So today (ALL the Republicans were out in force today cause Bush is coming tomorrow) he was talking to this Republican lady, and he was telling her the story of the picture, and she was saying, oh, you know that if it was a picture of Kerry that you wouldnt have had to take it down...and so on they went about those liberals and the double standard...so I pipe in, no, I really dont think you are right...so, the lady looks at me and says...well I am...

All this happened today...AGH!! The one prokerry guy talks so quietly about it...nice guy from NY, he said that the republicans there are always talking so he doesnt say much...

On another aside, I teach school...I have never ever ever said one word about politics in my class, though I've had kids go on and on about how Kerry is a socialist (the Rpeublican kids are a lot louder than everyone else)...I had a kid ask me who I was voting for...and I said that I wouldn't say, because right now, we are supposed to be focusing on schoolwork, and not politics...so, then the Republican kid asks me if a want a W'04 sticker, I said no thank you...and tried to get back to the lesson...then the kid says, oh she cant tell us who shes voting for, cause if she did, she'd be fired...WTF!?!?! I said, no...I choose not to speak about politics, because we should be focusing on our lesson...now, if you want to talk politics with me, you can do it on your own time, after school...but not during my lesson...

[Bullshot]

21. On her claims of economic conditions under Democrats,

tell her that the U.S. has had at least a recession each of the last three times the Republicans controlled the White House and the U.S. House and Senate--Dubya, Eisenhower and Hoover.

In the event she tells you that those three presidents only assumed a mess left by their Democrat predecessor, tell her that in the years leading to the Great Depression, we had three straight Republican presidents--Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover. And all three of those presidents had a Republican-controlled House and Senate in every year of their administration.

If she argues, then that the Great Depression was all Woodrow Wilson's fault (he preceded Warren Harding), then she's hopeless. Frankly, I don't think there's a conservative who knows squat about history. That's why they keep repeating the same mistakes they make time after time.

[JPJones]

23. Sorry, but if you post everytime you meet a Bush supporter

we'll have about 50,000,000 threads. Stay on message, folks.

Kerry is going to win. For your punishment, you must post a story about a Kerry supporter you know and you must read this book:

[jab105]

24. LOL...I posted that I converted my mother (a Southern Baptist)

to Nader on Tuesday - which was a huge accomplishment, she's never not voted for a Republican...

Also, I got my physical therapy people voting for Kerry...
I let them all borrow Outfoxed...about 20 people saw it because of that...

I canvassed (which was great!!)...three times...and got a lot in to the undecideds that hopefully will help, and let some Kerry people know about the early voting...

[wjbill49]

28. Brainwashed

Read an article recently about how almost 75% of Bush supporters still think Iraq had WMD ........ and that Iraq was partially responsible for the Sept 11 attacks because of their Bin Laden ties.
Either it is brainwashing or, like the president, his supporters are not really "into" reading.

[Name removed]

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