A hard-nosed Repub in TN has just told me he's going Kerry

[booksenkatz]

I myself am a Clarkie who will happily and proudly support ANYONE who wins the Dem nod (including a half-eaten hot dog or a dead zebra or J. Lieberman). I've been nagging at this friend of mine since forever, because he's one of those Repubs who is absolutely on the wrong side, he's way too nice of a guy, LOL! He has ALWAYS voted Repub. I finally got him to admit that Bush has effed up the country. At first, my friend said he was going to sit on the sidelines in 2004 because all politicians are the same. So imagine my surprise when he told me today he is going to fully support Kerry and will support whatever Dem eventually wins. WOW! Sure, I wish he'd join me in the Clark camp, but any time I win a Repub over to our side, that's all I care about!

I want to say also that I know several moderate Repubs (the reasonable ones) and Independents back in my home state of Texas who've all said they're sick of Bush and they want a chance to vote for Clark. If Clark doesn't manage to win the nom, I bet these folks will accept Kerry as a substitute. The military thing means something to these people, I'm not saying that is a good thing or bad thing, I'm just saying it's a reality in my anecdotal experience.

So my friend Bill is going Kerry... I still can't believe it! Does anyone out there have any similar stories to share, regardless of the candidate? I get so excited anytime we reduce Bush's numbers and increase our own! These kinds of conversions mean something to this yellow dog Dem.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. I don't think his liberal credentials really bother moderates

I think they look past all that and see super competence and character.

[George_Bonanza]

14. Right on

It's not as if conservatives hate jobs, money, safety, quality of health care, etc.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. I do

My own stories and others'.

[flaminbats]

3. Great work!!!

Just make sure he votes...:thumbsup:

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. There was a similar thread a few days ago

with a bunch of Dean suppporters talking about their Repub family members supporting Kerry... every Kerry town meeting I've seen on CSPAN has had at least one Republican (sometimes several) declaring for him....several new articles leading up to Iowa had this story, too.

This, to me, is the most exciting thing about the last couple weeks -- because it shows we can really win, with a real Democrat (meaning no insult to any other candidate).

Kerry/Edwards for 16 years in the White House!

[THUNDER HANDS]

5. I've convinced my parents to vote for the first time since 1992

They both voted for Clinton then, and they're pretty apolitical. But I'm dragging them to the polls this year.

[GalleryGod]

8. Nice Job by you, M-Rat!

:pals:

[GalleryGod]

6. Yes! The Clark/Kerry "Military service UNDER fire" skewers a lot

of "typical voters".

I have three Reagan Dem's (who've never come back!) who say simply:

Kerry or Clark? I'm going Dem.

HMmmmmmmmmm?
G.G.:smoke:

[aquart]

7. This is why we need to speak well of each other's candidates.

We WANT those disgusted Republicans and wandering Independants. If one likes Clark and one likes Kerry, and what we get is Edwards or Dean, we do not want the new converts to falter or stray. Each of these men deserves respect. Any one of them could do the job. We hope.

And whichever one gets it will descend into a nightmarish hellpit of fiscal malfeasance and legislative incompetence from which it may not be possible to return alive or well. So, not only our respect, but our sympathy.

We disagree about which of these good men is the best man. But really, we only find that out under fire.

We need to stress the quality of our candidates so that if a favorite doesn't make it, the vote will still show up Democratic on election day. And what's lovely is that we don't have to lie.

[Brotherjohn]

9. Very similar story...

My sister-in-law, a strongly pro-life, conservative person, has said she was leaning towards Kerry.

Up until recently, she seemed to have automatically voted Repub based solely on the abortion issue. But if she could support Kerry, it really makes me think hard about the "electability" issue. I'm not so sure a person like her would go for Dean.

Now, I say Dean, b/c he's the guy people have been saying is "unelectable". This makes me a bit nervous, because a big part of me thinks that Rove and Co. are more afraid of Dean than anyone, so they've been pushing the "unelectable" crap, with the help of Dean's Dem opponents, because they DON'T want to face him. A part of me thinks if we move away from Dean, we may be playing right into their hands and shooting ourselves in the collective foot (or head?).

But then I see a pro-life conservative saying they'd vote for Kerry. That makes me think about "electability" a lot more, and just who is "electable". It makes me think about Kerry's foreign policy and military experience, and that perhaps, in this environment, that is a bigger plus than I realized (in that it may take that to lure middle-of-the-road voters away from Bush).

What gives me solace from the nagging feeling expressed above is that the other candidates have become MUCH harsher in their criticism of Bush, particularly regarding Iraq and terrorism, and this is where I felt Dean's stregth was, and why he's a threat to Bush. Whether Dean stays in the picture or not, I think the credit largely goes to him for keeping these issues at the forefront and making the other candidates go after Bush much harder than they would have. I used to fear that a Kerry or an Edwards would just campaign as "Bush-lite". But no more.

[Edge]

10. A Republican friend of mine...

wants either Kerry or Dean in the WH over Bush.

Cool, eh? :)

[booksenkatz]

11. I should also add

that my parents back in Texas, both conservative Dems, are both strong Kerry supporters. Interestingly, my dad told me back in 2000 that John Kerry would be the next president. Hmmmmm, we shall see how psychic my dad is! My parents' disgust with Bush would make DUers look like Freeps... it's hard to be a Dem in Texas. We Texas Dems knew what Bush had done to Texas, we didn't want to see him unleash that sort of incompetence on a national/worldwide scale, but no one would listen.

The interesting thing about this race is that I realize that this election is not about me or my dream candidate or my dream platform, it is about removing pure evil from a position of power, period. Yes, my vote is absolutely transferable, even if it may hurt me to do so, in the event my preferred candidate doesn't win the nom. My vote is transferable because to sit on my hands in November is a vote for the end of civilization as we know it, for further untold suffering of millions of people I'll never meet... why should they have to suffer because of some notion of virgin principles on my part? My pure principles won't keep me warm at night. Nope, even if the Dem is only 1/8" to the left of Bush, that is still 1/8" less pain that will be felt by someone, somewhere. Maybe even me, or my young son. And that's enough.

[rockymountaindem]

12. I've mentioned my pal

in a couple of other threads (at least one I think).

Anyway, he is a conservative who never really had much respect for the Republicans (or any politicians for that matter). He thinks Bush is a total dummy and has been awful for this country. He agrees with me that the invasion of Iraq was a bad call to say the least. Just a guess, I think that my friend (a physics major) dislikes Bush for his inability to pronounce the word "nuclear". But that's just a guess.

BTW, patsified... I've been waiting for the half-eaten hot dog and the dead zebra to get some clout in this party. I mean, what's more American than a hot dog? Those zebras can be very deceptive with their stripes... the two of them together would run circles around Bush and win 75% of the popular vote and 40 states!

[joanski01]

13. Well, if people went out there and

actually voted for Arnold Schwartzenegger, I'm sure they'd be more that delighted to vote for a half-eaten hot dog and a dead zebra.

I think there's a whole lot of trouble brewing between now and November.