I get the feeling the tide is turning

[LiberalPartisan]

I had lunch with a friend today who is a life long republican. He made several statements which give me hope the tide may finally be turning. He's completely exhausted fighting the take over of the republican party by the radical right wing 'christian' zealots and he says most of his republican friends are as well. He spoke of several other areas where the Bush administration has utterly failed and to my amazement he stated 'corporate America owns the government'.

Might the tide be turning? I'd be interested in knowing of similar encounters people have had.

[Old and In the Way]

1. We need to start carrying voter registration cards for just these

moments. They need to know that the Republican Syndicate owns the vote and Republican registrations are the easiest to steal If they want change, they ought to think about re-enrollment until the Republican Party is taken back by honest politicians.

[asjr]

2. My sister called me yesterday to tell

me that her husband finally has seen the light and has come over from the dark side. We have been trying to open his eyes for years and he finally did. I have Kevin Phillips to thank for that. He was blown away by his book.

[KyuzoGator]

3. It always does when money gets tight.

It's the nature of things.

[kiraboo]

4. When my ex-supervisor removes from his truck the bumpersticker

reading: Liberals - the Problem for every Solution - then I'll know the winds of change are a-blowin'! Until then, I'm going to remain deeply discouraged.

[Ecumenist]

5. Your ex supervisor is probably one of the

psychotic blind believers. I don't think that we can expect everyone to wake up, just the HUGE majority, which seems to be happening.

[existentialist]

6. Here's one

I went home to visit my father over the Easter weekend. My Father lives in very Republican county in this largely Republican state. My father has been loosely aligned with the Republican party forever. But he's also been a swing voter, and way back in 1964 he was the de facto campaign manager for a Democratic candidate for Congress even though he was a registered Republican. He now deeply regrets having voted for Bush twice, but that's old news.

The new news:


Saturday night we were eating at a restaurant, and this elderly woman, probably about 80, but still very vigorous both physically and mentally somehow gets triggered into a tirade. I will quote the bits of it that I can remember exactly, and try to summarize the rest:


"I may be a Republican, but I'm not a very good Republican. I'm sick of what's going on."

"And just how did he get the contract to operate all four concessions anyway?" (the he referred to being, if I understood correctly, the Republican county chairman, and the "four concessions being the four tourist resorts in the local state park--the largest and nicest and most impressive state park in the state.) In case anybody wants to boycott those would be Sylan Lake Resort, Legion Lake Resort, Blue Bell Lodge, and the Game Lodge located in Custer State Park, Custer South Dakota.)


"and I told him, 'NO!' I wouldn't be coming to the Lincoln Day Dinner and I told him I wouldn't be contributing either, 'Don't even ask.'"


She went on, all this fairly loudly for anyone that cared to listen (all of probably about 10 or 12 people present). No one said anything in defense of the Republicans except one comment that anyone else could have bid on the contract-- A statement that was questioned by another participant to the conversation.

[YDogg]

7. I overheard two men in a central FL bank last week ...

... and one was talking about his son, who is scheduled to come home soon from Iraq for a brief respite - then return for many more months. His acquaintence asked him what his son thought about the war. My sphincter immediately tensed, because I expected some pro-bush BS ... but his response - in serious tones, suggested that he (the father) has had a change of heart about bush.

The father said that the troops - in order to survive and make some sense of why they are there - must have some faith in what they are doing. The way he phrased it, it sounded as if for his son, it's a defense mechanism. But this father was very quick to point out that he doesn't approve of what bush has done to our military, the country, and our relationships with other countries. I'm not sure whether his son feels the same way, being in the midst of things, but it sounded as though this father would not hold his personal feelings from his son.

His friend echoed the same sentiments very strongly. It was very interesting to overhear; I was at the teller window and did not look around to see who these guys were; I may have known them, actually. But they were speaking as though they were emerging from a real soul-searching, and had come to the conclusion that bush has been terrible on many fronts. As much as I wanted to look to see who they were, both men were gone before my (somewhat involved) transaction was complete. But it sure made my day, and from the tone of the conversation, they took some comfort in knowing that each felt the same way.