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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 09:57 PM
Original message
How come I live in such a "red" area, but everytime I'm in public...
... all anyone can talk about is how lousy Bush is.

I went to a wedding tonight and we were seated with people we really didn't know. All of a sudden - and I didn't start it - an older woman guest and a younger male guest seated next to her were talking about how awful the war is and how our troops need to be home.

This woman's husband, who was seated next to me (and about 70ish in years), turned to me and went on a rant about Bush that would curl your hair. The table agreed and so did some passersby who overheard the conversation.

This happens all the time and with alarming frequency. I don't ever start these conversations because I'm afraid I'll offend half the room in polite company given the fact that Bush carried my county without breaking a sweat.

Apparently, things aren't as red as they seem.

Great wedding, too.
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Viva_La_Revolution Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 09:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. Good news!
:)
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:01 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. The older man loved it that I knew exactly how many days Bush
has left in office - 576.

I told him my screen saver on my computer is a backwards countdown clock of what's left of this hideous administration.

:7

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rep the dems Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:06 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. Can you get that from bushslastday.com?
Or if you got it somewhere else, would you be so kind as to tell me where? I haven't had a good screensaver in a while.
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:09 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. I got it here:
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LiberalFighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:32 PM
Response to Reply #2
11. When Nixon was President I was in college when he was impeached
Before he got impeached I bought a calendar from the university bookstore that showed how many days Nixon had before he was gone.
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Rosemary2205 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 01:55 PM
Response to Reply #11
29. Nixon was never impeached.
I'm just sayin'........ :)
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LiberalFighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 08:23 PM
Response to Reply #29
32. Your right... he resigned to avoid impeachment preceedings
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mitchtv Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:07 PM
Response to Original message
4. I live in a "backwater". Lots of retired Military officers
this a part of the country where the Very very rich hold the reins.There are plenty of liberals, but cannot gain anything (abandoned by Dem Party).We keep hoping.Supporters of war are still plentiful and loud about it. Chimpy has lost his glow, however.they hate him and brown people.
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:11 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. It's not very "backwater" here - it's just always been traditionally
Edited on Sat Jun-23-07 10:12 PM by Clark2008
Republican. We do have great pockets of liberalism because of the university and because of the scientific community that supports Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

On Edit: The older man had been a middle school teacher for years and years. Pretty solidly middle class.
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tularetom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:16 PM
Response to Original message
7. My neighbor who is the wingiest of wing nuts
came over last week with a bottle of wine and spent two hours bitching about how fucked up bush and his minions are. We were both born the same month in 1941 and we've had some real battles in the past over politics as well as her pigs knocking down my fence, me hauling her dead pig out to the road and calling the rendering plant because he was starting to stink, but mostly about politics. She was married to the looney RW district attorney here but she was so nutty he left her.

Anyway she was pretty mellow when she came over and even more so when she left. But all of the venom she used to reserve for me and other Democrats has turned on bush and the republican party. She's all for impeachment, indictment, imprisonment whatever. To be honest I think a lot of it is over the immigration issue (she dislikes Mexicans although she has 2 or 3 of them working for her) but I'll take any conversions I can get.
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City Lights Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:19 PM
Response to Original message
8. I hope they vote Democratic in 2008.
I'm not so sure about the Republican Bush haters in my circle (aunts, cousins, dad's friends). Most of them now hate him, but as lifelong Republicans, I'm not convinced their disgust with Bush will cause them to vote Democratic. My fear is that they'll just chalk up Bush to being a complete idiot and vote for a "better, smarter" Republican (:eyes:) next time around. Sure hope I'm wrong.

Did any of the people you met tonight comment on any of the 2008 candidates?
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:21 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. No - and I don't know if these people were Republicans
or Democrats or how they voted or plan to vote. It was just a Bush bitch-fest.
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City Lights Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:31 PM
Response to Reply #9
10. And a good time was had by all.
I'm like you in that I keep my mouth shut in mixed or unknown company because I don't want to offend anybody. It's music to me ears when I hear people in unexpected places let Bush have it. :D
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LiberalFighter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:35 PM
Response to Reply #9
13. Maybe they don't vote.. maybe they aren't registered to vote
Ask someone in the local Democratic Party if they can find out for you.
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TnDem Donating Member (455 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 12:42 PM
Response to Reply #9
28. Well, when Thompson announces....
All will be forgotten and a "new day will be at hand":sarcasm:

We both know how Thompson will do in the south and whether or not Bush sucks and how badly will not matter then.

Thompson will make it alright to vote "R" again.
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dflprincess Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:33 PM
Response to Original message
12. I was at a graduation reception today
The elderly (like 80 or so) mother-in-law of the host suddenly blurted out an anti-Bush statement, then tried to apologize for bringing up politics. "Betty," I said, "you can say anything nasty about Bush that you want to to me.." We got into quite a conversation and several people drifted up to join us.

So many people feel this way, I don't know why we're not in the streets shouting it.



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aquart Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 10:57 PM
Response to Original message
14. Aren't there only two red states left?
Welcome to Blue America. And we're damned depressed, too.
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KT2000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 11:01 PM
Response to Original message
15. Same here
Five years ago no one would say anything against bush out loud.
The other day, the checker at my grocery store said, loudly, he was ashamed to be an American. (He is still working there)
Several of us at the checkout counter at another store agreed that we would go to Canada if we could.
Many people appear to have broken away from partisanship and are just sad about our situation.
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Ghost in the Machine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 11:07 PM
Response to Original message
16. I'm doing my part down here a little south of you. Mostly Monroe County,
but I work on Meigs & McMinn too. I tell anyone and everyone how horrible this misadministration is. I've educated a few of my regular customers about the BFEE & PNAC. I don't know if they'll vote Dem or not, but they sure don't like BushCo.
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Edweird Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 11:27 PM
Response to Original message
17. Bush is the designated lightning rod. Unless they are changing parties
you can bet they will vote for whatever new wonder boy the pukes get behind. As long as "bush" is the problem and not puke policy, nothing will change.
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kurth Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 11:36 PM
Response to Original message
18. Morons can have buyer's remorse too
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 11:02 AM
Response to Reply #18
21. I don't know about the others, but I highly doubt the older
couple voted for Shrub.

The woman came up to me later and tried to apologize for her husband's Bush rant. I told her that it was fine, that my husband and I were as anti-Bush as her husband and she said, paraphrasing, that it hurt her heart to hate Bush so much because she was a Christian, but, God help her, she DID hate that man and couldn't help it. She said they can't even watch or listen to Bush without hate just pooring out of their hearts. It was sad to see a REAL Christian woman struggling so much with hate because REAL Christians DON'T hate. REAL Christians try to emmulate Jesus and love their neighbors. I could tell it pained her how much she hated Bush, but I tried to tell her that her hate was justified and that Jesus probably didn't much care for him either. :)
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Phredicles Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 11:55 PM
Response to Original message
19. But impeachment would still be "divisive",
according to our fearless congressional leadership.:eyes:
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riderinthestorm Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jun-23-07 11:58 PM
Response to Original message
20. I wish my red area was turning against Commander Bunnypants
but alas, I am definitely in some kind of wierd vortex of red here. I am thinking all 26 percenters live here in Dupage County Illinois.

Daily, at least 5 plus sightings of W04 stickers, and pretty much every single car is an SUV sporting "Support the Troops!"

If/when I speak out, there is an avalanche of Bu$h supporters that surround me on the school playground, at work, on the phone (damn Roskam supporters STILL call! and I am a registered Dem). I wish, damn I wish my area were turning....
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MedleyMisty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 11:08 AM
Response to Original message
22. Maybe because people are individuals
Edited on Sun Jun-24-07 11:13 AM by sleebarker
And not all carbon copies of their probably not fairly elected and definitely not voted for by the majority representatives?

Seriously, I don't get the tendency to paint with a broad brush. If you live in a "red" area, then obviously not everyone who lives there is just alike in every way, right? Or else you would be doing whatever it is that you assume the other 99.999999% of the Stepford robot people in the area are doing - posting on Free Republic, watching NASCAR, going to Klan rallies, etc.

Personally, I was born here in North Carolina in the town that Mayberry is based on, but I didn't get sent through some machine that turns everyone in a certain geographical area into the same person. If you have such a machine there, please destroy it before it gets into the wrong hands.

Sorry, just tired of the endless regional bashing and painting a whole zip code or town or county or state area or state or national region with the same brush.
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live love laugh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 11:12 AM
Response to Reply #22
23. I disagree. I think sheeple are just riding the current anti-Bush media wave
For years, the media has not reported anything negatively about Bush. Now that they are showing people on his side distancing themselves from Bush, the sheeple are also distancing themselves. It's not "cool" to like Bush anymore but that is not an individual thing--more groupthink than anything else.
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 11:34 AM
Response to Reply #22
24. I'm not actually painting with a broad brush.
My neighborhood is very blue and you'd be pained to see a Republican sign in anyone's yard, but that's not true of the county as a whole. And we were in a part of town last night for the wedding in which the vast majority of the voters cast ballots for Bush - certainly not true of my side of town.

Take a gander out our 2004 election results: http://www.knoxcounty.org/election/results/election_110204.html

Michael BADNARIK 695 .39%
George W. BUSH 110,653 62.10%
John F. KERRY 65,921 37.00%
Ralph NADER 699 .39%
Michael A. PEROUTKA 207 .12%

Now, you'd think with 62 percent of the electorate voting for Shrub that I'd run into a few folks that still defended him to the hilt, but I never do. That was the purpose of my post. I don't start these conversations - they just spring up whenever I'm out in public, which has been rare since I just gave birth two weeks ago.

I realize not everyone voted for Bush, but, as you can see from our election results, more people did than did not. However, the point of my post was to say that I don't "see" these people anymore. They've either been turned or are so embarrassed that they simply don't speak out in his favor anymore.
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Cabcere Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 11:39 AM
Response to Reply #24
25. A bit off-topic, but...
Congratulations on your new baby! :loveya: :party: :applause: :hug: I'm assuming that is her with her brother in your sig pic? :) Adorable kids, both of them. Congratulations once again! :hi:
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Clark2008 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 12:27 PM
Response to Reply #25
26. Thank you!
She was 8 pounds, 11 ounces and was my "runt." Her brother was 10 pounds, 2 ounces (he's 8 years old) and I'm only 5'1". Both were C-Sections and I was on bed rest the last month of both pregnancies, thus my claim above that I wasn't able to get out more often.

The wedding we went to was my hubby's best friend's wedding and it was my first time out anywhere but the store in forever. People were commenting on the fact that I was up and about two weeks after a C-Section (and that I was so skinny - LOL - I don't think so, but I guess I do look OK for having had such a big child so soon. It was still nice to hear, though. :) )

In any case, the point of my post was that I haven't been out very often, so it was great to hear such anti-Bush sentiment in the community at-large. My whole family is anti-Bush - mine and my in-laws - but I didn't realize how unpopular he was outside of my sheltered circle.
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goclark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
27. GW is not now and never was "elected" he was
selected.

If the real numbers would ever stand up and be counted then we would know that RED was more like pinkish blue.
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Rosemary2205 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 01:57 PM
Response to Original message
30. I live in Kool Aid central.
And yes, here they've decided that hate GW almost as much as they hate liberals.
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seabeyond Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-24-07 01:58 PM
Response to Original message
31. i have a lot of proclaimed repug in my very red panhandle of texas
that do NOT like bush. a LOT. i can rag on, critize or throw a fit about bush and hte repugs and i dont get any attack back. the majority agree. and those that dont are quiet.

i do know that there are a small minority of the bush bots that still are fans of the man. but they are not a large group.

more republicans are claiming to be independents or libertarians

very few W stickers.

they put the republican woes on the president though, and not their party. that is where i have taken it to now, no longer bush. he is dirt here in texas. i am after the repug party and for those in our area to give the republican party the ownership of the mess, corruption and incompetence.
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