I asked my republican father-in-law a question earlier tonight...

[cynatnite]

Me: Do you talk to empty chairs?

Him: Hell no. I'm a Democrat.



He became disenchanted with the Repukes when Katrina hit, but still called himself a Republican. This was the first time I had ever heard him call himself a Dem. I don't know when the switch became official, but it was great to hear. I sure do love the guy!

[Marymarg]

1. Love this guy, too.

Good for your father-in-law!

[freshwest]

2. I'm happy for you, this is good news.

[Control-Z]

3. Wow.

That's like a miracle kind of thing, isn't it? Especially without you knowing?

[cynatnite]

5. There's been a lot going on so talking politics hasn't been at the top of the discussion...

I giggled when he told me.

[imanamerican63]

4. Good for him!!!!

I have family members who are Republicans and a few who are Democrats! A large family and interesting family get together!!!!!

[left on green only]

6. I'm glad it turned out well for you.

He might have interpreted it as your waving a red flag in front of his face. Family relations do indeed require tepid and skillful maneuvering if one desires to maintain a fragile peace. Upon the occasion of my first ever meeting my mother-in-law, she had the balls to ask me point blank if I voted repuke. I thought for a second and then answered, "I always vote anti-Nazi". The poor old girl never had a clue as to what I was saying.

[SunSeeker]

7. Wow. Wish I could say the say for my Republican father-in-law.

He never responds when I challenge his lame chain e-mails he's always forwarding. Never. Otherwise, he's pleasant enough. It is so frustrating.

[tomm2thumbs]

11. you might try swapping a video a week with him

You send him one, he sends you one (under 5 minutes)

You both agree you'll watch them... and nothing more.

Then send him something like what Mr_Jefferson_24 posted on the video page today....
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101754323

(send him the direct YouTube link, not the DU page)

Maybe if he hears it coming from the mouth of his own candidate, he'll hear it.

Just maybe.

[rppper]

8. nice! i had a similar deal with my brother last week...

people are finally coming out of the fog......

[Cha]

9. That's a cute opening!

Do you talk to chairs..it could have gone any way!

That's actually amazing..Thanks Clint!

[tomm2thumbs]

10. this weekend, my life-long Republican mom just said she's more an Independent now

so HUGE a change, I couldn't believe it

that RNC platform with it's anti-gay, anti-abortion (anti-women) tenets is really helping

they have finally drilled enough holes in the GOP boat to sink it, and it's going down fast!

[johnlucas]

12. Bush's incompetent handling of Hurricane Katrina & the Wars turned a lot of them around

Hurricane Katrina was a wake-up call.
Those news reporters were most likely in it for the hot ratings but when they showed those dead bodies laying on the streets of New Orleans a lot of people took notice.
When the people ALSO listened to Bush saying "Heckuva job Brownie" on Katrina & his mama saying she didn't want to worry "her beautiful mind" about the dead soldiers from the wars, they finally put 2 & 2 together realizing the truth of this Republican Party.

This is how Bush & the Republicans lost power. A lot of people lived in the regions affected by Katrina. A lot of families were damaged by the endless mismanaged wars. It hit home & they could no longer keep up that "Rah Rah!" cheerleading nonsense.
Some went full Cindy Sheehan while others just did what your father did & disavowed the party they affiliated themselves with for so many years.

This is how & why Obama got in office.
And this is why Obama must finish the job & push the Conservative/Republican Party off the cliff of American political thought.
No more Third Way crap. These people left the Republicans hoping you would change the direction of this country.

You have not gone Forward enough to make that Change a reality yet.
John Lucas

[CrispyQ]

13. If Katrina is what opened his eyes, he's a good man.

Hopefully more good people are waking up to the freak show that is the republican party.

[tblue37]

14. One of our moderate Republican state reps here in Kansas,

one of the ones primaried out of her seat by a Chamber of Commerce/Koch supported radical teabagger "conservative," just announced today that she will switch her registration either to Independent or to Dem because her party has gone so radical. Of course, she could have made that switch at any time before the wingnuts in her party cost her her seat, but as always, Republicans only care about such outrageous wingnut actions when they are personally harmed by them.

The Koch's and all the organizations they own (including the CoC) primaried many of the moderate Republicans out of their seats this summer, and I am hoping that will lead to a major party realignment here in Kansas. Since most primaries are decided by a small but committed core of voters, less extreme voters might not have realized that they were losing the representatives they had been comfortable with all these years. Perhaps when the general election rolls around, some less fanatical Republican voters will recoil against what has happened to their own familiar, generally well-liked Republican legislators and vote against the wingnut usurpers who have primaried them into oblivion.

I hope, but I don't really think it will happen. To any American voters vote for their "team" rather than for the policies that are represented by either party. They treat their party identification as part of their own personal identity, just as extreme sports fans do ("fan" comes from "fanatic," after all), so getting them to consider a switch to the ter "team," whom they view as the "enemy," is very hard.

Even the state representative who announced today that she is switching her party registration went on and on about how she has always been a Republican, and her parents, grandparents, etc., going all the way back to Lincoln's presidency, have always been Republicans. She obviously finds it wrenching to give up her connection to the Republican Party. Clearly she thinks of party as identity, just as so many voters do.