WP: GOP's Soft Sell Swayed the Amish: Unlikely Voters Cast Lot with Bush

[DeepModem Mom]

GOP's Soft Sell Swayed the Amish
Unlikely Voters Cast Lot With Bush

By Evelyn Nieves
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 30, 2004; Page A03


....the Republicans, true to their vow to leave no vote unwooed, came to Lancaster County (Pennsylvania) hoping to win over the famously reclusive Old Order Amish -- who shun most modern ways -- along with their slightly less-strict brethren, the Mennonites. Democrats laughed at the very idea. The Amish had no use for politics. Were the Republicans that desperate? But the GOP effort, underscored by President Bush's meeting with some Amish families in early July, did the trick....

***

Not to mention, the 4,000 Republican volunteers who blanketed Lancaster County for months and visited the fairs and farm auctions in Amish country talking up the president's Christian values. That helped them think abortion might be outlawed, Sam said. Thinking of Bush's Christian values even helped with their questions about the carnage in Iraq.

And so, while Bush lost Pennsylvania by more than 120,000 votes, he nearly halved his losing margin from 2000. In large part, that was because of the GOP's push among rural voters. Here in Lancaster County, where the party set a goal of besting the Democrat by 70,000 votes (or about 10,000 more than in 2000), Bush ended up winning by 70,896. Several hundred of those votes came from men in suspenders and black suits and women in bonnets and wide-skirt black dresses. Republicans registered more than 300 new voters in each of three mostly Amish districts. In Leacock Township, the GOP nearly doubled its voter rolls, from 1,000 to 1,800, with all but a handful of the new voters being Amish or Mennonite.

Just as everyone predicted the plain folks would not vote, the postmortems all suggested the Amish vote was a fluke. Amos -- another Amos, who sells wooden toys and other Amish crafts at a roadside stand -- said that bothers him. He could see more plain people voting next time, he said, "for another candidate with good morals."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35064-2004Dec29.html

[ixion]

1. a fundie christian voted for *?

go figure. :eyes:

[moondust]

2. They secretly love war. n/t

[Supersedeas]

17. Strange how that gets lost in all the moral majority MSM quibble.

[NJCher]

3. are the Amish pro-war?

Wonder how they feel about the carnage in Iraq? We need to get in there now with pictures of what's happening over there. The GOP cannot be allowed to walk away with this vote.

I'm in NJ. Anyone have ideas on how we can do this? We have to remember, the Amish do not watch television so they probably have little idea of what's going on over there.

If anyone reading these posts wants to work on this as a special project, please PM me.


Cher

[ClintonTyree]

6. They wouldn't know about it..................

televisions, radios, the "internets" and newspapers are all verboten in Amishland. They're almost as uninformed as our pResident.

[Kolesar]

7. We could have the Quaker leadership do a dialog w/ the Amish

This irks me to no end that Bush got the votes of a pacifist community. He did it in Ohio, too.

[NJCher]

16. any ideas on how to go about this?

I'm serious. I can't stand this!

There is no excuse for this vote going this way whatsoever!


Cher

[Prodemsouth]

9. If a Dem or Move on could have just met with them and show what

Bush is doing in Iraq. The could have been persuaded to not vote for Bush, dosen't mean they would have voted for Kerry. Could have made the difference in Ohio- more Amish there than in PA. The articles said the Dems knew what was going on but laughed at it.

[w4rma]

21. The Dem base laughed at Rush Limbaugh also. I think Dems need to

take this stuff more seriously.

Notice I refered to the base and not the politiicans. The BASE needs to take this stuff more seriously.

[JI7]

30. including the stuff about Kerry wanting to ban the bible

and the rumors about how he was excommunicated by the Catholic church.

i remember reading articles about it but mostly just blew it off as typical right wing religious crap from robertson and falwell types.and even saw it as desperate which it probably was, but still effective.but it turns out it was pretty widespread and well organized.

i guess we have to keep in mind these people aren't very intelligent or even active in politics but they are religious and have certain beliefs and can be easily manipulated by republicans on a few issues like abortion and gay rights.

i think if we went into their community and showed them Bush and other Republican connections to corporations who promote sex, violence and the other stuff the religious conservatives don't like, at the very least it could maybe get them to not vote at all.

[sandnsea]

38. I Vote Values Tour

Somebody was in a complete tizz about going to church and getting a "Vote Values" pamphlet before the election. Even though I took alot of this seriously, I didn't take her tizz seriously at the time. I don't know how we missed their organization, I didn't know about THIS until after the election:

http://www.ivotevalues.com/templates/cusivotevalues/details.asp?id=27131&PID=164001

[The Zanti Regent]

4. It's Jesus in action.

Jesus sure has an ability to brainwash folks!

[ClintonTyree]

5. The Amish are a perfect fit for the "*" administration...............

all of "*" supporters are mindless idiots who can't think for themselves and have an over abundant need to be told what to do.
Their need to follow god's (man's interpretation of god) word to the letter, shun progress and science are carbon copies of the garden variety Bushie.
It's no surprise to me they'd vote for the asshole. He is, after all, god's appointed pResident. :eyes:

[Algorem]

8. how'd they figure they could con the wooden horsecar people?

[Mend]

10. Do Amish young people enlist in the military

or in the past, did they get drafted and go to Viet Nam, Korea, WWII? Just wondering if they voted and it will be my kids who are drafted and forced to go.

[cap]

11. no.. they are exempted...

they are conscientious objectors.

[Liberal In Texas]

26. CO's were made medics in the Nam era.

But then there was a draft. Don't know about now.

[Mend]

32. were any Amish CO medics?

[radwriter0555]

12. The amish really are the ultimate cult... bless their hearts.

Just very, very odd people... archaic, outmoded and apparently soon to be extinct.

[Mend]

13. they run most of the puppy mills in this country...

I am not sure you would bless them if you saw the condition these poor animals are forced to live with.

[Redstone]

31. The Amish's other "dirty little secret"

Besides the puppy mills, they allow teenage boys (NOT girsl as well, of course) a year or two to leave the "home area" and go apeshit, which they usually do in Philadelphia or Pittsburgh. They can do dope, screw prostitutes, whatever they want, and when they get back all goes unmentioned. Never happened.

The idea is that if the young studs (though it's hard to think of someone as looking studly with those silly beards and overalls, isn't it?) get it out of their systems while they're young, they'll stay settled afterward.

A bunch of them got busted in Philadelphia a couple of years back for selling cocaine.

They're just as damn cynical and hypocritical as any other group with a rigid set of beliefs. (Just my opinion based on observation, and I'm sure the cynicism, etc does not apply to ALL of them, no more than it does any other group.)

Redstone

[KDLarsen]

35. You're thinking about the "Rumspringa"

Which IIRC is allowed for both boys & girls. I suppose the idea is that the kids will do all sorts of sindy things, so when they return to the Amish community, they'll feel guilty about it and chose to rejoin it.

[R Hickey]

19. Apparently soon to be extinct? I don't think so.

A crew of around a dozen of them did my roof last year. I had an opportunity to talk to one with a long grey beard, who had spells, and so stayed on the ground.

He was my age, 56, and bragged that he had fathered 14 children, and had around 75 grandchildren. Apparently their method of determining wealth is by "how many decendents" each has created.

[jdj]

27. Ironically the only group of farmers not decimated in the farm crisis

Smart enough not to sell their soul to the devil buying combines and high-tech tractors on credit. Still use mostly livestock.

So I guess as long as they can keep their women and animals enslaved they'll be okay.

Really though, I hope they do not go. I'm over religions that oppress women as second-class, but I'd like to see more Americans adopt this self-reliance and lower-tech ways of existing.

[BiggJawn]

14. "Halving your losing margin" is STILL losing....

"And so, while Bush lost Pennsylvania by more than 120,000 votes, he nearly halved his losing margin from 2000. "

So? The GOP thinks they OWN these people now? Gillespie and Rove think this will carry-over to Jeb's run in '08?

"Democrats laughed at the very idea."

Thank you very fucking much, Mary Beth, Terry, and Donna....

I look at like this: Howard Dean sure as hell can't do any WORSE for the DNC. Time to get someone in there who's more focused on the fire in his belly than the paycheck in their wallet.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

15. Newsflash: PA went for Kerry/Edwards...proud heathens we are!! nt

:hi: :beer:

[MidwestTransplant]

18. I thought the Amish were against war

[aquart]

36. No, they're against fighting.

They know none of their children will be called.

[InvisibleBallots]

20. we didn't want their vote anyway!

damn fundies! :eyes:

[buddysmellgood]

22. They are still struggling to explain just how Bush won. Where did the vote

come from? A handful of Amish do not explain the exit polls.

[Blue_Tires]

23. honestly, are there really enough amish in the state to make a difference?

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

24. Not a real factor for PA. nt

[Liberal In Texas]

25. Another Example of People Voting Against Their Own Best Interests - eom

[Rose Siding]

28. No one told them Bush called them liars?

"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job."

-- statement attributed to President Bush in the Lancaster (Pa.) New Era from a private meeting with Amish families on July 9. The White House said Bush said no such thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62623-2004Jul19.html

here's a reprint of the orig. rpt. after the meeting...

Published: Jul 16, 2004 "Lancaster Online" -- LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - President Bush met privately with a group of Old Order Amish during his visit to Lancaster County last Friday. He discussed their farms and their hats and his religion. He asked them to vote for him in November.
...
At the end of the session, Bush reportedly told the group, “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.’’

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6513.htm

[Rose Siding]

29. Wait a minute! Maybe they are liars...

LOL! snip from today's piece>

Did Bush ask them to vote for him?

"Nope," Amos said. "That's another thing we liked about him."
.................

BUT, from the report after Bush's meeting with them...

snip>

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - President Bush met privately with a group of Old Order Amish during his visit to Lancaster County last Friday. He discussed their farms and their hats and his religion. He asked them to vote for him in November.

[maxsolomon]

33. i don't trust the amish anymore

they don't like to be photographed. who else doesn't like to be photographed?

VAMPIRES.

the amish are all vampires! QED.

tell everyone you know. ;>)

[NewYorkerfromMass]

34. This is bullshit. Kerry increased Dem support in Lancaster Co.

This map I did shows that Kerry won a geater percentage of the vote than Gore did in Lancaster County. (1.5% more to be precise)


The actual numbers were as follows (Dem share of pop. vote in bold):

GORE, AL (DEM) 54,968 32.2% KERRY, JOHN F. (DEM) 73,395 33.7% (18,427 new Dem. voters for a 25.11% increase)
BUSH, GEORGE W. 115,900 BUSH, GEORGE W. (REP) 144,291 (28,391 new Rep. voters, 19.68% increase)

And Bush underperformed in Lancaster versus both the state average incease of 23.55% and the national rate of about 23%.

Full PA results... http://home.earthlink.net/~nashionale/id4.html

[Desperadoe]

37. The only thing worse than this article....

...is the comments on this thread by people who, evidently know nothing about the Amish or about Lancaster County.

This is just another phony piece of WaPo claptrap that passes for journalism.

Notice how the writer only interviews "Amish" who work at the roadside stands? How about the other 99% of the Amish community that either refuse to be interviewed or were just too hard to find? Why is the writer meshing the Amish community with the Mennonites when they are two, completely different elements with completely different lifestyles and beliefs?

I have lived in this area my entire life. I have worked with the Amish. I have hunted and fished with them. I have gone to their weddings, had dinner in their homes, drove for them on trips and even partied with the ones who have left the church for various reasons. They are a fine, decent, humble and loving people who are the only true representatives of Christianity that I have ever known.

This "Lapp" thing was nothing more than a crafted photo shoot and an exploitation of the Amish community, enabled by another local "tool" of the Repukes who is an ex-Amish.

The Amish are neither kooks nor hypocrites and they will eventually come to terms with their support of Bush, if they indeed did support him at all. When the truth about Bush and his band of criminals finally reaches the Amish community, the elders will be speaking to this subject and it will be addressed in the same sincere way that problems have always been addressed in this community.


The so-called Amish vote had little or nothing to do with the election outcome in Lancaster County. Lancaster County votes Republican in every election and has since Lincoln won the war.

The only important thing is that the Republicans LOST Pennsylvania and will continue to lose in this state with even greater margins in the future, even in the very conservative areas like Lancaster.

Leave the Amish alone, that is all they ever asked for and that is really all that they want or expect from the "English".