My dad, a repub, is now not sure who he'll vote for!!!

[DontBlameMe]

My father, a lifelong republican, now says he's going to have a hard time voting for anybody!

Wooo Hooo!!! This is a victory. He won't vote for a "liberal", but I'm getting the feeling he can't stand shrub, either.

I'll keep working on him. Just give me some time.

[DontBlameMe]

1. Ummmm,

shameless kick...

[yardwork]

2. Excellent news. Encourage him to vote Libertarian or some other

third party. It will hurt Shrub and might help improve third party chances in the future.

[DontBlameMe]

4. Never happen.

But just the fact that he might not vote, that's a huge win.

I've already changed my father in laws mind. He's just not going to vote.

[AP]

3. Because Edwards is on the ticket?

[DontBlameMe]

5. No, unfortunately.

He's just not happy with Shrub. He probably won't vote for Kerry, but I'm pretty sure I can keep him from voting Bush.

The really good news is if he won't vote, neither will my step-mom, or my 3 brothers.

I call that a win!

[Shredr]

7. Congrats

Wish I could do the same with my whole family. I talk and talk until I'm blue in the face, but they won't budge. W it is.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. A win/lose situation.

If we had election reform in this country we could stop hoping that right-leaning people we know _won't_ go and vote. *l*

Still, for this time around, I am glad to hear about * losing votes. Too bad he tends to make them up in other ways, though. Like by cheating.

[Walt Starr]

6. I've been having some success with rightwingers against Bush using this:

Tell 'em, first, concentrate on getting rid of Bush. As soon as that is accomplished, then concentrate on getting somebody on the Republican ticket for 2008 that you can get behind in order to get rid of Kerry.

This works on about 1/3rd of the rightwingers I've been trying to convince.

[Guaranteed]

9. Good. We're killing their morale. nt

[Monte Carlo]

10. Keep working his weak points.

If he's a real budget-hawk type of guy, talk about Bush's ruthless spending. If he's a military type of guy, talk about how Bush has abused our military. Hit'im where it hurts (metaphorically, anyway).

[welshTerrier2]

11. a few words for Dad ...

some oppose "liberals" because they perceive them to be "big spenders" and fiscally irresponsible ...

others oppose liberals because they perceive them as weak on defense ...

and still others oppose liberals because they perceive them as having poor stands on issues of morality ...

i would say the following to your father:

1. Kerry crossed party lines and strongly supported passing a balanced budget amendment ... he was a strong supporter of Graham-Rudman ... bush has run up the largest deficits of any country in the history of the planet ... and not all of it is because of Iraq and terrorism ... his tax cut should not have been supported if he was not able to pay for it ...

2. Kerry served in the armed forces during wartime ... bush, at best, sought an easier route and may have been AWOL according to many accounts ... Kerry supported the IWR (I wish he hadn't) and is very committed to veterans ... bush has cut many veteran benefits ... more importantly, bush has made us less safe by his alienation of many longtime allies and his inability to understand what would happen in Iraq ...

3. as to poor stands on morality, we enter a highly subjective area ... suffice it to say that I think Kerry would be far less tolerant of corporate crime and corruption ... I don't think Kerry is as likely to get into bed with his friends at multi-national corporations ... if you would vote for bush solely on issues like gay marriage or abortion, and you would ignore all the other critically important issues, there's little I can say ... I think we must provide as much freedom to our citizens as possible ... each person should have a right to their own religious beliefs and the majority should not impose its religious values on the minority ... there's a huge difference to practicing what you preach and imposing what you preach on everyone else ...

"liberal" is a word that's had millions and millions of marketing dollars spent against it ... a wise man would look beyond the labels at each individual candidate and make a fresh, independent judgment ...