Help! My dad is still planning on voting for Bush!

[wicket]

I've tried to convince him to vote for Kerry, as has my mom. My dad is a small business owner from Vermont, and he credits Bush's tax cuts for the spike in his business (building contractor). I've tried to explain to my dad that it is mainly due to the interest rates being so low the past few years so people are refinancing and improving their properties, but to no avail. Please don't flame my dad, he's not stupid, and I love him very much but I think his information is very wrong. He's a hunter and is very much pro-gun so he says he fits more in with the Republicans no matter how I try to sway him. Help!!! If anyone has any idea how I should go about framing why my dad should vote for Kerry, or links to articles that would be of interest would be a huge help, I'm running out of ideas, thanks!

[the Kelly Gang]

1. give up..it's 2 to 1 so we are ahead already !

[Spinzonner]

2. Try defense instead of offense

Have him try and convince you to vote for Bush and see if he can defend his arguments.

[GiovanniC]

3. Psychologically Speaking...

Bad move.

Asking a person to defend certain beliefs typically causes them to become more firmly rooted in those beliefs.

[PATRICK]

18. If it boils down to making money

and credit by association that would normally be tough nut to crack, barring committments to anything else.

Then it is touchy to question someone's basic values. Not all who considered Bush good for their business support the guy. Explain the positions of THOSE people in his same profitable circumstance to him. If W has somehow loosed a crumb to small business whom has he really enriched forever and ever?

In an administration this bad there is no untainted redeeming feature that is not a temporary byproduct of political necessity.

Uh, reconcile yourself that the evidence needed here is unfairly tough.

[HootieMcBoob]

4. Maybe you can have him institutionalized before November

Clearly he's unstable and a danger to others as well as himself.

[deutsey]

5. You could find plenty of examples of how Bush has

weakened the US and has betrayed the trust of anyone who might have believed him.

[Killarney]

6. Kerry said last night

he will cut taxes for small businesses.

That might help.

Also... how old are you? Would you be eligible for the draft? That can cause nearly any parent to worry and want to vote against Bush.

I wouldn't worry too much. Vermont is in Kerry's corner. :)

[BayouBengal07]

14. Ahh, the draft

That's what's got my mom in a tizzy about voting for Kerry (I'm 19). She sounds genuinely concerned that I could be shipped off to Iraq and possibly die there if Bush is reelected. I'm not complaining- she's even talking of switching her party affiliation (from Republican to Independent).

[LTR]

7. Kerry's a sportsman

Doesn't believe in normal gun control, but I assume he backs the Brady Bill. I highly doubt your father hunts with AK-47's, though. Kerry's a hunter, and he respects the sport. Does Bush hunt?

And the Democratic Party has embraced some fiscally conservative ideals. The Bush economic philosophy is a ticking time bomb. The deficit needs to be dealt with eventually, and it's not going to happen anytime soon. When Bush finally acknowledges it, it will be a huge mess.

[0007]

8. My father is going on 93 and he'll be voting for junior -

He believe that a "Eisenhower Day" should be on order and that Martin Luther King has yet to prove himself.

My father doesn't understand me as I don't understand him.

[seabeyond]

9. ya well, i tuned to hillary's speech and my dad said

i would never listen to hillary

ya no kidding dad

you want to know why, says dad

ya dad,........all you repugs seem to have a thing about attacking the women democrats, wives, administration even the daughter. big thumbs up to masculinity.

dont want to hear it dad and went on to what i was saying. i have given up on the man, but,..............i am not gonna keep my mouth shut about it. when i need to talk bush dry dunk, or his blame every, own nothing stance i do. my brother is bush, and my dad is watching a bunch of grandchildren. owning things is a pretty big deal with raising kids. and often say, bush isnt helping the nations children learn how to take responsibility, what do ya expect

[newportdadde]

10. "Help! My dad is still planning on voting for Bush!"

I would try to make the case with articles that the recent housing bubble your dads business as done well. Of course then he will vote for Kerry and when the housing bubble busts and your dads business starts to take a wack he will then blame Kerry.

[Green Mountain Dem]

11. Ask him if he has...

tried to buy plywood and concrete or any number of other building supplies lately. If not he is in for a shock...many contractors are complaining that there are serious shortages of all of these items as they are being sent to Iraq for reconstruction, and many are saying they will go "belly-up" if this trend continues. The costs for these materials, if available, are so prohibitive that contractors cannot pass on these increases to their end users,and remain competitive. Tell him he is paying a huge price to rebuild Iraq in the name of GW!!

[DjTj]

12. Ask him why he's letting Bush buy his vote...

...using your money.

The tax cuts were paid for straight out of the deficit and are piling on to the national debt. Interest rates are being kept low while the dollar loses value abroad and inflation is much more of a problem than it was in the 90's.

Bush is trying to buy votes with his tax-cut handouts and this temporary economic boom, but the costs are going straight to the next generation. The housing market is good now, but look at the price of gas or the price of milk. Look at the cost of rent and the cost of college tuition. Look at the cost of health insurance.

Sure, your dad has a little more money in his pocket now, but ask him to think about where that money is coming from. Right now, it's the working poor and young Americans footing the bill - people who are struggling to break into the middle class. If Bush gets four more years, it will be you and your children that paying for it for decades to come.

[wicket]

15. Excellent point!

Plus, my sister is pregnant with his first grandchild, so Bush has already mortgaged his grandchild's future.

[lostnfound]

16. Or why he's letting his vote be bought & not voting based on principles.

Ask him, what are his principles? Besides guns...Does he believe in the rest of the Bill of Rights? How about privacy for what people read? How about a balanced budget instead of massive deficits passed down to his kids & grandkids?

Does he believe in secret governments? (i.e., Cheney's secret energy meetings, gag orders, Aschroft's secret detentions, sneak & peek)

Would your dad give out no-bid contracts to his subcontractors or keep dealing with a subcontractor who's has overcharged him repeatedly or that throws away his trucks when they get a flat tire?

Whatever principles Shrub* claims to stand for, the only ones that he actually stands for seems to be serving the rich -- that's IT.

[Burma Jones]

13. I think Vermont is in the Bag

You know, SOME people SHOULD vote Republican, even Vermont isn't a one party state you know. I assume that your Dad isn't one of those Bible-thumping modern day prohibitionist fascists, so you might want to tell him how the present administration has betrayed old fashioned republican values such as libertarianism and fiscal responsibility. While that might not make him vote for Kerry, it may speed along the rift between libertarian republicans and the Fundie Nanny Right Wing.

[jcldragon]

17. My Mom

turned 82 on July 6th. So I took her to see F 9/11. It had no effect on her at all.

She still believes that Bush cannot open his mouth without telling a lie. AND, she still intends to vote for John Kerry!

What should I do?

OOPS! This isn't freerepublic.com, is it?

hehehehe

/parody

[Norquist Nemesis]

19. If he believes the tax cuts are the reason

first ask him what percentage of his base business is from the wealthiest (as defined by Kerry over $200,000 per year). My guess is that it may be in terms of dollars, but not in terms of numbers of clients. (The 80/20 rule says 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients, and warns not to let that 20% control your business or you run the risk of them pulling out and you're left with an 80% decrease in revenue. </oversimplified>)

Kerry is proposing tax cuts for the <$200,000 and small businesses. Since he believes the tax cuts are fundamentally the basis for his increase in business, then it follows that he would want to support Kerry. How often do people build and remodel their homes? The clients he's worked for are likely done for a few years and he needs to look at the future of where his business is going to be coming from. That will be the people that are getting tax cuts...under Kerry's plan...not those who would potentially be getting more tax cuts from Bush.

I feel for you. I'm facing the same thing with my dad. I emailed him the voted before I voted against speech yesterday prior to Kerry's acceptance speech. As I expected, he didn't even read it. He won't. After a couple of back and forth emails, I've given up and moved on. My dad is also very intelligent (really), but when it comes to politics he does not have an open mind. The GOP has brainwashed him to the point that presenting reason is simply partisan advocacy.

So, if you really want to keep trying you might present what I suggested. But my advice is to let it go with directly trying to convert your dad and just make sure your Mom stays pro-Kerry through November 2nd. She is really the only one who's view he might consider at this point and she knows best how to handle him. :)

[Bandit]

20. Four Little Words

"We Can Do Better."

[fob]

21. Tell him even if he credits bush* (ugghhhh!!!) for increase in business

tell him "We can do better". If he liked tax cuts targeted at the wealthiest 2%, wait til he sees the middle class tax cuts that go the other 98%!

If that doesn't work, remind him that lower turnout favors republicans and to make sure the turnout is low, he should stay home that day!!

[notadmblnd]

22. tell him he might as well stay home..

cause your vote will cancel his out. I've converted my parents. Every time they complain about not having enough money or complain about one of my sisters living with them. I just tell them You can thank bush for that.

[wicket]

24. I live in Mass

So my vote will not cancel his, but the rest of my family that live in VT will :D

[MODemocrat]

23. You can't change his mind

Bush fans have made a hero out of Bush, and they don't want to be proven wrong. Riding a LOSER is never easy so they have to keep believing in him. However, my old friend who has always voted the republican ticket, is voting for Kerry. He told me that he thinks George W. is even worse than his Dad was, and he can't vote for him.
:hi:

[gasperc]

25. have him listen to "Worse than watergate", available in most libraries

I wouldn't pour alot of energy into trying to change his vote, just give him the CD and say, I think you ought to listen to this, vote how your going to vote.

No sense in creating unnecessary rifts between you and your dad. This is still a democracy. What you can do, and what irks me the most about the GOP using Nader, etc. is go out and find a couple of people who didn't vote in 2000, there are nearly 100million of them. Convince them that their vote matters, Bush won by only 527 votes, well actualy one vote, from the Supreme court and in the electoral college. Use your energy to get them to vote, that's how we'll win this thing. Good luck

[BillZBubb]

26. Ask you father if he'd borrow his business into bankruptcy

Would he bankrupt his business just to get one or two years a so-so growth? That's what Bush* is doing. These $400 billion plus deficits are going to go on for as long as he's in office. When the people loaning us the money want it back, the bottom falls out for everybody.

Does he really think his business will do as well in the second Bush* term when interest rates are driven up and money gets much tighter? LOL.