My conversation with a "moral values" voter

[bobweaver]

About two weeks after the election, our neighbor Virginia came over to visit us and we all sat in the backyard. She is a very sweet and nice lady who has been a good friend to my Mom, but I know that she is conservative and her husband is one of those angry white conservative men that will mouth off at the slightest trigger. I never say a word to him. They are both in their 70s. This day it was just Virginia, my Mom, me and my liberal friend Tom.

I said to Virginia, "So are you happy with the election results?"
"Oh yes," she said.
"What was the most important issue for you?" I asked.
"President." she said.
"How did you decide who to vote for, for President?" I asked.
"Well, I watched the debates, and Bush said, 'What's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong." After a pause, she continued, "That's what I agreed with." (*)
My friend Tom said, "What about the deficit? Did you consider that when you voted?"
Virginia said, "No, what is it?"
Tom stated a few numbers but it appeared to not mean much to her. I asked her what she thought about the mayoral election here in San Diego, which was still in dispute 2 weeks after election day.
"Oh, we voted for Ron Roberts. We like him." Virginia said.
"Did you know he marched in the gay pride parade?" Tom said.
Her eyes opened wide and she said, "Did he? I'm going to tell my husband that when I get home." (Roberts is not gay but marched in the parade to get the support of the gay community, but he did not win the election.)

Virginia also told us that her church had placed leaflets in all the benches on the Sunday before the election, listing what issues were most important to that church and therefore to the members of that church, and directing the church members to vote for the candidates who support the church's side of those issues. It did not list any actual names. I also saw a similar publication being distributed at my Mom's catholic church. It did not list any candidates by name, but the text of the publication made it abundantly clear who they wanted the church members to vote for. It was obvious that they were convince the members to vote for the candidates who were strongly pro-life and against gay marriage. The catholic version of the publication also went further to suggest that the member was not a good catholic if they voted for a politician who was pro-choice or pro-gay rights. In the same publication, they did state support for peace, social justice and an end to poverty, but those were not emphasized anywhere near the extent that the gay and abortion issues were.
(*) After the conversation with Virginia, I downloaded transcripts of the 3 Bush-Kerry debates and the VP debate, and did a search for the phrases "right is right" and "wrong is wrong" in all 4 debate transcripts. Nobody in any of the debates said those phrases.

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Need to get those churches' tax exempt status revoked.....nt

[andyhappy]

2. should be a top priority for the dems

man...that is so scary that they do that kind of thing!

[ClintonTyree]

3. Bush supporters are, as a rule..............

woefully ignorant of the issues and just like to hear jingoistic slobber from their candidate. Died in the wool Reslugs love this "moron in chief" with his "plain spoken" ways and "common man", charm :eyes:?
As for her husband, he's just another of those angry white men who just can't seem to get a break in life. :eyes:
I don't know how you do it. I'd distance myself from people like that in a New York minute. With friends like that, who needs enemas?

[bobweaver]

4. I don't think I'm going to bring up politics any more with her because

I think we embarassed her a little. But she has been a good friend to my Mom, who had a stroke on Oct. 13 and Virginia has been kind to her. But it illustrated to me how easily these kinds of voters are swayed by outside forces.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. You're wise not to bring up politics with her again

My mom, who we lost a few years ago, was a liberal in a sea of women like your Mom's friend Virginia. Also a Catholic. But those friends, for all their uniformed political views were just salt of the earth and stood by my Mom so lovingly and loyally while she was ill. That was far more important to me than their politics. I recall one time saying something to her about Chimpus Khan and she told me she knew all about it (whatever it was we were talking about), but that she was so disappointed in all her friends who just thought King Khan hung the moon.

After she passed, and all those same ladies were there for her and came to try to comfort us, too, and to celebrate my mother's life. Better to leave them to their thoughts, to leave my mother's memory clean for them.

Be thankful for poor, uninformed Virginia. Your Mom will appreciate that.

[Bouncy Ball]

5. bush voters

are almost ALWAYS woefully uninformed/underinformed on the issues. It's how it seems to work to be a repuke these days. When I used to talk to them, I was always really shocked at how little they actually knew.

[CatholicEdHead]

6. Catholic guide

was from a laypersons' group called Catholic Answers. You are not a "good Catholic" unless you agree with these 5 issues:

1. No Abortion
2. No Gay Marriage
3. No Euthensia
4. No Stem Cell Research
5. No Human Cloning

http://www.catholic.com/library/voters_guide.asp

It was not even the offical guide from the Church, the UCCB guide which was much more moderate.

[BlueEyedSon]

7. I like this one

http://www.ncccusa.org/letjusticeroll/electionyearprinciplesguide.pdf

[jellybelly]

9. those repug

people vote on issues they think are important. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is making them change issues, forget abortion and gay marriage, and concentrate on the Iraq war and the economy. It's possible, but won't happen if we call their issues evil and stupid.