Saw a bush voting neighbor in the grocery store line today

[Bouncy Ball]

I got behind her in line before I realized who was in front of me, looked up and there she was. She's been laid off for the second time in a year and her husband just got laid off about a month ago from the job he had for 17 years.

She sees me and chats nervously and I am polite.

She seems OVERLY nervous, though, and hesitates a lot when the guy tells her the total. Finally she gets out a Lone Star card, which is what the state of Texas uses for food stamps. She looks at me as she hands it over and sees that I see. I tried to look away at the last minute, but I was confused as to why she was acting so weird. I really try instinctively to spare people any embarrassment, but this caught me off-guard.

I only had a few things and she sees me as we are leaving the store and laughs and explains that they "had no choice" but to use food stamps and she "couldn't believe they qualified." She went on to tell me it was get food stamps or not be able to pay the mortgage and lose their home. I stop her in the middle of her distressed, nervous rambling and tell her this:

"I don't care that you're on food stamps. I have absolutely ZERO judgement for that. That's what they're THERE for. If they help you out when you are in a tight spot, good, I'm glad of it. I wish more of my tax dollars went to help people out when they are experiencing hard times. Most people using food stamps are like your family, they just need some help until they get back on their feet. But since the tax cuts, there isn't as much to help families like you anymore." (She winced when I said that, as she used to go on and on about how great bush's tax cuts were.)

I couldn't help it, I finished with this: "I'm a Democrat, Linda. I don't judge you for needing help. It's your republican friends you want to worry about seeing you in line."

Yeah it was snarky. But she half-laughed with tears in her eyes and said "I know." As we were pushing our carts to our cars, I asked her if she had November 2 to do over again, would she vote for bush again. She looked surprised and said "Yeah, of course." I just stood there for a second and she must have known I was thinking "WHY?" because she added "He's doing a great job keeping us safe!"

I just shook my head and started loading up my car. She doesn't see any connection at all, does she? No wonder I never got through to her before the election.

[Maestro]

1. Two things will happen

They will either get back on their feet and say, "Look, I got off those food stamps as soon as I could." "We pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps and went on with our lives not asking for more than we needed." "Good ole republican work ethic." (Yes, I know, like liberals don't work)

or

They will see that this economy and this president are embarrassments thus getting two more democratic votes in 2008!

[youngred]

2. If you make them afraid

nothing else matters.

It's a sad story but one that lead to millions and millions of people voting against their economic and social well-being for Bush.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

8. The Fascists knew fear was the greatest tool

in controlling the masses. This administration is following the same gameplan, and folks with deep-seated psychological needs for authority figures eat it up!

Good to see you, Zack! :hi:

[youngred]

28. exactly

they are too good at marketing and psychology for the nation's good.

How you doing Kathy? :hi: coming down for the counter-inagural? would love to repay the favour of the visit in DC

[Kathy in Cambridge]

35. I may come down, and stay with my cousin in Glover Park

if not, I may be somewhere warm that week. I'm already sick of the winter! Thanks for the offer. I was going to ask when you're heading back North.

[youngred]

43. I'm glad to be up north for Christmas

in upstate NY, though not Boston. I miss the snow so much when I'm down in DC.

[ALago1]

3. Wow. Unbelievable!

This illusion of "safety" people attribute to Bush is as irrational as their linking of excessive tax cuts to economic growth and personal prosperity.

I tell ya what, Bush better pray like hell there is not another 9/11 on his watch. That is the ONLY reason average people are supporting him at all. With another attack their little fantasy of invulnerability will come crashing down, and he will get the retribution from these people.

[Bouncy Ball]

5. I've often thought that.

If there is another attack like 9/11 (or even LESS than that big of an attack, but on American soil) this whole theory/smokescreen that he keeps us safe will be toast.

[karlrschneider]

4. That's a poignant story, you ought to post or link it to GD.

Happy new year.

[Bouncy Ball]

7. I wasn't sure where to put it.

I'll put it in GD.

[DoBotherMe]

6. Did she ever explain to you

how * is keeping us safe? I truly don't understand that argument at all. D ; )

[Bouncy Ball]

11. She thinks

after 9/11 he was so strong and resolute (barf--he put on a hardhat, gave a speech and sent the military to Afghanistan, big whoop, that is what I would EXPECT) that that is the reason there has been no other attack. She's told me that in the past.

The really ironic thing is her son is in ROTC in college on an Army scholarship and will graduate in one year and owes the next six years of his life to the Army. Which means he will be in Iraq.

[DoBotherMe]

21. I mean, the dude is responsible for

the deaths of more than 4,000 Americans so far. How can anyone believe that the man who allowed the 9/11 attack to happen is keeping us safe ... I live in fear each day BECAUSE he's in office. He is no leader at all, instill confidence? HAH!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

23. I feel like Bush is like a freakin' cult here in TX. It's only "socially

acceptable" to be for Bush in a lot of places, which makes it easy for people to fall into this trap unless they actually want to think for themselves, and think about their situation like this lady.

[Bouncy Ball]

33. You're so right Mayberry

it really feels that way. It's freaking cult-like.

And scary as hell.

[BikeWriter]

9. She's frickin' brain dead!

:-(

[Sporadicus]

10. He's Not Protecting Your Neighbor from Economic Terrorism

which is no less real than the brand of terrorism * & Co. exploit. In the hierarchy of needs, food & shelter are more immediate concerns than some free-floating anxiety about a nebulous terrorist group.

[Bouncy Ball]

13. Yeah see THIS is what I don't get

She doesn't see the irony/logical fallacy in the fact that she argues that he is SO powerful that he has kept the WHOLE country safe since 9/11 BUT she says he has "nothing to do with economic factors."

Now how is he so powerful with one thing and so impotent with another?

She's never been able to explain that little Kool-Aid moment of hers to me.

[peekaloo]

12. Good thing that bastard in office on 9/11/01 isn't still "in charge"!

Whew, sure am glad Bu$h is keepin' us safe.

:hurts:

[Bouncy Ball]

34. Huh. Really now.

Bastard.

[peekaloo]

41. That's what I always say to the 'Bots who spout the safety line.

It's a lot less painful than banging my head against the wall.

[BikeWriter]

14. May I quote this on my forum? n/t

[Bouncy Ball]

20. Have at it.

[BikeWriter]

49. Okay, thanks. Our people are all Yellow Dog Democrats, so...

they've seen this sort of stupidity before!

[Not_Giving_Up]

15. I know a lady that voted for Bush for the same reason

She needs some sort of medical test, doesn't have the money for it, can't get the help she needs, but she voted for Bush. This lady is one step away from food stamps, just a couple of years away from needing Social Security and Medicare, but Bush makes her feel safe.

[FizzFuzz]

16. I like the way you handled that! I'm impressed!

If it was me, I would have been tongue tied, but you tied it all together beautifully. APPLAUSE!!

Now, let's get this poor woman a brain.
How incredibly pathetic.

This nation is really getting me depressed. I'm so tired of stupid people. Sorry to be so intolerant, but I'm so frustrated that OUR lives are being pulled down along with these imbeciles.

:(

[Bouncy Ball]

22. I normally don't come up with stuff that quickly

but I've been thinking a lot about these issues lately. Wonder why? LOL!

[FizzFuzz]

37. can't imagine why it would be on your mind

:eyes: :sardonic laughter:

:hi:

[SheilaT]

17. You could also tell her

that if Bush had his way, she wouldn't get any food stamps. And she should realize exactly what she voted for.

DON'T let her get away with the hypocrisy. Does she have draft age sons? Have they enlisted yet?

Next time you see her paying for groceries with her food stamps, ask her if she still feels safe.

[Bouncy Ball]

25. She actually has a son who is in ROTC

in college and has an Army scholarship, which means when he graduates in one year, he belongs to the Army for six years and will most likely be in Iraq.

If NOTHING else, that alone would have been reason to vote for Kerry. Sheesh.

[shesemsmom]

18. Sometimes the whole house must fall on ones heads

before they realize the the roof had a leak!!!!!!! God help us all

[Xipe Totec]

19. Cognitive Dissonance

She can't change her mind about Bush because then she would be wrong, and that would make her a bad person (in her own eyes).

It is amazing how many mental gyrations we will go through to try to maintain our self esteem.

But for a true Christian, the road to redemption begins with compunction.

She is not ready yet. Perhaps in time she will.

[Bouncy Ball]

30. Yeah.

She's also a Christian.

Maybe she will. Cognitive dissonance is powerful and painful. People will do anything to avoid the mental pain of that phenomenon.

[bettyellen]

24. because she is taking tax $$ for food stamps, our troops don't have....

enough armor for their trucks! Ain't that the argument her kind usually makes about govt spending?
now that would be snarky... and i would probably say it, too!

[Bouncy Ball]

29. I REALLY had to bite my tongue

because I have heard her saying really hateful things about "lowlifes" who take "handouts" from the government. This is most likely the first time they have had to do this. My husband and I once were on WIC when our daughter was very young, he was in the Army and we didn't have enough money for food (the Army doesn't pay much, don'tcha know) and we were only on it for about three months, but going and applying made me feel so demoralized, so humiliated.

So I would imagine she felt the same way and no matter HOW much I can't fucking STAND bushbots, I just couldn't pile more misery on top of humiliation.

[FizzFuzz]

42. aww shucks, I don't think I could have passed up the opportunity--

"geee, isn't it funny after everything you used to say....I'll bet this gives you a new Christ-like understanding of those less fortunate, eh? :D "

ehh, probably not, it would just be used to fuel her hate later when they are once again in BushXXX I mean God's graces.

[bettyellen]

46. oh wow i would have to bring up the low life quote somehow.....

i would have to toss it in her face. Maybe save it for when they are back on their feet though.

[FizzFuzz]

47. yeah, something like "so how do you feel about low lifes now??"

*innocent stare*

I'm mean :spank:

Bouncy's remark that she's a Dem and doesn't judge about that, it's her Repub "friends" she has to watch out for ---that was perfect and SO damn TRUE!

[bettyellen]

48. yeah, i woulda been snarky and said, oh it's a shame that your repug

friends would label you a low-life now....
bouncy is so darned nice! but i'm glad we all aren't!!

[Nevernose]

26. Goddamn, do I love Texas

It's a lot better now that I don't live there. It just doesn't make any SENSE, does it? It's like being trapped in some kind of absurdist drama -- except I like absurdism...

And, thanks to Bush, Lubbock is safe at last from the courge of terrorrism!

[madaboutharry]

27. "He's keeping us safe"

I know reasonably intelligent people who bought this crap. Parents of kids my kids go to school with, neighbors, my friends, and I just don't get it. I never will.

[Bouncy Ball]

32. I don't get it either

especially since I feel he has made us LESS safe.

You know if 9/11 had happened while Clinton was in office, the right wingers would STILL be screaming about how it was all his fault.

bush has made the world more unstable and dangerous, not less.

:shrug: Count me as one of those who don't get that attitude either, but I'm not sure I want to. It's a lie.

[motely36]

60. Although Clinton wasn't in office, the right wing-nuts are blaming him...

...anyway. There is no way that they can blame it on good-ole-boy Bu$h.

:hi:

[Bouncy Ball]

65. The cajones on those people just amaze the shit out of me.

Big, hairy cajones.

[ikojo]

31. Good for you for pointing out the need for social

programs and the connection between tax cuts for the rich and our current economic woes.

I do this whenever I get together with my family. Two sisters have kids who are using government funded services, one for a pregnancy and the other for food for her infant.

[Bouncy Ball]

36. That's one of the main reasons I'm a Democrat.

I don't want to live in a country where we just leave people hanging out to dry with no help, no compassion, no human DECENCY.

[Bouncy Ball]

38. I just thought of what I SHOULD have mentioned.

I should have mentioned all these "faith-based initiatives" that bush always touts as being his replacement for government social programs. I should have asked her why bush's "faith-based initiatives" (whatever the heck they are) weren't helping her and her family?

[Deja Q]

39. Level headed yet you socked it to her. But she is a true dumbfuck...

What's the point of being safe when she's compelled to suck government teet. One that won't be around for her much longer? She'll eventually regret voting for her piggy pals, don't worry.

[Bouncy Ball]

45. I don't know.

Maybe she will, maybe she won't. I'm beginning to believe people like her could watch bush eat a live puppy on the White House lawn and they'd find a way to insist it was for national security or that it helped the economy. SERIOUSLY out of touch people. To the point of being delusionoids.

[jonnyblitz]

40. very interesting story.

your comments to her were right on, too! I wish I could think as quickly and come up with such clever and smart remarks off the cuff like that. I would not have said anything near as intelligent and would have spent the rest of the day stewing over what I should have said. :thumbsup:

[Bouncy Ball]

44. Nah I don't normally think of stuff like that either

except that I've been thinking about these issues a lot lately and I just got done reading Garrison Keillor's book "Homegrown Democrat" recently and he talks a LOT about such things. My inspiration came from him.

Thanks! :toast:

[FizzFuzz]

55. Damm you Bouncy Ball, for adding another book to my already too long

must read list.

Dammb you, I say.




;)


(has anyone ever told you that your screen name is quite....ah....um, well, (oh come on FizzFuzz, just spit it out)ok, well it's ....very....................... SILLY.)

[Bouncy Ball]

58. Because I'M a goofy silly person

(this coming from someone named FIZZFUZZ???)

And why haven't you read "Homegrown Democrat" yet? Do I have to spank you? There are passages in there that will make you want to put down the book, stand up and start clapping and shouting it is so good. It's all about why he is a Democrat and it's beautiful. Other parts will leave you in tears.

[FizzFuzz]

68. OKOK! I'll get to tha bookstore (a blue bookstore, btw) tomorrow

I just have tooo many books piled up!

ok, now that I have saved my ass, I should deal with the name issue. Specifically, your decision to pull a Pot. Kettle. Black. on me. How low. How very very low. Tsk. Tsk. So low. (goddammit I'm waiting for a witty remark to kick in.....tapping foot. drumming fingers.) Low. Yes indeed, you might say it was low.

***brreeeep***fizzle******plip******
ooo, look at that, wouldja? Seems I just lost my internet connection. Just when a witty remark was right on the tip of my fingers, too...bummer about that......

*****ffzzztttt********

[Bouncy Ball]

69. You are funny.

The kind of funny where I chuckle for a bit but the smile stays on my face a long time.

[FizzFuzz]

77. I think there are few things I love more than cracking people up!

:hi: :D

[bettyellen]

50. it's called esprit de escalier -- staircase wit !!

i'm sure i spelled it wrong, but i love that expression!

[jonnyblitz]

53. ha!

that is good! whether the spelling is right or wrong I get what you mean!!

[bettyellen]

61. you have to slap yourself on the forehead and say Oooof!

and then you're feeling it ! LOL!
how did i post that twice? Oooof!
:spank:

[jonnyblitz]

63. you didnt post it twice

it happened to one of my posts earlier in another thread. its a glich that occurs on here every so often. I have had a post show up THREE times before.

[BrklynLiberal]

72. Curiosity got the best of me. I had to google it.

the word of the day is:

esprit d'escalier \es-PREE des-cah-lee-É\, n.
french. (duh.)

not directly translatable, but "esprit d'escalier" means roughly
"wit of the staircase." big help, right?

the french use "esprit d'escalier" to refer to the regret one
feels after barely missing an opportunity to dish out a perfect
comeback. quip-challenged people (e.g. me) know all about this
phenomenon.

[bettyellen]

51. ooof! dupe!

[NuttyFluffers]

52. it still hurts me to hear of people suffering. any people...

i guess i'm a big o'l bleeding heart liberal, but i got all teary eyed about this post. it's the humanity and its struggle in the face of cruel odds that grabs me. even for her, i mourn.

i probably would have grabbed her in a quick hug and said 'this too shall pass.'

but you are right, sometimes candid honesty along with 'tough love' is the only thing you can offer. it's going to be tough to stand back and watch the misguided suffer -- for as much as i may be angry with them, i still also feel compassion.

[RevCheesehead]

54. Hey, Bouncy! Same neighbor, right?

Sounds like you handled it perfectly.

But her disconnect is astonishing. Especially after all you did to help them out.

Glad to know you like Garrison's book - it's great, isn't it? :)

[Bouncy Ball]

59. Yep, same neighbor.

She is such an archetype, I swear.

Oh my GOD Garrison's book is abso-fucking-lutely amazing. I worship the man. I wanted to stand up and CHEER through most of the book. He made me feel so damn proud to be a Democrat. Now if we had guys like HIM in office....

[RevCheesehead]

62. Heh - "Freeper Archetype" - that's a good one!

Garrison reflects the values I was raised on in Wisconsin. It's one of the reasons why the state has remained, for the most part, blue.

[Bouncy Ball]

64. His book made me want to move to St. Paul so badly.

And yeah she really is the repuke archetype. She doesn't read anything about current events or even a newspaper, she believes everything she hears on the news. No critical thinking going on at all. She subscribes to amazingly hateful stereotypes while not seeing the conflict at all with the fact that she prides herself on being "Christian."

She's really truly clueless. I used to like her, then I got to know her better and heard all her little hateful racist and homophobic jabs and saw her for what she really is and started liking her less and less. And respecting her none.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

66. Hey, BB, off on a tangent here, but check this out.

Bill Moyers, originally of East Texas, gave a very important speech about the state of the media in our country recently. Available in mp3 audio, streaming video and text. Second link is text.

Made me think there's some hope for this state if great guys like that could come from here. Give it a listen if you get a chance. The audio .mp3 pauses a couple of times in the first couple of minutes but then plays okay.

Streaming and .mp3 audio and video of this excellent and important speech available at the first link below.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/24/1731220
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views03/1112-10.htm

[Bouncy Ball]

67. Thanks! I'll check it out!

I like him. And remember, Texas wasn't really reliably red until relatively recently. Could I use more "r" words in that sentence?

Ann Richards, sigh.....

[Robeson]

56. There are pictures of people in Nazi Germany....

...standing on tops of rubble, that were formally their homes, after they were just destroyed by an allied bombing raid. These people literally stood on these heaps, waving little Nazi flags, as the Nazi officials drove by in cars, to survey the destruction. They never could make the connection that it was their government's policies that brought that rubble down on them. Your neighbor is brainwashed. She will never make the connection, even if she is standing on a pile of rubble, that use to be her home.

[FizzFuzz]

57. this is a sobering thought.

:(

I think the human condition needs reconditioning.

[WMliberal]

70. bake them something and bring it to their house.

I mean, she is your neighbor after all.

[Bouncy Ball]

71. Are you serious?

She voted for bush TWICE. I have helped her tons of times with tons of stuff.

But after November 2, no thanks.

[WMliberal]

73. oh come on. think of her position. First the STATE is helping her?

a DUer helping would be like twisting the knife. :evilgrin:

In all seriousness, yes. Tell her it's still the holidays. The Golden Rule, etc. She is a human being after all.

[Bouncy Ball]

74. Ah, gotcha.

:evilgrin:

[deadparrot]

75. I really have no sympathy for Bush* voters.

May they get what they deserve.

[Wapsie B]

76. Same here.

Let them reap what they've sowed.