I got punched in the gut today...

[Fumesucker]

My grown daughter, who is by no means stupid or ignorant but is totally and completely uninterested in politics, told me she was planning on voting for McCain because, and I quote, "I like his smile".

I know better than to argue with her, much like her mother and her grandmothers on both sides she has a whim of iron. If you are familiar with the MBTI she is an ENTJ, whose description is "the field marshal" and defining quote, "I'm sorry that you have to die".

Not to mention that I want to maintain my excellent relationship with my three grandkids and arguing with her would likely lead to damage on that front.

Her vote doesn't really matter, I'd be utterly shocked if our state went blue in this election, but I really had no clue my daughter thought this way. Like I said, talking politics with her is like trying to talk football to me, she just doesn't give a crap and the once or twice I have pressed on anyway in the past it has ended up in an unpleasant scene.

I did relate McGigolo's rather sordid history with his first wife, the fact that he graduated at very near the bottom of his Annapolis class and the fact that he crashed two planes before he ever got to Vietnam and then left it at that.

Just had to get that off my chest, thanks for listening.

[Kutjara]

1. You mean this smile?

Doesn't do much for me, to be honest.

[amyrose2712]

5. LOL n/t

[thunder rising]

11. Tell her it's not a smile, it's like a baby .. It's gas.

[valerief]

2. Unless you're filthy rich, you could plaster tax break charts from

McCain's plan and from Obama's plan around the house. Money motivates more than smiles.

[Fumesucker]

13. They don't have money now, but they have inherited property from his family

And will probably have a few million when it goes commercial some time in the next couple of years or so.

That kind of kills the money angle.

Plus he's a former Marine and his daddy was the local sheriff. He's a good guy a good husband and a good father but not exactly the most open minded person around. He and I get along well because I'm a former Marine also and we do have some common interests but we don't talk politics either.

[lonestarnot]

3. Your daughter like yellow corn jack-o-lantern creepy smiles?

Ick she has poor taste IMO.

[Booster]

4. It hurts and it's frustrating when you can't get through to the ones

you love, especially when you know they are not voting in their own best interests. After talking til I was blue in the face, I finally got through to my nephew who is a Marine and was going to vote for McCain because of the POW thing. He now finally understands that McCain and the republicans are not going to do anything to help get out of the financial mess he's in - another housing story.

[GardeningGal]

6. She likes McCain's smile over Obama's or Biden's?

I think I'd be suggesting she go to an eye doctor - pronto!

[Fumesucker]

17. I don't care for Biden myself.. for personal reasons I don't want to get into here.

Obama does have a nice smile.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Blue Belle]

7. ALL politicians know how to smile...

that's part of the job.

[Gabi Hayes]

8. have her watch this

http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=gJHNizBm_BY

[valerief]

18. Shudder. He's the monster in the closet or under the bed.

[orleans]

29. that was hysterical! omg! n/t

[Arugula Latte]

9. Keep working on her, a little bit at a time.

Tell her that McCain is anti-woman, which is very true.

[Fumesucker]

15. I appreciate the thought..

But like I said, it really doesn't matter anyway and I'm not going to take a chance on damaging my relationship.

My son in law agrees with me that his wife would make an excellent DI. Pig headed obstinate is an understatement.

[yardwork]

10. Tell her that he called his wife a cunt.

I've been kind of surprised to hear this from several people lately. I thought it was common knowledge, but apparently not. Anyway, the two women who told me this were really shocked and appalled that McCain called his wife a cunt.

It might interest your daughter.

[Fumesucker]

14. She was a service wife, Marine...

Foul language doesn't phase her at all.

When I was a Marine, the base paper right before Thanksgiving one year had a little advice for Marines going home on leave, "when you ask someone to pass the salt, *don't* describe it".

[magellan]

12. Unfortunately there are many people who will vote for superficial reasons

That was no doubt a substantial part of the reasoning behind McCain's pick of Palin for VP. Men are agog at the ex-beauty queen with the nice Repub values family (:puke:) and women will like the old guy who gave a woman a shot at VP and potential presidency.

It isn't difficult to herd the uninformed masses. Just put something shiny in front of them. They won't care if it's made in China, as long as it looks good they'll buy.

Walmart country.

Sigh. :hug:

[AlCzervik]

16. My sister is voting for McCain, i just about fell over when she told me.

and then she said some other things unrelated to the election, this was over a 2 week period when she came to visit. Anyhow right about the time i was about to buy the woodchipper it all hit, all of it and i figured out why she was voting for McCain and i was horrifed, like wtf, omg who the fuck are you, how is it possible we have the genes kinds of thing. Anyhow i was really glad when she left and i'm really disappointed in her and sad and i really don't know how to handle it, it's something i cannot change.

[Fumesucker]

19. My daughter has basically had it a bit too easy..

Her personality and skills are such that she has no problem finding a good job even in this economy, her husband has an excellent job with excellent benefits because of skills he learned in the service and he is a strong "people person" also which makes it easier for him. They live on property he inherited and have no mortgage.

Neither one really "gets" that a lot of people are truly hurting right now. Intellectually I think they may, but definitely not emotionally.

[AlCzervik]

22. My sister has also had it pretty easy, it's like we had 2 different child hoods becasue we did.

I need to figure out a way to work around this problem, it's on her end, not that i'm a peach or anything but this issue is deep in there, i don't know how it got there but i don't think it's going away.

[orleans]

30. maybe she'll change her tune when mcbush raises their taxes

for the next war--or drafts your grandkids--or gambles away their future social security--or puts in the fix on the supreme court and screws our grandchildren's generation.

"mommy? where did all the polar bears go?"
"well honey, there was a vice president who didn't like polar bears so she let them all die."

tell your daughter to take another look at barack. he has an absolutely beautiful smile--and far better teeth!





plus he's cute.


see the difference?

[ellie]

39. Back in 2004,

my sister said something to the effect that she wasn't "sure" about Kerry. Man, did I set her straight. I told her all of the factual reasons you don't vote for idiot repukes, then I told her all of the emotional reasons. It's called tough love. Sometimes people need to be told how to cut through the spin. If that doesn't work, tell her voting day is the Tuesday following the election. She will probably believe you.

[Fumesucker]

42. I've butted heads with her all her life..

She is far from stupid and not ignorant either about a lot of things.

But she is one of the most obstinate people I've ever met and she comes by that genetically.

Trying to change her mind will severely damage our relationship and I have no intention of doing that.

The last time I tried to talk politics with her was a couple of years ago about the woman whose child died from an abscessed tooth, we ended up in a heated argument over health care and she wouldn't speak to me for several weeks.

[seabeyond]

20. you might try his joke on rape, chelsey when she was 14ish and calling wife cunt

and put make up on like a tramp in public in front of newsmen. and also suggesting she do a topless buffalo chip or something. those things turn women off and that smile isnt so cute

[Xenotime]

21. She's being brainwashed. You need to stop her soon.

[Fumesucker]

24. I'm not even going to try...

Firstly there's no point because our state is about the reddest one around and secondly she doesn't take orders from anyone, she gives them. She literally will not sit in the window seat on a plane because if she's not in control why look..

Trying to get her to care about politics is like trying to get me to care about football. It isn't going to happen and if I push the issue hard enough I'm going to get cut off from my grandkids to a greater or lesser extent. I spent the summer watching my grandkids and I'm working on them, subtly putting radical ideas in their heads while having a great time skin diving, bike riding, hiking, playing games..

[tannybogus]

23. I heard some idiot woman who was considering Obama after his speech say

that she might vote for Palin if she sounds smart.
I'm sure she sounds smart talking about those fricking mooseburgers
that Andrea Mitchell moons around about. However, I want to
hear more than her food choices and her PTA leadership.

[DCKit]

25. "That's wonderful dear. But you've only got x years to prepare your children for deployment...

time to get busy."

[Fumesucker]

27. Read the thread..

Her husband was a Marine and she was a service wife. They actually had a good time and his MOS would have never come anywhere near any actual action, REMF to the core (Corps ;) ).

What most people don't realize about the military is that only a small percentage of troops are actual trigger pullers who engage the enemy, the vast majority are support personnel who are in little danger.

She knows this so having her kids in the military doesn't scare her like it would most folks.

[riverdeep]

26. Everyone has a leverage point.

Everyone has an argument that would make them take notice. But it might take some time and doing to find, and may not be worth it to you.

As for marines being for McCain? The same McCain that this year voted against H.R. 1591 which included providing one billion in additional funds for Veterans Affairs?

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h1591eas.txt.pdf#page=155

He may say he had to vote against it because it included time tables. The same time tables, sorry, I mean aspirational timeline horizons, that are now part of even the Bush plan, and supposedly time tables mean micro-managing a war by Congress. Something he's philosophically opposed to. Except he isn't. When Clinton was President, he threatened to cut off funding for troops while in Somalia, in harms way, if the Clinton policy wasn't changed.

“Mr. President, can anyone seriously argue that another 6 months of United States forces in harm’s way means the difference between peace and prosperity in Somalia and war and starvation there? Is that very dim prospect worth one more American life? No, it is not.” -John McCain, 1993

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/26/mccain-somalia-haiti/

He doesn't care about the troops, they are, at best, secondary to his own personal aspirations. Obama can't say it, but I can.

[Fumesucker]

28. Thanks, but I know all that..

Like I said above, I know I won't change her mind on anything, I'm not sure I've managed to change her mind on anything once it was made up in her entire life.

I like strong minded women, I married one, but they damn sure can be a pain sometimes.

[riverdeep]

31. You could always learn the mind control techniques of Derren Brown.

:P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ezOYm6MHs&feature=related

[Hekate]

32. I'm so sorry, Fumesucker. I agree with you that preserving family relationships is more important...

... than trying to score a political point. I completely see your point in this regard. You just do what you can and keep your eyes on the prize, which is having your grandkids in your life. :hug:

And I am so sorry your daughter's political sensibility is diametrically opposed to yours. That hurts.

Hekate

[Fumesucker]

41. It's not really opposed

She just doesn't really have a "political sensibility" at all..

Thanks for the kind works..

[Straight Shooter]

33. Maybe she likes his smile because his smile reminds her of somebody.

Get to the heart of why she likes his smile and you might be able to nip this in the bud. Doesn't matter if you're in a red state, because every vote is an expression of the voter's conscience.

Good night, and good luck. :patriot:

[last1standing]

34. "I like his smile" is probably a cover.

I'm afraid you're going to have to accept that your daughter no longer holds the same values as you. It hurts to see that kind of thing happen, but sadly it does.

Good luck.

[Karl_Bonner_1982]

35. At least she's not like my uncle

He's a true economic conservative along the lines of Reagan, Thatcher and Friedman. He actually believes that liberal economic policies are bad and that trickle down works. And the scary thing is that he's quite socially liberal and votes Republican SOLELY on economics.

[WritersBlock]

36. I hear ya, Fumesucker.

I'm in the same situation with some of my relatives. My sister and I have only been able to speak of superficialities for the past five years; any mention of politics rapidly results in either silence or a screaming match. We just can't have rational discussions about it. So we wind up not discussing much of anything. And that's really sad. Neither one of us is getting any younger.

And lately I've begun to feel the same sort of awkwardness between myself and her married daughters, and that is unbelievably, incredibly painful.

Dunno what to tell ya.. hang in there for the sake of the little ones, I guess. I know the feeling.

[B Calm]

37. As parents, it's our responsibility to raise our children to understand politics!

[Fumesucker]

38. Believe me I tried..

You just can't get someone to care about something they don't care about.

I understand that because there is a great deal of popular culture which a lot of people seem to care about a great deal that I couldn't possibly care less about. I watch stadiums full of people going nuts over some game, doesn't matter what game, and I'm totally perplexed as to why they do what they do. I never watched the first moment of the Olympics, I think athletic competition is a stupid waste of time and watching it is way worse.

Part of it I think is the "they're all the same" meme, I have to admit having to fight that one myself from time to time when the Dems bitterly disappoint me. "Impeachment off the table", Obama's telco immunity vote, stuff like that has me grinding my teeth and staying away from politics for a while out of sheer frustration sometimes.

It's not that my daughter and her husband are freepers, far from it, they are just not focused on politics at all and are making their choices based on the totally shallow stuff on the M$M.

Look at the number of people on DU that talk about how their brother or sister thinks completely opposite from them politically, if it had to do with early training all siblings would think alike politically but they don't.

[ZombieHorde]

40. Ouch!