Republicans voting for Obama

[Robbien]

This OP is being lifted from a renoir diary over at dKos who lifted the story from an Eric at HuffingtonPost.

Eric at HuffingtonPost found his very conservative family would be voting Obama this time around and decided to make a video of how they came to this decision

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-hirshberg/republicans-voting-for-ob_b_136997.html

Now, these are not casual conservatives. These are people who, each in their own way, are deeply committed to their conservative beliefs. For most, this will be the first time they have voted for a Democrat in their entire lives. And when taken as a whole, they represent a fair cross section of the Republican Party. Some younger, some older. Some fiscally driven, some culturally driven. But almost all, up until now, have been intractable. Yet here we all are, staring down the barrel of a remarkably nasty presidential election, all in a rare moment of agreement. I figured this simply could not be an anomaly. Perhaps this was a groundswell.

. . .

I fully expected the results to be compelling and convincing. And they are. What I didn't expect was the emotional wallop these unscripted interviews deliver. A combination of deep disillusionment with the last eight years, disappointment in John McCain's candidacy, and an undeniable draw to Obama brought these people to a political decision that was deeply personal and courageous. It became clear to me that these were more than interviews. These were confessions.

This is what democracy is supposed to be. These people actually listened, considered and were open to the possibility of change. They didn't support a candidate. They actually chose one. And while I'm happy this year they are voting for "my team," they also inspired me to be more open in my own political life.

The video is definitely worth a looksee.
Video link
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/10/22/2277/9629/408/639295



edit: Since I am stealing other site's posting ideas, here's another one lifted from Ben Smith at Politico where he was relating a story (no video) about early voting experiences:

a student in Evansville talked about how the polling place he went to was having some technical problems, and so people wound up standing in line for over two hours before they could vote.

Then...

For me the most moving moment came when the family in front of me, comprising probably 4 generations of voters (including an 18 year old girl voting for her first time and a 90-something hunched-over grandmother), got their turn to vote. When the old woman left the voting booth she made it about halfway to the door before collapsing in a nearby chair, where she began weeping uncontrollably. When we rushed over to help we realized that she wasn't in trouble at all but she had not truly believed, until she left the booth, that she would ever live long enough to cast a vote for an African-American for president. Anyone who doesn't think that African-American turnout will absolutely SHATTER every existing record is in for a very rude surprise.

[skypilot]

1. kick

*

[tanglefoot]

2. We have a Republican on our Obama team

She was formerly a staffer for a congressman in DC and actually attended BushII's inaugural ball.

She despises what has happened to her party and her country. She's supporting Obama because the hate, torture, inability to pass any meaningful legislation and the destruction of our civil liberties has got to stop. You should hear her on the phone talking Republicans into voting for Obama. She kicks butt.

Plus, our Republican Sheriff is backing Obama.

This kind of stuff is happening more and more.