Had a talk this morning with a co-worker who's a republican

[bigtree]

We started talking about a back injury that I've almost recovered from and he gave credit to God for the recovery and said a few words about his own faith.I remembered our past political discussions and I took the moment to ask him about the election.

"Your guys aren't doing so good," I said, gently baiting him.

"I don't know about that," he replied. "I don't trust the polls."

My thoughts went immediately to the myriad of polls, both state-by-state and national - collectively looking pretty good for Obama - and I pressed him a little further. "I don't trust them either," I said.

"It's just that the media, which is mostly liberal," he said, "is going to try and discourage republican voters from showing up at the polls by making it look like McCain doesn't have a chance to win."

I laughed and told him that I remember making the same argument about the media and the polls when we were behind in 2004.

"It's just that all they want to focus on is Palin's wardrobe, as if that was the only thing important to us out here," he said.

"Well, what do you think it would take to put your guys on top?" I asked. His answer shouldn't have surprised me, bless his heart.

"I think, maybe, a scandal would do it," he replied.

"A scandal?" I said, not bothering to point out how much that contradicted his concern about the media's focus on the trivialities of Palin and her party's $150,000 shopping spree.

"Yep," he said, " a scandal, or something like that.

We had a nice discussion from there. He liked Palin's conservativism and he worried about defense. He told me that he didn't care too much for McCain and he thought Obama was a "nice guy."

"Yep," I told him, letting him off of the hook. "He does seem like a really nice guy."

[Burma Jones]

1. Why do Republicans in Maryland even bother.......?

West Virginia is so close, and yet so far away.......

[bigtree]

22. we do seem to have it locked up right now

everyone's working like mad, though

[dennysp]

2. Isn't it funny how many people don't listen to what they're saying?

[gollygee]

3. If there were a scandal, we would have heard about it by now

We've spent how much time on some guy Obama is acquainted with who did something bad when Obama was 8 years old? If Obama himself had done anything, we would have heard about it.

[bigtree]

5. yep

The obvious response was to point to the entire McCain campaign of smears . . . but, I wasn't interested in pressing my case as I was in listening to his own.

[notadmblnd]

4. I don't think beating them with a feather does any good.

I prefer using the brick method.

[bigtree]

9. oh no,

. . . there was no need at all for that. I wish more folks could manage civil discussions across party lines. We need more of those.

[progressoid]

6. AM Radio has been hoping for a scandal for weeks.

Any day now Obama's illegitimate Iranian love-child is going to show up on CNN! :eyes:

[LibDemAlways]

7. When he credited God with your back injury recovery I

would have been so tempted to respond, "Do you mean if the recovery wan't going so well, that would be God's doing, too? "

My repuke sister-in-law yesterday told me she didn't like how the media was focusing on Palin's wardrobe. My response was since there's nothing between the ears, no substance there, the media has to latch onto something. That shut her up.

[bigtree]

11. no need to challenge his faith

. . . no more than I would want him to challenge my lack of faith.

[LibDemAlways]

16. Oh, I wouldn't have actually said anything, but I sure would

have been thinking it. That just happens to be a sore spot with me. I can't stand when the survivor of a horrible accident in which others died, for example, gives credit to God for his escape.

[Kolesar]

8. Barney Frank thinks Congress could cut the military budget by 25%

$125 Billion put to better use in this country. Blessed are the peacemakers.

[pacalo]

10. "A scandal would only divert our attention away from the issues that matter."

"I'm more concerned about who better has his hand on the pulse of the average Americans like me."

[tjwash]

12. Well,to be fair to him, you actually do get both sides of the story from our media...

...you get Bush AND Cheneys side, so it can't be that bad.

[gratuitous]

13. That was instructive

Your friend doesn't think his ticket can win on the issues; it's going to take a Democratic screw-up for Geezer and Tweezer to come out on top.

[bigtree]

14. It tracks the McCain/Palin campaign's hopes

. . . it's pathetic, really.

[Coyote_Bandit]

15. I talked with a fundie over the weekend

who made many of the same observations. This particular fundie is someone I encounter about once a week or so - and somebody I've been acquainted with for a couple of decades.

She doesn't really like McCain but she loves Palin. She thinks Obama has a hidden agenda and she absolutely despises Biden. She's convinced that the media is liberally biased and the only news close to correct is Fox (big surprise there, eh?). She's also convinced that the polls are wrong - after all, she's never been polled and isn't likely to be polled since she doesn't have a land line. She conveniently ignores the fact that I have been polled multiple times. She's also convinced that the polls are flawed becuase they typically survey more Dems than pukes - never mind the fact that there are more Dems in the country.

The Bachmann debacle also came up in conversation. I knew little Michele 20 some years ago when she was in law school. My fundie acquaintance defended her comments and seemed to share her views.

I think what struck me in our conversation this week was just how defensive this little fundie has become. They may not admit it just yet but these folks know they are going down and going down hard.

When I left that conversation I literally wanted to go bang my head against the wall. I am so looking forward to the opportunity to gloat a bit over Dem wins in November.

[bigtree]

18. boy, that's so close to my guy

I have to say, I've experienced the depths of that same dark despair in many elections. I don't savor that from most voters. I do want these pundits and campaign operatives to eat it, along with their candidates.

I really did try and get this fellow to see the irony of my own despair at the media and the polling in 2004.

[pipi_k]

17. You're way nicer than I am

When he said God was responsible for your recovery from your back injury, I guess I would have asked him why God seems to hate the Republicans so much that he's allowing them to be "smeared" and used in hateful ways by the so-called "Liberal Media".


Does that mean God is powerless against the Liberal Media?

Holy shit...maybe we should all be very very scared!



Gotta go...my virgin sacrifices to CNN are a bit off-schedule today


:evilgrin:

[bigtree]

19. so many faiths, religions . . .

I don't have a clue about any of that. It's always interesting to hear other folks so certain about those.

[alison]

20. Congrats on a successful talk - lord knows that I can't even speak to my Republican co-workers

about politics without wanting to strangle them for their asinine remarks.

[bigtree]

21. heh

. . . there are a few.

I think some of my loudest arguments at work (in the remote past) were over politics, unfortunately.