Just Found Out My Bush Supporting X-Friend Lost His Job

[Beetwasher]

I haven't really spoken to this guy for a while because I lost all respect for him when I found out he was a Bush supporter. This is a smart guy, went to Princeton and he's politically active in Libertarian politics. He was doing programming work for a cable channel in NYC.

Serves him right.

[BillZBubb]

1. He can't be that smart if he's a Libertarian.

Anyway, it does serve him right.

[jeanmarc]

12. Libertarian AND Bush supporter?

That dude is very confused.

[Beetwasher]

15. You Have No Idea

This is a guy who is VERY politically active in the Legalize Marijuana movement AND FOR Gay marriage and Gay equality issues and yet he's a Bush supporter. I never got it, or understood it until I realized his very selfish motives for being involved in those movements and also supporting Bush.

[skypilot]

22. selfish motives

Is he a pot smoking gay man who wants to get married?

[Beetwasher]

24. Pot Smoking Bi-Sexual

Who has political aspirations. He thinks it's smart, politically to support Bush and he also made a decent lving and thought he'd prosper under Bush...:shrug:

Yeah, I know, this guy's a walking contradiction, but a pretty smart guy nonetheless. He did go to Princeton on a scholarship.

[skypilot]

28. "...politcal aspirations...thought he'd prosper under Bush."

UGH!!! Sounds like a quintessential Log Cabin-er. Has he joined yet?

[crispini]

63. "Smart politically to support Bush"

sigh... Karma's a bitch, eh?

[Blue Belle]

66. Ever notice that those who are 'Book Smart"...

are severely lacking in the "Common Sense" department??

[Pushed To The Left]

44. That is what is frustrating

Libertarians are the polar opposite of the right wing when it comes to personal freedom, yet so many of them threw that part away and voted with the religious right! Libertarians should have voted with us!

Of course, if libertarians can band together with the religious right(as disgusting as that is), then the rest of us should sure as hell be able to band together to defeat the right wing!

[JHB]

41. You can be smart and Libertarian, no problem...

...it's being (big L) Libertarian and wise that I would contend are contradictory.

[mhr]

2. Unemployed 60 Months Here - I Say Stick It To Him!

eom

[FreedomAngel82]

Sixty months?

Wow. I'm sorry. :(

[mhr]

20. Yep, Sixty Months - See The Chart Below For How Bad Dallas Is

The jobs lost in the trough were all high-paying telecom work.

The jobs gained have all been low paying service scut work with no benefits.

I have over 3,000 resumes out the door with no prospects in sight.

My two college degrees in Electrical Engineering and Business Administration are worthless. Equally worthless is my Commercial Pilot license and my service as a honorably discharged Naval Officer.

Like others, I am too old and skilled to have value in America today.

[Mr.Green93]

65. Commercial Pilot license?

Why aren't you training beginner pilots at a local air field?

[mhr]

73. I Am Not A Flight Instructor - Pretty Simple!

eom

[Tux]

18. Hold in there

Been 8 months for me. It's killing me too.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. It took my hubby a year to get a job, after he retired form the Navy

and I cannot find any, so I started a business... yep on a shoe string, I think we have spent on it so far 1500 dollars... I expect to make some money on it, but it is not the kind of bidness you make lots of money at...

[Tux]

50. I tried and failed

With a PC repair biz. Too many in this area and I can't spend $2,000 for ads, start a store front, parts to lay around, etc. I tried but I just don't want to lose half my money I have saved. Best of luck to you.

[anarchy1999]

43. Have you looked at or considered commissioned sales of any kind yet?

We met you at an event, you would probably do very well. Just a thought. If you need a little help in that direction contact us through PM. Once again, I think you have some potential. Get out of the box you seem to holding yourself in.

At the same time MHR, you may have to reduce your expectations, and just take a job to feel better and have some income coming in. I don't know all, it is just a thought. I know my husband and I have been living through it since March of 2001. From 6 figures to zero in nothing flat, many times over.

[mhr]

47. Good Advice Except I Have Failed At Every Attempt At Sales

I am just too forthright and don't have the gift for meaningless gab with total strangers.

There are some things that were just not meant to be.

[anarchy1999]

48. Dear MHR, you discount yourself. I met you one evening and you, IMO,

are wrong. You can and would succeed in sales if you only gave yourself half a chance. You have far too much knowledge to be anything but successful if you want to be. You are cutting yourself far too short. IMHO and my husband's, you met us both that night at FunAsia and you have lots of potential.

[mhr]

52. Last Year I Interviewed For Three Sales Positions

All required a personality test as part of the hiring process. The test was the same for all three companies.

I failed the test all three times. All three companies said that I did not meet their profile for a successful sales person based on their profiles.

In addition, I took a part-time phone sales position doing B-to-B sales last year. I scored high marks in doing the job but low marks in landing sales. The company let me go for lack of success.

Besides all of the above, I really despise sales as a job. I find it oh so boring and repetitive. Unlike others I am not motivated by a "killer" instinct to real in prospects and money is a means not an end for me.

I think the verdict is in with respect to my sales potential.

[anarchy1999]

55. Just more of a defeatist attitude, so sorry MHR. You have potential and

you are unbelievably successful at killing it. "killer instinct", Prospects, money not a means, what a bunch of shi@$%$#^%$#/. Go ahead and despise sales all you want. Sales is a learned profession, it does not come naturally for many that are successful in it (sales). It takes hours of hard work, are you up for it? Guess not. You just want and demand your manangement job back. It isn't coming, Jack!

The verdict seems to be in a period for you, you must be destined to live homeless, and under a bridge soon. My patience wears thin with you, you are far too damned smart to give up, but give up you do and ask for help all over DU and for sympathy. What a waste. Go and Teach if nothing else? Get a grip, MHR, you have potential you waste every day!

[mhr]

56. I Am Taking This As A Personal Attack

You did not bother to read my post clearly.

We are all not suited to the same positions and endeavors.

I have nothing but respect for people who can and do sales well.

I have known several of them and have had jobs required to support them.

Regardless of all that exposure to the sales process and sales professionals, I still know in my heart-of-hearts that it is not an activity that I am suited to.

I am sorry that you seem incapable of accepting that.

[anarchy1999]

57. Please don't take it personally. I just know you have tremendous

potential and it just seems to me, IMHO, you are not following through. I could be wrong and I am not attacking you. We liked you lots when we met you, you are tremendously talented. We believe you are selling yourself short. Sorry. That's just what we think. We've worked with many individuals such as yourself.

Please remove your offense, none was intended.

Once again, you may be better suited to sales than even you yourself know. Management has left you on a rock going off the cliff.

[mhr]

58. I Appreciate The Vote Of Confidence

However, I am the one that would wake up with cold sweats when I had the B-to-B phone sales position.

If a job does that to you it is one that you are not well suited to.

Basically, I like dealing with things and ideas not people and their personalities.

This I know about myself very well.

[anarchy1999]

59. And then again, no personal attack intended but............

You just can't seem to get over yourself. Nothing is good enough for you. We've met you, we've talked with you and all you do is cry on about your miserable situation. Most of us are dealing and adapting to how things are, not you! What is up MHR, and this is not personal, we just see so much in you that apparently you do not see in yourself.

Six figures and a managemnet title might be gone, there is a life after, but only when you decide.

[mhr]

61. I Have Adapted Mightily - I Have Downscaled My Life To

800 square feet. I am still solvent and without debt.

Trust me, there are others that have not faired nearly so well.

If you expect me to become a bag boy again like I was in high school forget it.

I'll go into organized crime before I regress that far.

BTW - I send resumes every day. In three years time, I have had only five interviews.

This is not my problem this is an economic problem and it is hurting millions like myself.

[anarchy1999]

62. I did not suggest "bag boy", I suggested you might have talent you are not

using. I suggested sales, okay, you say no, I never suggested "bag boy". You alone set yourself up for failure. "BAG BOY"! I never wrote it or suggested it. I give up.

Head south MHR, you might find a home. You obviously have been hurt far more than any of us. Personally, and this could be considered to be a personal attack (only because we've met you), you just won't/don't want to get well.

GOOD LUCK!

[mhr]

70. You Have Met Me Once - Have Not Seen My Resume

Don't know my background and somehow you presume to know what I do and don't do well.

I suggest that you don't become a career counselor.

You are off to a very bad start!

[Jo March]

3. Well, that is bad. I hope that he puts 2 and 2 together

and figures it out.

[BlueEyedSon]

4. "Clinton's fault!"

[Discord]

5. should send a letter or a quick phone call

and ask him if he's still happy he voted Repuke. Don't say Bush* since he cant run again, but maybe he'll think twice before voting Repuke next go round.

[tinonedown]

6. I suspect he is better off without you as well

I would like to think friends would not celebrate me losing my job under any circumstance. Sounds like this guy is better off not having you as a friend, so maybe you both are better off.

[Beetwasher]

8. Who's Celebrating?

All I said was it serves him right. That's hardly a celebration.

[BlueEyedSon]

10. Kinda like all the Bush voters who are going to lose their SS

while rich folks get the estate tax repealed.

[Warpy]

25. He got what he voted for

so HE should be doing the celebrating.

We're just remarking on Karma.

[gratuitous]

7. Done gloating?

I don't begrudge you the gloat at all. Indulge it, wallow in it, and thoroughly enjoy your former friend's discomfiture.

And when you're done, pick up the phone and call him. Tell him you're sorry he's out of work, ask if there's anything you can do (it helps if you mean it), and let the conversation meander around to how this goof's political choices helped create his personal situation.

You could make this guy a Democratic voter, and we'll take every vote we can get!

[Beetwasher]

9. Actually, I'm Not Really Enjoying His Discomfiture

I'm not really gloating, but I do think it serves him right (ok, I guess that's sort of a gloat). We had quite a few heated discussions about politics and it really made me see him a different light (I had no idea how selfish this guy was).

I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do, but I do appreciate you're input!

[BlueEyedSon]

11. The party of "we" vs the party of "me"

[caty]

21. What goes around--comes around

I find a tiny bit of comfort in knowing that everyone who voted for Bush is going to suffer because of the things Bush has done to us in the past and will do in the future--right along with us Democrates. I find hope in thinking that when a Democratic gets in next term, most of Bush's errors can be on the way to being corrected.

[andyhappy]

The party of "we" vs the party of "me"

wow...what a great way to put it. Simple and straight to the heart!

just like with Social Security. I am so sick of hearing republicans talk about "my money". Its always ME ME ME with that crowd!

did you coin that term? Its great!

[BlueEyedSon]

36. Hi andy, congrats.

[andyhappy]

38. thanks man!

I am psyched!

whoo-hoo!

[Blue Belle]

67. I like it...

The party of "We" VS. the party of "Me".
I see a great bumper sticker in your future!

[inchhigh]

27. but I do think it serves him right (ok, I guess that's sort of a gloat)

No. With respect, it is not a gloat. It is a plain and simple fact. The guy voted for policies that led to his personal downfall. It is not gloating. It is putting the blame where it belongs. Too many people I know who voted for * did it with the idea that his policies would cause someone else to suffer. They would be OK and the people who would be hurt in the new era of personal responsibility would be..... personally responsible. You'll be doing him a favor if you gloat just enough to pound the idea into his head that sometimes it's the good people who get hurt.

[Beetwasher]

29. LOL!

Ok, thanks for the support! :thumbsup:

And welcome to DU!

[gratuitous]

35. Yeah

I was just saying that this is an opportunity to get this guy headed back into the community. If he perceives you as gloating, he could very well get defensive, and you'd just wind up yelling at each other some more.

Maybe he's still selfish, I don't know; maybe he's had a little learning experience (one can hope). But the ballot doesn't ask if your heart is true, just who you're voting for.

[Pockets]

46. Gloating is what THEY do,

people on discussion boards like Hannity.com where I used to post. I'm really impressed by the higher level of character of the people here. They would not even think twice about whether it's alight to gloat. They gloat all day long. Kick'em while they're down, then gloat some more.

The reason I vote Dem is to attempt to get rid of gloating, belittling, mocking people like GWB out of government.

That said, he probably lacked something if he got fired, if not intelligence then common sense, or the ability to apply his intelligence in the real world.

[Wink]

17. 100% chance he will blame dems

If he is anything like all the other republicans I know, * himself could shoot him in the face and he would blame the democrats. He's probably a lost cause and writing him off (after calling him up and rubbing it in) is your only option.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. I personally fieel the same way

if they voted agaisnt their ecnomic interests it will take PERSONAL pain for them to put 2+2 together... heck out of this he may get a new job in manufacture (McDonanalds), and rethink his politics.

Now after you are finished gloating, trust me I understand, do speak to him... and find out if you can help. Over the next few months, as he realizes his good job might as well be gone, slowly emphasize how voting Republican is costing him his job and his future and his livelihood.

[KayLaw]

23. Goddamn right!

If you vote for the candidate who champions outsourcing you deserve no pity when your job is outsourced.

[Hobarticus]

14. Similar story...friend's GOP boyfriend's job is on the rocks

He's seeing his benefits cut severely, got moved from a corner office to a windowless cube, going back to hourly...SERIOUSLY getting hosed.

I'd feel bad if not for his prior ranting about 'market forces' and such.

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. Another good target for conversion, mebbe

It will take lots of personal pain for some of these folks, problem is, they have a high tolerance for pain...

[Hobarticus]

19. Hardly...he's tasted the sweet nectar of the Kool-Aid and is long gone

He'll just blame Clinton, anyway.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. Time and distance

Some history is in order. In 1928 many folks believed the same tripe... by 1933 the mood, the national mood changed completely.

Can you tell me what two events happened here? I am sure you can, the great depresion and FDRs first 100 days, when the new deal was passed and signed into law. The new deal would have never happened if a 1929 event never happened.

We are very close, closer than most think, to a 1929 or worst event. So your fiend is not lost.. he just may have a higher tolerance for pain.

[maxsolomon]

26. libertarian bush supporter makes sense to me

bush SAYS he's going to reduce the federal government & protect your guns. if they buy it, at least to the degree of believing bush will do that more than kerry, then it makes sense.

i think they are suckers & should just vote for the libertarian candidate.

[denverbill]

30. A dose of reality is sometimes helpful for libertarian Utopians.

I'm sure someone like that who is totally into self-reliance and personal responsibility has saved more than enough money to get him through any hard times, without the need to resort to welfare-state assistance programs. I know charity is anathema to libertarians too, so I wouldn't worry about trying to help him out.

[Leilani]

31. Just a thought?

Rather than always blaming the other side, can we perhaps consider that our message may have something to do with the disconnect?

Maybe we know what we stand for, but many others aren't getting the message.

[dweller]

32. sounds like a possible, potential

radical democratic conversion scenario in his future, with the right amount of clear advice and the correct info from you.

go get him.
dp

[mainer]

37. Hope he's refusing to collect unemployment benefits

He don't need no steenkin' government!

[stanwyck]

40. right. After probably bad-mouthing all those

welfare moms and deadbeat "urban" unemployed. "Anybody who wants to work can find work!" If he's guilty of that kind of talk, he may find out how difficult life really is. Maybe he'll learn some empathy. Maybe.
It didn't work for Rush, though. He collected unemployment during his desultory radio jock years, before he was manufactured into a rightwing hatetalker. And now he's conveniently forgotten his own history.
Chickenhawks who pose as warriors. Unemployed who trash talk the "other" unemployed.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.

[stanwyck]

39. Last week, one of Bush's biggest cheerleaders

lost her job after 26 years. Our illustrious governor, Mr. Sonny Perdue, decided to replace veterans with his political payola pals' kids. Even the Bush supporters lost their jobs. So, now they're facing having no employment while in their 40's. Getting the same pay with the same benefits is going to be difficult.
Where I work, oddly enough, the Bushies have been the ones cut. Weird. Because our owners are Bushies. I've been here 11 years now. And when it's time to downsize, the Repubs are the first to go. Our owners don't vote liberal...but they employ liberal.

[mitchum]

42. Well, this will give him plenty of time to re-read that Ayn Rand horseshit

[momisold]

45. I lost jobs under Clinton

I was laid off twice, my hubby also during the Clinton years. I'm not saying Bush is doing a good job, just saying it happens under all presidents.

[napi21]

51. You're right, but another one was easier to find when Clinton was Pres.

The keep talking about new jobs each month, but from everything I see, those jobs don't pay as much as the ones that were lost.

[B Calm]

53. During the Clinton Economic Expansion all you had to do was walk

next door for a new job. Employers were giving workers raises and benifits just to hold them.

[momisold]

72. No, it took a year both times...

hubby lost his job. One of mine was almost a year and the other time was ONLY six months. We both had to change careers to get the new jobs.

[stanwyck]

69. And happening much more

much more under Bush. Read the numbers. His plans aren't working. The old trickle down doesn't. He was an abject failure as a business man and is an abject failure as a President. The first CEO President? Yeah, right. And we know how well those CEOs are doing.

[methinks2]

49. Ha ha ha ha. You're right. He got what he deserved!

Libertarians are true conservatives. They don't like wars. Don't want to spend money. Doesn't make sense for one to vote for Boosh.

[MissMarple]

54. Shall I hand you a tissue?

Or, perhaps not. :-)

I assume he is clueless to the connection between George and jobs.

[deadparrot]

60. Aw, poor baby.

:nopity:

[BlueIris]

64. Yeah.

That'd probably be my reaction, too. It hurts to have ex-friends because they voted for Bush or decided Bush shared their "values" though, doesn't it? I feel that. Sucks. At least perhaps you got a teeny bit of revenge out of this news.

[Blue Belle]

68. Send him a copy of...

"What's the Matter with Kansas?"

[ignatius 2]

71. I saw a Bush supporter on the news last week who had lost his

job when his company cutback. He said they were just tring to cut expenses and he understood that but that they had let go the wrong guy. I burst out laughing,that was so typically a repug thing to say..selfish,callous and shallow to the end.