"I'm A Republican and I Won't Be Voting For Bush"

[Beetwasher]

One of my co-workers who I talk politics w/ frequently just walked into my office and said this to me, or words to that effect. Actually he said he was voting for a specific Dem candidate but in order to keep this in GD I won't mention who.

He's Vietnam vet and hard-core conservative/Libertarian and said he's completely disgusted and fed up with
Bush and all the lies and all the screwing of Vets. His son also served in Iraq in the special forces (his son is
disgusted and will not be re-enlisting) and came home recently w/ a scar down the whole side of his face.
Because of budget cuts his son will not be able to get any reconstructive surgery. He was pissed. They are
closing down a Veterans Affairs center in his neighborhood and a lot of his vet friends are going to be out of
services. He was pissed. His youngest son needs speech therapy but because of school budget cuts his son
will not be able to get it. He was pissed. He said he's pissed off like crazy at the trillions in deficits coming
down the line because his young son will have to pay that off. His pissed off that his prescription drug costs
are going up. It all came home to him and he's turned completely. This is pretty big. Just a year ago this guy
said there was nothing that would change his support from Bush. His support was visceral and
unchangeable at that time and that support is gone. The barrier has been broken and I can't believe he's
an isolated example.

[LuLu550]

1. It's about time the military woke up

and realized that Bush is not friend. They are nothing but cannon fodder to him.

[TNOE]

21. Based on the looks of the millitary faces

at the SOTU speech - I think they have! They all looked pretty disgusted to me!

[barbaraann]

2. They only get it when it touches them.

We have to find some way to make rightwingers understand that we are all in the same boat BEFORE it starts leaking.

[GreyV]

4. Exactly...

It's not their problem until somebody makes it. In this case it was one of their own.

[Ishoutandscream]

7. Exactly. The true definition of a right-winger

It has to hit close to home. What happens to others simply doesn't count.

[judge_smales]

3. I'm still shocked that it took these

people so long to see what the hell was happening.

[leftchick]

5. I am convinced it is not isloated....

My mother-in-law is a life long repub. She adored bush* in 2000, hated Clinton and omg, Hillary!! She only watches Faux News. I thought it was a hopeless cause with her. Last month she told my hubby she would NEVER vote for bush*. She thinks he is destroying this country. All of her lady friends, save one, will never vote for bush* either. The one who still loves chimpy* drives her nuts and she hates to talk to her. Last weekend my hubby spoke to her and she said she wants to vote for ***** (a Dem.)! I think I see pigs flying....

:crazy:

[havocmom]

12. Even in my isolated berg (80% shrub* in 2000) the tide is turning

I am hearing some chatter about dem candidate debates. The flags are off the pickup trucks. Nobody speaks fondly of the malAdministration. Nobody defends them. They know Cheney is out. They are more than seriously displeased with the treatment of Vets. As they see all our reservists leaving for Iraq, the AWOL discussion is getting pretty pregnant here. The are majorly pi**ed about corporate crime going unpunished as dividend checks, that were supposed to ensure a safe old age, dwindle to less than the price of a loaf of bread. The list goes on.

The news is all cable here, in this most remote town in the lower 48, but we be highly wired for DSL internet connections in town and satilite or dial up out there on the family farms. Fibar optic everywhere! (Thank you, Conrad Burns; your work to get us great phone service will be your undoing! heh heh) The folks here abouts are getting more and more involved with online news sources and it is showing. If the GOP (Greedy Overreaching Parasites) cannot keep sheep in the pen around here, there is hope for America.

oh, and we vote with pencils in this county ;-)

[marie123]

22. I didn't realize I had a daughter

:-)

I am your mom in a lot of ways, so boy can I relate!

You guys need to be careful as us freepers are coming over here in droves!

[rockymountaindem]

32. Welcome to DU!

Thanks for having an open mind and seeing past the partisanship.

[kysrsoze]

45. Hey, come on in!

Everyone is invited. I'm starting to feel much more confident that things will eventually turn around. We're ALL screwed unless things change and it looks like more people are seeing that every day.

A big welcome to DU.

[Trajan]

54. Your a Freeper ? ...

Nah .... your too nice to be a freeper ...

Welcome to DU ...

[Solomon]

6. These are the best stories ever.

More More More. I love it.

[TXDemGal]

13. Same, here!

Bring 'em (more of these great stories) on!!! It doesn't take much to make my day these days, and this thread has. Thanks for posting.

[kaitykaity]

8. He's not. I have a friend who was arch

conservative. Unfortunately he is in IT and he
hasn't had a job in over two years.

He's voting against Bush this fall.

[Sophree]

9. I've convinced

my conservative S.O. to vote ABB. He hates * now and can't even stand to look at him.

My VERY conservative uncle is now a Centrist because of *. He's an Accountant and I'm sure *'s fiscal policies are horrifying him. This was shocking to me, because he was the one we always got into arguments over the Thanksgiving turkey with. He also no longer listens to Rush- "He once had interesting things to say, but he no longer has any credibility."

Not to say that this is representative, I still hear many people who think B*shie is a good, moral man. :puke:

But it does give me some hope!

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

41. How do you effect these conversions?

In the case of a spouse you have the advantage (or disadvantage) of constant exposure, you can work on them at a geological pace.

I'm serious here. I can't see converting anyone in a direct argument--human nature is not like that, even if you beat them cold pride won't let them convert right then and there. I'm no different.

I've always viewed it like a process like getting a stray animal to trust you, leaving food/information out, etc. Eventually if they read it they will have to come to their own conclusion on the merits. But I've had no success with this myself, that I know of. I don't know anyone who has changed their mind or vote due to vitriolic arguments on internet discussions.

So for those who have actually converted someone. Any pointers? Were there any hot button issues that were the key (I would imagine the war would be one of the biggest, for or against, as emotions run the hottest)?

[Sophree]

44. You have the right idea.

We used to have screaming matches with each other over politics and B*sh in particular. We've had other little disagreements, but this was the only thing we ever fought about.

So I decided to change tactics. I let things lie for a while. Then I just started to feed him little bits of information about B*shie, 911, etc. Just the facts and just enough to get him thinking. By the time the Iraq War started, he had come to a lot of realizations on his own about * and his plans to take over the world, so we started having much more calm discussions about politics. We still agree to disagree on many things, but he's come a really long way.

[kysrsoze]

46. Exactly right

My young urban, gay coworker who constantly defended Bush et al, and refused to read the copy of Blinded by the Right which I offered him, is getting progressively more pissed off about how bad everyone is getting fucked. He was steaming after Bush pushed in the SOTU to ban gay marriage.

All it takes is for people to see that this cabal does NOTHING in their interests (plus a little prodding), and they'll defect in droves. We're going to get our country back soon.

[Damn Hippie]

10. I am hearing the same thing here

Most of the people I work with voted for Bush in 2000. Quite a few are now admitting it was a mistake that they will not make again. The others, who were enthusiastic Bush cheerleaders a few months ago, have become very quiet.

[Sophree]

11. Also- the Diane Sawyer interview

My Dad's coworkers were talking about that interview, realizing what a JERK B*shie is, commenting on how we're being led by a C minus student.

We've seen him act this way before- treating foreign dignitaries and leaders with such childish contempt and disrespect, but I think that interview was mainstream America's first glimpse at what a PRICK we have for a pResident. Yay, finally the facade may be crumbling.

[yankeeinlouisiana]

62. Foreign Dignitaries

I think he acts childish because he knows he's out of his league when meeting with other leaders or leaders, he's not much of a leader now, is he.

;-)

[Papa]

24. same here

The freepers in my office have become very quiet as well. I have a freeper co-worker who used to be as rabid as a bull dog in support of bush. He has changed his tune a bit now that he can see that Bush lied to everyone. We debated the Iraq war before we invaded, and every argument I put forward back then is being proved true. He's still a Bush supporter, but even he sees that it's important to tell the truth. You can't have a real debate or honest discussion about an issue if what you are debating is false.

Bush should have told us, "look Saddam is a bad guy and that's the only reason we are going to take him out. We have no credible information that he is an imminent threat, but things changed after 911, and we are going to remove every dictator and murdering thug in power, and free the oppressed of the world." or, "Look, if we want to survive in the future, we got to have that oil."

Then we could have a real debate about the real reasons for going to war. Bush knew the public would not easily support an invasion for these reasons if we were not threatened. So he just made shit up to make it easy. We'll make WMD's the focus...everyone can agree on that. This is why my freeper co-worker is a little Less rabid these days. He was out supporting the administration, repeating their arguments verbatim, and now he's been betrayed...and he knows it.

The question now is how much does it bother him and will he vote against Bush.

[Lugnut]

64. That's what I'm getting.....

Dead silence from previous * cheerleaders. There's not much for them to cheer about I guess.

[qanda]

14. I heard a woman on C-SPAN this morning who broke my heart

She was a staunch Republican, very much into the pro-life movement. She was so disgusted with the lies and secrecy of this administration that she was in tears. She brought up Skull and Bones, AEI and PNAC. Her sisters had spoken to her last evening and asked her if she would accept the same if a Democrat were in office and she said that her world was pretty much turned upside down.

I really felt where she was coming from because I know a lot of people who join the Republican party because of their religious beliefs and it takes some very critical thinking and looking outside of yourself to understand that the policies of the Republicans are manipulative and dangerous. The party in power right now is the real danger to Christianity and humanity, as far as that goes. It will take more people like that woman, who are willing to feel the pain of being wrong, to humble themselves and admit that if we don't get the Bush* Administration out of office, we're all doomed.

[calimary]

19. You just said something REALLY crucial, pbl.

"Her sisters had spoken to her last evening and asked her if she would accept the same if a Democrat were in office" - WHAT A QUOTE!!! That's the quote of the week, if not the year. No - the last three years.

That's a quote we should be spreading around everywhere. Would you (conservative person) accept the same lies and secrecy if a Democrat were in office?

And don't forget the good ol' Reagan standby... "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"

[leftchick]

30. oh the irony, religious people voting republican!!!!!

I don't think it takes a lot of critical thinking to realise all of the republican policies are the exact opposite from what Jesus taught when he walked the Earth.

[Toots]

49. I learned a wonderful reply on one of the threads today

Used against a Republican for almost any argument: It's a Christian Thing. You wouldn't understand it.

[leesa]

57. It's so true. There are many conservatives who have swallowed

GOP nonsense for such a long time that they have lost their sense of rational thought. The cynical GOP christian movement has created the most bizarre fake christianity. These people have a painful road to travel as they realize they have not been following the teachings of Jesus at all, but the teachings of the GOP. As they begin to get angry at the GOP, they will hopefully realize they need to examine their beliefs and do some real soul searching.

[justsam]

15. glad you drought up this subject

i'm one of the few Dems where i live and while in the coffee shop last week sitting next to the chairman of republican party who was talking with the owner.. He stated that he was not going to vote for Bush and was going to vote dem.. I thought he was on drugs or something because he has always been a die hard repub. He said that when Bush cut the stem cell research, that did it for him.. keep up the good work Bush you a%$#____

[soleft]

16. My Friends Repub Dad and all his Repub friends want Bush out

hey, does this constitute a meme?

[Dulcinea]

17. My parents haven't voted Dem since Kennedy...

...but they won't vote for Boy George this fall! Dad is a fiscal conservative & hates this misadministration's deficit spending, & Mom is angry about more & more of our servicemen & -women getting killed every day in Iraq.

I think the tide is slowly turning.

No one of any political stripe likes being lied to!

[RoadRunner]

18. I'm hearing it everywhere

I live in an extreme Republican stronghold - a country club community on the outskirts of town, where the most commonly seen bumper sticker used to be "Friends don't let friends vote Democrat." No more. Now my neighbors are saying they'll vote for the Democratic (yeah, they say the "-ic" now) candidate or stay at home. The thing they talk about most is Bush's lies.

Also, I have a summer place in redneck country. My neighbor is a big shot in the military with more guns in his house that there is at WalMart. He's more right wing than Atilla the Hun. I went up there last week and was shocked to see a "Kerry 04" yard sign in front of his house.

I haven't heard a single person, anywhere, say they voted for Gore last time but are now changing to Bush. All Bush has left is his die-hard, racist, fundamentalist base.

[SpiralHawk]

28. Bush lies and exaggerates - that's the meme that has caught on

because Bush and his administration have done it repeatedly. They are making as issue of it. Every lie is a drip...drip...drip

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time. But you can't fool all of the people all of the time." (Abe Lincon?)

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. He's a Libertarian. He shouldn't blame Bush for creating the very kind

of world that your friend promotes on a philosophical level.

[el_gato]

26. nothing Libertarian about the government spying on your every move

[The Backlash Cometh]

29. A la carte politics are not possible when you vote Republican.

And for a Libertarian, they had better be prepared to face adversity from both parties, since their concept of government is the most anarchistic choice of all.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

23. My husband voted for poppy, I voted for Dukakis.

My husband again voted for poppy, I voted for Pres. Clinton. My husband voted for Dole, I voted for Clinton. My husband voted for dumbya, I voted for Gore. Obviously, we have a mixed marriage. Anyhoo, hubby will vote dem if a particular person is either running for Pres or VP. He will vote if another particular candidate is running for Pres, no matter who's his VP. If none of these scenarios fit, hubby will abstain. As a hint, hubby is a vet with as many medals as a particular candidate.

[zbdent]

25. Hmm, how far can you throw him?

Although he may be sincere, I wonder at some of these "I won't vote Bush ever again!" "converts" are saying this to get us to lay off the truth?

This smells of "I'm a lifelong Democrat, BUT " LOTEs, written by the dittoheads.

[slippery_pete]

27. my best friend....

my best friend is a die hard republican and hates bush. he hates him for the war and the budget more than anything. he has said on more than more occassion that he will vote dem unless it is a certain candidate against bush. not to mention his wife always votes with him. so that is two swinging over.

[myrna minx]

31. Welcome to DU, slippery pete.

My office freeper and "patriot", who tried to start a conga line when "shock and awe" occurred, is now remarkably silent. This is huge folks. My gawd, we do not have the media, we do not have congress or the courts, yet the people are waking up to the horror of this administration. I have huge hope for us all. This cabal shouldn't have built their house of cards on sand.

[ursacorwin]

33. so how to explain the arrogance?

'cause i've heard a lot about this. the lies, the cuts to VA and other important "conservative" areas of the budget, the little faux pas with stem cell research, immigration, tariffs in key areas, the kowtowing to the chinese...

so why do they act like they've got nothing to worry about? rove, et al?

[bobbieinok]

34. like W in FL - they KNOW they will win - the FIX is in

...

[watercolors]

42. Gore actually won Fl

I don't think jeb will try again, Katherine is gone, and Floridans are angry!!I'm very hopeful we will be blue!

[July]

52. "we do not have the media, we do not have congress or the courts"

It's clear that "we, the people" are waking up. If this movement keeps growing, who among the media, Congress, and the courts will be the first to jump on our bandwagon? At some point, somebody will see the percentage in speaking out for an ever more popular point of view and will get a ton of notoriety for saying that the emperor has no clothes. Now, I know that some people are already saying these things, but who's going to be the mainstream figure who turns things? I'm thinking of Johnson's "losing" Walter Cronkite.

Any guesses or hopes?

[Trajan]

55. Think "Money" ...

Of ALL those who have abandoned us: WHO stands to most benefit from an ever-increasing pool of Bush/GOP detractors ? ...

I have no idea myself: ... Perhaps the media has the most to gain, as well as the investor class, who will take the fall REALLY bad when the bill comes for this deficit in skyrocketing interest rates ...

[July]

56. A major newspaper, or a RW pundit?

If a paper sees the chance to break out the new Woodward and Bernstein, or if a pundit thinks s/he will get big ratings by giving a forum to liberals, there could be money in it for them, though not the kind of money the BFEE deals in. If the economy really takes a dive, maybe some corporate leaders will freak and turn on the RW.

I can't believe that one of the pundits (not to be confused with real journalists) hasn't noticed what's going on outside the Beltway. Somebody could get a lot of attention . . .

[Hav]

35. ..

It's all fine what they are saying now and when they start to reflect about what happened to the country.
But it's still quite long until Novemver and much can happen that could change their feelings,much propaganda that could work.
What really matters is what they do in November.

[napi21]

36. True with the military

My son is in the Navy, and "was" a Bush supporter....NO MORE! Thank goodness. He was home last week from Sicily, and all he said was the guy is not going to get re-elected.

I also have several other relatives who admit they voted for Bush in 2000, but they're sorry now. It's becoming a ABBA movement!!!!!!!!!!

Anybody but Bush again!

[Cassandra]

37. A friend of mine in the neighborhood is...

a gay, rabid RW, chef. He must listen to Fox and Limpballs all day long because he thinks I'm a radical (I'm pretty moderate). We got into a discussion (argument) yesterday and he started yelling at me that all the lefties want to do is shoot all the Republicans or send them all to Gitmo, and that he didn't want to hear that sort of talk anymore from me. Since, as I pointed out to him, I've never had those thoughts, let alone expressed them, I can only assume that all that projection is Fox-fueled defensiveness. I've never seen him so defensive. He called the candidate I support a rank amateur, refused to discuss the Kay report and we didn't even get to *'s immigration policy. Considering that this guy became a Repub over immigration policy, this must really be eating at him. If he hadn't been buying the RW line that no one on the left can be trusted, he might be able to make rational choices, but he is thoroughly brainwashed. And the funny thing is that he thinks I've been brainwashed and am unable to deal with facts. Last summer he was insisting that Enron hadn't committed massive fraud against California and even after I handed him a hard copy of the FEC press release on the subject, he still wouldn't accept a government directive as the truth. This guy has it bad and it's really sad because he is a wonderful person who's always willing to give of his knowledge about food and cooking. Not sure if he will ever believe the truth about *. He still doesn't want to admit any wrongdoing by Nixon, so we have a ways to go with this one.

edit: even spellcheck can't catch everything

[lapislzi]

38. I am still dealing with 2 PBJ-ers

and I ain't talkin' peanut-butter-and-jelly here, folks.

PBJ = Perennial Blow Job

There are 2 of them in my office. Not unintelligent people, either. One is an ex-Marine, one is an ex-military wife.

Apparently nothing could ever be as bad as that BJ. Not war, not a tanking economy, not environmental chaos, not shafting the veterans, not health insurance that costs more than most people's mortgages, nope, nope, nope. Nothing doing.

And apparently some lies (the ones about sex) are worse than others (the kind that get people killed.) Apparently some lies are "necessary" and "excusable." Who knew?

Some people are simply beyond reason.

I just walk away scratching my head. And they call ME an extremist!

[Shopaholic]

39. I think it's a combo of Rush & Fox that gets them going

I know of no less than two women who have banned their husbands from watching Fox or listening to Rush because it made them so angry & grouchy! No kidding. I still laugh every time I think about the Vanity Fair article a couple of years back that referred to Fox as the "Angry White Male" network. Sounds about right to me. But seriously, I live in a very Republican part of my state and I can tell you that the party regulars are not real thrilled with Bushie-boy. Sadly, that won't stop them for voting for him anyway come November. And back to the BJ's----why is it that lying about sex was so wrong but lying about WMD and causing the deaths of hundreds of US soldiers is okay? Why aren't these same folks screaming for a special consul to investigate Bush?

[lapislzi]

40. Wish I knew, scmirage

my own theory is that the ones who scream the loudest about the BJ are the ones least likely to be on the receiving end of one.

but then...

ah'm jest a dumbocrate, remember?

Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[Solomon]

43. Exactly. Americans are sexually repressed. Puritans when it

comes to sex. I remember the first time I went to Europe. The difference in culture was stunning. In europe, you will hardly ever see real violence on tv, no where near like it's shown hear. But you do see a lot of sexual images, nudity, etc.

America is kind of opposite to that. Some of the worse violence ever shown appears regularly on american tv, but we cringe when a titty is shown. It's very strange. I think we are the most violent culture in the world, bar none. And we are absolute prudes when it comes to sex.

You can shoot your neighbor dead for knocking on your door to loud, but if you diddle yourself, you're a criminal pervert.

[Hekate]

50. Send your military co-workers to this site

and tell them for me that last Sunday an active-duty Marine home on leave walked by and did a double-take when he saw the name of his first lieutenant posted on one of the crosses. He stayed quite awhile, grieving. Bush has not bothered to attend a single funeral, and the bodies come home to Dover AFB in the dead of night, no photographers allowed. If your friends want to they can download the names and service info of our fallen -- when you see that an awful lot of those soldiers are barely 20 years old, it ought to make them wonder about sending these kids to their death for a lie. To Bush-Cheney, Inc our kids are no more than GI Joe action figures to be tossed aside when broken.

Hekate


~~~ Go here:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Default.htm
then click on the large photo of Arlington West which will take you here:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Arlington_west_121003.htm
Scroll down the page for all the photos, then go back up to follow the links ~~~

[Puglover]

53. LOL...PBJ....

I have always felt that people(mostly freeper males) who are overly concerned about Clinton and Monica aka the PBJ are suffering from the
LOBJ syndrome....
The first two letters stand for "Lack of" and Ill let you all fill in the rest.

[Rebellious Republican]

47. Its not isolated, check my pseudonym, says it all!

I know others that have turned as well!
:kick:

[Skittles]

48. reading this thread is giving me hope

here in north Texas, I know only one person - my boyfriend's father -who voted for Bush and is now disgusted beyond belief. The others - well, no one raves about how great Dubya is but I have no doubts they'll be voting for him. Don't EVEN ask me why.

[Enraged_Ape]

51. I knew it was over when my uncle, a lifelong hardcore dittohead GOP...

told my wife and me just recently that Bush, Cheney, et al "have to get out of the White House. We have to get them the hell out of there!" He was red-faced and shaking as he said this.

He is a successful self-employed businessman, the Republican party's finest, and he is extremely pissed off at the huge deficit, at the billions for the bogus war in Iraq, at the gaming of the stock market and the slap-on-the-hand treatment of corporate thieves, and the fact that his healthcare premiums increased again just recently to new outrageous highs.

Believe me, this would have been the last man on Earth ever to desert the Chimp, and now he can't stand the man. Prosperity IS just around the corner. The Heavenly Host is singing a joyful Hosanna.

[hatrack]

58. A friend's father - bone-deep Republican, retired law firm founder:

Has voted Republican all his life, but even he "cannot and will not vote for Bush this time."

Anecdotal, but encouraging!

[loudsue]

59. This thread is GREAT! But $200 million in propaganda

prior to the election, and a COMPLETE AND UTTER SMEAR of whomever is the Dem candidate, might change some of these converts back to the bush mob.

$200 million buys a LOT of air time and bar-b-que events, and I promise you the finest advertisers money can buy are on this thing.. making "movies" that will make the most extreme liberal question their Dem vote. It's going to be interesting to see how the wind blows come November.

If these sentiments REMAIN true of awakened republican voters, and Bush wins anyway.....will people finally take to the streets to get rid of these HIGHLY CORRUPTIBLE voting machines??

:kick::kick::kick:

[Enraged_Ape]

60. There are some things money can't buy

For everything else, there's MasterCard(tm).

In the meantime, Shrub is going down like Joey Heatherton on...whoever Joey Heatherton went down on.

[Lindsey]

61. Let's review...

Republican tenants - small government, state's rights, fiscally conservative....Need I say more?

[yankeeinlouisiana]

63. Does anyone think that

all of these people leaving * will also take a second look at their repub senators and reps? I'm pretty sure the dem candidate will win the presidency, but if the house and senate are still in repubs control, will the new pres. get anything done? And if not, 2008 won't look good.

Any thoughts?