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Had dinner at a restaurant with some close friends last night. The subject of Kerry's military service, medals, war protest, etc., etc. came up.
One woman said "Welllll...ya know...he WAS only over there for a few months. How'd he get all those medals in such a short time? I heard he got the Purple Heart for just a tiny little scratch. Kinda makes ya wonder. Sounds fishy to me."
I lost it. Went ballistic. Just got ALL OVER her. Her lower lip began to quiver and she teared up. Awwww jeez.....dumb and dumber. Me.
I called her and apologized later, but I could tell I had hurt her feelings. I didn't actually call her a stupid twit, but I certainly implied it.
Doris is my idea of the "average American". She's a realtor. I can imagine her listening to Rush while driving to appointments. She probably thinks she's getting real, unbiased news and comment, not blatant false propaganda. She supports our "wartime president" because she feels it's the patriotic thing to do. She's not a news junkie, like most of us here are. Probably watches Faux (if she watches the news at all) because...hey...they tell her it's "fair and balanced", so it must be.
Doris is part of the great middle/muddle that drives me insane. How can they not see it? How can they not know? How can they not understand?
The point of this whole thing is that Doris may well be winnable to our side. She is not a dyed-in-the-wool, yella-dawg, radical-right repug. But she won't be won by the method I stupidly used last night.
Patience. From now on, when a political discussion starts, I will think "patience...be nice...patience...be nice". Please go forth and do likewise.
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