Good News at the Old Water Cooler

[GiovanniC]

In my HIGHLY republican company there are a couple of managers who work on my floor that lightheartedly poke fun at each others' politics. One of them is a pretty vocal Dem, the other is a pretty vocal Pub. I think everybody thinks it's pretty funny for the most part... Listening to them is kind of like watching Hannity and Colmes would be if Colmes had the guts to actually stick up for Democrats and Hannity wasn't a complete fucking Nazi.

The other day, the Pub was walking into the breakroom/mailroom and the Dem says to the other two or three in the room... "Now there's a suspender-wearing, middle-class, white-bread, Bush-loving conservative Republican." And the Pub said...

wait for it...

"Not anymore."

All of us were like... "What!?"

He just shrugs and says, "I swear to God, Bush has driven me to the Democrats."

Wow!

[StephNW4Clark]

1. no. fucking. way.

excellent news!

[Hand]

2. HOT DAMN!

This made my day!

:toast: :party: :loveya:

[AP]

3. No matter how much I wish we could have a guy like Kucinich

on the ticket, I just have to note that having a moderate like Kerry on the ticket helps people make this transition.

A lot of people in the middle-right resist Democrats for reasons like they think they're soft on national security or care too much about 'lazy' poor people.

If Dean or Kucinich were on the ticket, I wonder if this guy would have been driven to the Democrats. Having a person like Kerry on the ticket, I think, makes it easier for people like this to say, OK, I'll vote Dem this time. He's better than Bush in all the ways that I thought Bush was better than Gore.

[Larkspur]

5. The moderate Dems in Massachusetts don't like Kerry

The ones I work with told me that after they found out Dean balanced budgets in Vermont on a regular basis and was for balanced budgets they could support a Dem like Dean. They absolutely despise Kerry who they see as a flip-flopper and political opportunist.

[AP]

7. Kerry is middle of the road Dem. Regardless of anecdotal evidence

to the contrary, I have no doubt that Kerry is going to pick up many votes from the middle, thanks to his position on Iraq, and many other positions he has taken and no doubt will take in the next few months.

[July]

9. Funny how they're saying just what the Republicans want us to think.

If they're moderate Dems, they don't prefer Bush to Kerry, do they?

[Justice]

13. Moderate Dems in Massachusetts Like Kerry

As a Dem in Ma active in the party, with close connections in the Dem party - let me say your work colleagues are in the vast minority.


Many MA dems - moderate and liberal -- were the key to Kerry win in Iowa. They went door to door, farm to farm there - talking to people about Kerry.

Not sure why some feel a need to behave as if Dean and Kerry were still rivals for the nomination. I think Dean has been quite supportive of Kerry -- hopefully others can do the same.

Edited for spelling.

[Kanary]

10. So, we poor make the "ultimate" sacrifice for the Dems

Will we get the same acknowledgement as the soldiers who die?

Kanary

[AP]

11. What sacrifice? You make the ultimate sacrifice if Kerry loses.

You win if Kerry wins.

Why hold Kerry to a standard that you know might cost him the election if you want to win?

A vote is a strategic act. It's not a poem or a statement of your soul.

[Kanary]

12. You specifically said that Kerry is the man because

he doesn't "pander to the lazy poor" (not your exact words, but I can't see your exact words from the reply window)

I know that you're not used to have poor people count for anything, but you can't very well expect them to vote for "your man" when you diss them.

Kanary

[AP]

16. That wasn't what I said and it wasn't my point.

I said some middle of the road Republicans don't vote for Democrats because they see them was weak on national security and only interested in giving poor people who don't work for a living stuff they don't deserve.

I don't think the Democrats are either of those things, but that's not relevant. Nor is whether Kerry is either of those things (and, in fact I do think that Kerry is strong on national security and that he'll get economic power flowing down to people who haven't been getting enough).

My point is that the moderate voter's perception of Kerry is that he's strong on national security and he's not a welfare-state Democrat.

(Incidentally, my man is Edwards, who was the only person who even talked about the poor, and he was my man becaue of his focus on issues of class and the direction economic power flows.)

[Kanary]

17. Edwards the only one..?

um, did you not hear of Dennis Kucinich? Actually, he was the STRONGEST on poverty issues.

So, Kerry not being "welfare state" is supposed to somehow give hope to poor folk?

Where are we supposed to go?

Or, just quietly die.......?

Being "strong on defense" doesn't equate to helping poor folk. I sure don't get your connection there.

Kanary

[AP]

18. I thought Edwards was better on that issue than Kucinich.

Just my personal opinion.

That Kerry is going to win should give hope to poor folk.

[Kanary]

20. How is that hopeful?

He's already said there will be cuts.

Just because the middle class will feel better, doesn't change the deaths that will happen to poor folk.

Kanary

[blm]

21. Really? Can you NAME those cuts you claim he is making?

Because I am very familiar with his positions and the only cuts I saw there were the elimination of Star Wars program, the mini-nukes program and corporate tax loopholes.

[Kanary]

22. I don't memorize everything, including DK's issues

But, I *DO* remember discussion here about his speeches saying that we are in such debt that he would be working on balancing the budget, and to do that would require cuts in social spending and poverty issues.

Kanary

[AP]

24. You need to get a more focussed argument. I really don't understand

what your point is.

I also think you're missing out on something that's going on in America right now too.

In the US we have driven more people into poverty in the last few years, but the Bush administraiton actually does try to keep the heads of the poor just above water. They want more working poor people and more poor people driving wages down and consuming things -- ie, spending all the money they make, not saving, and not being able to move up the wealth ladder.

You seem kind of hysterical about the poor, and that's great. I'm hysterical about there being more poor people.

To think that Kerry isn't aware of what Bush is doing, and to presume that he's not going to reverse this pattern is absurd.

Do you have anything to substantiate this opinion?

[Kanary]

27. People tend to get "hysterical" when their very survival is in question

Thanks for your compassionate reply.

bye

[AP]

29. I have no idea what you're arguing.

I'm hysterical. Many people are hysterical. But don't let it get in the way of making a coherent argument.

[blm]

33. That's just wrong. Kerry plans to INCREASE benefits

for veterans, social programs, extended healthcare, and fully fund Head Start and public schools.

He intends to cut WASTE and overcharges from programs like healthcare where hospitals charge $25 for a piece of paper.

[Jane Austin]

28. Clark talked about the poor.

But like other candidates, the media didn't report his position or what he said.

They only talked about what the Republicans said about Clark.

[proud patriot]

4. Get that man a "bush made me a Democrat" bumper sticker

:hi:

[xchrom]

6. more than one way to skin a cat.

[wryter2000]

8. Fabulous!

There are more and more of these stories every day! Bush is toast!

:bounce:

[info being]

14. I met a soldier on leave from Iraq last weekend.

His sister was asking him why he supports Bush, and he said, "I don't." She said, "What, that's not what you were saying when you joined the military?"

[SiouxJ]

15. There is a lack of Bush/Cheney bumper stickers in my town

which is highly repuke. I have seen a few Kerry stickers but absolutely no Bush/Cheney ones. During the last election there were tons of 'em everywhere. I think a lot of Repukes are more embarrassed than they will openly admit.

[rebellious woman]

19. They should be , look at the "nightmare" they got us into!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jane Austin]

30. And Kerry stickers aren't that easy to come by.

Last week I finally got the ones I'd ordered as soon as he was clearly the nominee.

[bloom]

23. yea

:party:

[The Stranger]

25. Colmes is so unbelievably fucking inept that I have concluded he must be

a right-wing Republican plant. He also looks like a cross between a space alien and a wolf.

His being pathetically constantly smashed by Hannity makes him simply beyond contempt. He utterly undermines the cause. I loathe Allen Colmes.

[maggrwaggr]

26. " looks like a cross between a space alien and a wolf."

LOL!!

You nailed it. I was trying to think of exactly WHAT he looked like, and I read that.

[oasis]

31. The long awaited collapse of the Chimpadministration. (n/t)

[Hubert Flottz]

32. It's a tune I've been hearing often too lately!

And it's music to my ears! The other day I was talking to an old Bush voter who said, "I just paid $45.00 to fill my truck up! middle grade gasoline was over $2.15 a gallon!!!!!" I said sometimes you get what you pay for and sometimes you get what you vote for! He was silent for about ten seconds and he said, "Bye Gawd you got that right!!!!!!" And then he ask, "When are we goin' fishin'?" I said are you drivin' because I can't afford to! That's about the time he began to curse his less than fearless leader in earnest! All I could to to defend our Great pResident was laugh at the fool and tell him, I Told You So, Didn't I?