somehow, I convinced my freeper-like friend to vote for Kerry

[Wetzelbill]

Note that I am a Kucinich supporter, an outspoken activist/columnist/essayist and harsh, harsh Bush critic. In general, the words "republican" or "conservative" are spoken with disdain when they come from my mouth. Any mention of anything remotely political usually ends up in me ripping off a passionate - I'm like the Rain Man with facts too and I read books on subjects that people barely even take notice of - diatribe.

So my friend, who is a former Army man and a Zell Miller "Democrat", has been trying to argue with me for over a year now about the war, Israel, terrorism, Bill Clinton (who he hates) and anything under the sun that comes from the Right-Wing propaganda machine. I routinely hand him his ass -sometimes pretty rudely too- yet he comes back for more. Recently, he told me that he's going to vote for John Kerry. I remember telling him last month when he was interested in Clark and still looking at other candidates that he should take a look at Kerry, as well. I knew Clark or Kerry would appeal to him, so I was hoping to convert him with one of those two guys, as I do like each one. I knew that he would never vote for Dean, since he watches Sean Hannity all the time and would believe the Dean "ultra-liberal" hype, and I figured Edwards wouldn't appeal to him either. No way in hell could I get him to vote for Kucinich as the word "peace" is damn near traitorous to the Zell-like Demofreepers out there, although I did get him to read up on DK which was akin to a miracle considering half the shit this guy believes in. (most racist and homophobic person I know, but I suspect I bring out the worst in him with my arguments and that a frightening amount of people aren't any better, they just aren't as obvious) The Department of Peace idea nearly gave him a heart attack I think. (direct quote: Peace my ass! Remember 9-11!) Yes, he really does talk in slogans. He's like a manual.

So as soon as he had some skepticism about Clark, I pushed him to Kerry. Once he said he would vote for Kerry - in our primary and over Bush- I was pleased, but took it with a grain of salt, as he flip-flops depending on what Bush does. The Saddam capture brought out an ugly Freeper pride in him for a short spike of time, for example. However, since I hammer every argument he comes up with I've slowly but surely have convinced him Bush is somewhat beatable (I believe he is very beatable, my friend listens to propaganda that the guy is almost untouchable and almost believes it) and that he is a piece of shit. He sometimes buys into the "Bush is an idiot, controlled by Cheney and Rove" theory and as a result, doesn't like to hold the Chimp accountable. I say that Bush is an idiot, and is indeed controlled by the others around him, but he should be held accountable. Still working on getting that across to him. So as of now, he has stated several times that he would vote for Kerry. A northeastern liberal, he my friend sorta thinks is a conservative democrat because he was in the military. He's not big on facts, obviously. Now, if somebody makes a comeback against Kerry and gets the nomination, I'll have to work him over and get him to vote for the Dem come November, but, for now, I have made good progress.

So that's how I've gotten my freeper-like friend to commit his vote for a northeastern liberal. Believe me, I should get some sort of lifetime achievement award for even getting this guy to look at a Democratic candidate after all the propaganda he's been programmed with.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

1. No lifetime achievement award here

just :thumbsup: and :toast:

[lancdem]

2. Excellent work, my friend

:)

[Wetzelbill]

3. Yes...I am a golden god

[JI7]

4. wow, good job

you have a lot of patience. i myself can't even bring myself to discuss this with gop or gop leaning family members. i get frustrated at their lack of knowledge.