Anecdotal good news:

[PCIntern]

My first patient today was a lovely African-American woman whom I’ve treated for 30 years. She is in her 70s, dynamic, funny, tough, and smart. Our hygienist is out sick so I cleaned her teeth and afterwards I said, “The world‘s a mess - I hope you’re planning to vote.” And she looked at me and she said “Everybody’s planning to vote: my entire family, everyone on the block, they are going to the nursing homes and getting people out to vote one way or another because this is absolutely the worst it’s ever been.”

She went on to say, and I’m paraphrasing a bit, that the Republicans have plans which they execute for years and years and years while the Democrats play nice guy and wait for stuff to happen, and the time for being nice is over.

Needless to say we had a wonderful discussion after that with me quoting many of the stories and posts from this site and by the end my last comment was to her “You take care, see you in six months, and keep the faith!”

A great way to start the day…

[samnsara]

1. Great story! my son in law is from Aberdeen Scotland and has been here for 6 years..

..... hes being sworn in as a citizen Oct 21..he said SO HE CAN VOTE!! Gawd he hates trump.



so on another note..He, my dtr and 2 grandkids over 18 all moved from Seattle to Alabama last year for his job and now Alabama had four more voting democrats!




ps all my dentist and i talk about is the next color we are going to dye our hair

[SheilaAnn]

2. One of the best posts I've read so far today. LOL. My dentist was bald so we had no discussions re

dye.

[SheltieLover]

3. Congrats fo your SIL & the state of Alabama!

[Upthevibe]

4. PCIntern............

Thank you for sharing......

[niyad]

5. Thank you for sharing this most encouraging news. It certainly started my

morning on a very hopeeful note!

Hope the rest of your day goes this well.

[Nanuke]

6. My dentist

He is the nephew of a beloved late statesman from here in Minn. His uncle brought Geraldine F on his ticket as VP when he ran for President.

We have some good discussions. Well, as good as you can have when you are in the chair with your mouth open most of the time.

[PCIntern]

7. Fritz!!!

Hey that’s really neat.

[jaxexpat]

14. Mondale's loss, another moment when the nation was victimized by hype.

The 1984 election cycle was the first time I ever heard politics actually preached from the pulpit. What an eye opener. Though, at the time I didn't see it for the bellwether it was. My first hands on (no pun intended) experience with Pentecostalism.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Good! And yes and the time for being nice is over.

[hay rick]

9. Sometimes nice is appropriate, sometimes it's not.

The lady is right.

[gab13by13]

10. Since I live among the Magats,

I do not talk politics with my hygienist, even with their more modern tools.

[Tree Lady]

27. Same here and its hard

to talk with stuff in mouth anyway.

[Prairie_Seagull]

11. Good news, even anacdotal from a compatriot goes a long way. n/t

[Sympthsical]

12. Cringe

If my health care provider tried to engage me on politics, I would take an extremely dim view of it. Time, place, professional conduct, appropriateness, etc. etc.

Also the description of the patient is . . .

Yeah, I dunno where to start with this whole thing. At all. Either you know why it's cringey and inappropriate or ya don't.

[JI7]

15. He has known her for 30 years . It might be different if she was a new customer

and he just brought it up out of nowhere. But it seems like most of the people he discusses these things with are people he has known for years and regularly discuss these things.

[Hekate]

16. Thanks

I couldn’t think of anything civil to say.

[Sympthsical]

17. It's unprofessional

Reminds me of how someone was cheered for cornering a customer service agent about politics last week.

And again, the description preamble is dripping with . . . well, it's ooft. Ooft ooft ooft ooft. Reminded me of older union members who would never think of themselves as racist at all, and as soon as they open their mouths, you just want to curl up into a ball on the inside because it is so cringe-inducing. It's like, I know you think you're saying a nice thing, but the fact you feel the need to say it at all.

Criiiiinge.

But, it's ok. I know where I am. I expect to be cheese stands alone on this one.

[PCIntern]

19. Ok

I’ll keep it within DU rules:

Your point is taken.

[wryter2000]

25. I imagine PCIntern has spoken to her about politics before

It would be truly bizarre to out-of-the-blue ask a patient if she's voting.

As to the Oooft part, I see your point about mentioning that she's AA. However, we've all been worried (at least, I have) that AA people may have been dispirited because much of what was promised in 2020 hasn't come to pass. What about the George Floyd police violence bill? I've heard several AA spokespeople say they're disappointed in what hasn't happened. Plus, the R's create so many obstacles to voting for AA and students. I can't say for sure I'd stand in a line hours long to vote. And no one's allowed to give me water? I hope it isn't racist to be concerned that AA people don't feel motivated to vote.

Of course, I'm missing the obvious--that we depend on AA votes to save our ass over and over again. I don't know what to do about that. But certainly, there shouldn't be any difference in the voting experience by race.

Edited to add: If I knew a woman well enough to ask about politics, I wouldn't feel any hesitation to ask her if she's planning to vote because of Dobbs. I am a woman, and I wouldn't be offended.

[JI7]

30. He is also from a state where Democrats need high turnout among black voters

to win.

[ShazzieB]

26. Cheese stands alone sounds accurate.

That is all I will say. Have a lovely evening.

[qazplm135]

28. Absolutely right

I mean there's no way there could be anyone who thinks differently about this then you do, right?

[Hekate]

13. Joyous -- thanks

[AllaN01Bear]

18. my dentist is 180 degrees from you . retired marine , total athiest.

one of those . my church carries out the lords edict and he hates it. we have food pantry. shower bus . so on. sez , i want to teach those people how to work, many are working class where their income dosent meet needs . also try living on $500.00 a month bare bones ssi. u dont qualify for food stamps etc. no wonder why there is so much homeless nes s. good for u on doing the right thing. VOTE.

[Blue Owl]

20. K&R

[Pepsidog]

21. Nice to talk politics with like minded people who are sane. She is right, believe Republicans when

say they want to get rid of SS and the VA. Dobbs showed us all that republicans will rip this country apart and sell it to big business without batting and eyelash.

[Mira]

22. It's like a bit of healing salve

on the exact opposite you witnessed and told us about on your recent travels. Trumps that by far, if you pardon the expression.

[PCIntern]

23. You are funny!

Thanks!

[PatSeg]

24. Thanks, that is reassuring

If it is happening there, it undoubtedly is happening pretty much everywhere (with a few exceptions, I'm sure).

[LetMyPeopleVote]

29. Your patient is an amazing lady

Thank you for sharing this