My Ex is a Bush fan.. Here is why

[crowcalling]

I don't post often. However after listening to a rant from my ex last evening, I thought I would share what my observations and thoughts are regarding why this individual has bought into all the Republican propaganda. Because I for one, bang my head against the wall trying to figure out why some people like Bush for instance, it doesn't make sense to me.

I had gotten a hold of him after years of not talking. It didn't take long before he went into a political tirade, which surprised me. He was never really political before. He has mental, physical and financial issues. This man is not doing well, can barely afford utilities. He is not a religious nut.

Fear and Responsibility

He is not doing well for himself but blames everyone else. He takes no responsibility. It's all
the Mexicans and Indians and Welfare people that have taken away his opportunity's and they are
all actively out to get him! Bush is the only one doing something about it. Liberals are all evil and criminal. There are terrorists everywhere. Bottom line, everyone that supposedly has an opportunity where he(my ex) does not, is a terrorist. Again, Bush is the only one doing something about it. Even his illegal wiretapping is thought of as heroic.

His rants regarding Kerry and his rants on Native Americans were particularly shocking and so I won't repeat them here because they are very offensive.

Judges were all liberal and evil because they release criminals back into society.

The media was liberal because they dared to print stuff that was against Bush. And again, Bush is the only one cleaning up society so to speak. So supposedly poor victims like him might have a chance to make it.

If Republicans do not completely take over the country and rid the country of all the criminal elements, we are all going to die in one big mushroom cloud, and very quickly if something isn't done about it! He is worried about this years elections.

If only I could have taped the conversation. Many of his rants against liberals were exactly the things that the Republicans are currently being called to task for! You could have gotten rid of the names in his conversation and you might of thought he was a liberal angry at the Bush administration except for the bigotry of course and many of the very pointed statements regarding certain politicians.

This is sad I know, since he has aligned himself with those that would do him the most harm. This person cannot be changed, so I didn't try. Not someone to argue with but someone to pity.

He is not representative of all Bush supporters of course - but I wanted to show how someone with paranoia issues easily and readily drinks the Kool-aid and how easily it seems to fit into this mind-set, even enabling it so to speak. There would be nothing one could do to change his mind.

How many in the country have these kinds of issues and have bought into this to where they think THEY and BUSH are freedom fighters so to speak for the future of the world. And how far might some of them go if their fantasy's are continually reinforced?

[txindy]

1. All too familiar. They're the 'Not MY fault' contingent.

They WANT keepers, so they love the neocons. Such people were born to live in fascist states. Then they can blame the elusive 'THEM' that the state holds up as the reason the people are STILL failures.

I am constantly amused and disgusted by the way they tar judges as "liberal" when so many judges are repubs - and very conservative ones at that. **sigh**

[politicat]

2. Magical thinking....

lots of magical thinking. Identification with an authority figure and paranoia.

Thanks for pointing this out... Lots to think about here.

[Vinnie From Indy]

3. Sounds like your typical, ignorant red neck failure

Blaming others for one's problems is as old as time. It is perhaps one of the most fertile and productive areas for evil men to sow for their own purpose. History is filled with millions of people just like your ex. Be happy you are free.

[AX10]

8. The same rednecks that voted for Reagan on the....

"concept" of "it's all the other person's fault". You have done no wrong so blame everyone else for your failures. That's the GOP's motto.

[Mz Pip]

4. That sense of

entitlement coupled by outrage seems to be hardwired into Bush supporting Republicans. They are pissed that they aren't getting theirs and it's so not their fault. OF course after 5 years of BushCo it hasn't dawned on them that BushCo only cares about his corproate cronies and unless you fit into that catagory, you're screwed.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[Al-CIAda]

5. Basically, like many others, he is a hysterical coward who's ego

needs to be fed a mythology whereby despite all advantages afforded his demographic, he is the victim and persecuted.

[nashville_brook]

6. borrowed functioning

he's borrowing the perception of strength. it's a co-dependency issue. can't imagine what it would be like living with someone with this profile. well, actually i can. just not the political part.

[crowcalling]

16. Good observation!

It helps me to understand the underlying motivation and thinking. I prefer to understand so I know how to deal with it rather than immediately just try to pick a fight. I will fight with those that know better and are not sick so to speak, but it would be wrong of me to argue with this person.

It's scary though. Because how many have this problem - to varying degrees.

I was married to this man many many moons ago, when I was very young and didn't know any better.

[ellenfl]

7. skinheads for bush! eom

[Make7]

9. This Bush he speaks of sounds like a hero.

I wonder how he is able to accomplish all of these things - what exactly is he doing to reach these goals? Sounds like hard work. Thank <insert name of preferred supreme being here> for a man like that.

I sure wish we could find someone like that to be our President!

-Make7

[randr]

10. My guess-Republican Kool-Aid Syndrome

Sub-conscious programming from listening to repug radio/tv rants.

[crowcalling]

12. Yes - heard talking points for sure...

But it was more like - Here I have a pre-condition for these kinds of things, and the
propaganda readily piped to me over the air-waves nicely fits in!

Why would I think that he would be rational enough to want to align himself with something
that might actually help him a bit?

Because, duh, if he were that rational - then he would be rational, and not in his current position!

He doesn't have a computer. He has television and radio only.

[tularetom]

11. When did your ex marry my daughter?

The person you described sounds exactly like my idiot son in law who I was able to avoid at Christmas because my wife broke her foot and we couldn't have them over. Just as well - I would have had to listen to hours of how he lost a good job opportunity because he wasn't a Mexican and other bullshit until I finally would have told him to STFU and a big family squabble would have started. He just loves the people who are screwing him over.

[crowcalling]

13. Sorry to hear that!

The bigoted talking was almost more than I could take. I had to grit my teeth. But I don't talk to him very often, am not forced to deal with it.

His grandson is 1/2 hispanic btw. And I pointed this out to him!

This is what he said...

Ex: "Who Me?" "No I don't have any Hispanic blood!"
Me: "No - your GRANDSON!!!" Remember - Your Daughter - Her son - your grandson - is half Hispanic!!!"

He changed the subject.

[FreedomAngel82]

37. Wow

So he was dissing his own grandson. How sad. :(

[BlueEyedSon]

14. No, his problems are caused by the GOP/Big Biz axis through

the "race to the bottom":

moving all manufacturing to China
offshoring midlevel telephone & tech jobs to India
employers like Wal-mart paying shit wages w/no benefits
etc
etc

[Lorien]

15. Your ex is representative of many Bush supporters; I know one just like

him. a former colleague and onetime friend of mine also has a hard time making ends meet (he was formally wealthy, but pissed away his wealth on extravagances). Substitute "Blacks and Cubans" for "Mexicans and Native Americans" and you've got the same conversation. He blames "welfare queens and drug addicts" for his high taxes, and deeply resents having to spend a dime on the public school system ("I don't have kids, so why should breeders be stealing my money for theirs")? You're right, there's no reasoning with the paranoid who lack any sense of personal responsibility.

[crowcalling]

20. Exactly!

There is nothing I could say. And this is why when I am not hopeful regarding changing this element in our society. People who have these paranoid issues, not dissing them for that - because I regard that as an illness, but Bushco enables the paranoia via this perfect fantasy that they can buy into.

And regardless of their position, condition, they ARE verbal. They will go out and do things that most folks would never think of for fear of embarrassment or ridicule. They can be convincing.

Finally, there are people who listen to my ex believe it or not. So how does someone like this win friends? Well, he says he will protect them, and help them. And some people are very thirsty for that.

[FreedomAngel82]

39. Sometimes what you have to do

with someone like that is shock the hell out of them. Show them war pictures that Bush is doing. Children and women. Does he have any children of his own? You have to find something that tugs at his heart strings. I'm sure there is something you can find to use to show him reality. A lot of times people like that won't change their tune(s) until they have something effect them personally and they find out the person who they supposivley worship was involved.

[Bluerthanblue]

17. bush is a bully, and

i believe bullys are in truth, very scared, insecure people, who don't have any real self-esteem or self worth. People who are at peace with their strengths and weaknesses, don't need to force others with violence, threats, intimidation or by demonizing those who are 'different' from them as scapegoats.
I think some people follow bush out of fear- and others follow him because they relate to the bully -mentality- An inability to accept being 'imperfect'- mistaken- and most importantly VUNERABLE to 'bad things' or 'chance' or everything that happens in this world which we CANNOT control- yet, wish we could.

So it's easy to choose a 'group' which is NOT something we do not belong to- (ethnic- gender- age- nationality- socio-economic etc.) and point to THEM as the 'reason' for why things happen that we don't like, can't control, and are hurt by-

Like the Salem witchhunts- like it's a womans fault that we don't live in paradise- or a serpents- or "yeah but I only did this because THEY made me"-

It is so freeing to be able to be wrong, imperfect, a failure in some, even many ways, and still be an equal member of this society of human beings-

Facades wear thin, and offer no true protection. Accepting reality, even unpleasant and awful reality is far more tolerable than living a lie- or in denial. (in my experience)

I agree with you- your ex is someone to pity - as is bush. There is little genuine 'joy' fulfilment or peace in the life of a bully- or a life of constant fear.

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. Ever ask his why is he so afraid of everyone and everything?

My goodness, I can smell his fear from here. Has any of these people ever done anything bad directly to him? He seems a bit irrational.

[crowcalling]

24. You are right

He is irrational.

Have any of these people ever directly done anything to him?

No. They haven't. In fact those that have ever really harmed him have all been Caucasian.

And he speaks with anger. Yes, I'm sure there is fear there too.

Yet, his girlfriend is hispanic. His sister married an indian (can't remember what nation he said),
and he has ancestry, plus his grandson is half hispanic. But all that doesn't count. That's different.
It's their association with the caucasian element and integration into caucasian society that makes
them okay and has saved them.

It's weird.

[Turbineguy]

19. Yet another guy

in a piece of shit car festooned with Bush-Cheney stickers.

I saw one the other day. Smoke pouring out the tailpipe, the rear window blocked off with a huge "W is for Winners" placcard.

[Cleita]

21. You said.

"His rants regarding Kerry and his rants on Native Americans were particularly shocking and so I won't repeat them here because they are very offensive."

There you have the main reason most Bush voters voted for Bush, deep seated racism. The RW operatives are not stupid. They know how to tap into this fatal character flaw. It's the same character flaw that the RW talking head pundits on radio and television tap into and reinforce, by convincing people that they wouldn't have the problems they are having if these people weren't causing them.

There are many variations, but the main theme is that if it weren't for those people, we would be living in paradise. There would be democracy and plenty of everything to go around. However, if you can't get a job, it's their fault because they are taking your jobs.

If your children are failing in school, it's their fault because the teachers are taking too much time with thier children to teach them English, or to discipline them or take care of whatever disruptions they are causing in the classrooms.

If we live in fear of another 9-11, it's their fault because when we let them in to our country, and that let the terrorists in too.

As far as the Indians go, I have no idea, however, maybe because it's their fault and the fault of their casinos that decent people are poor. I'm sure it has something to do with people getting ahead and getting rich because it should be you who is getting the gold mine, not them. Instead you are getting the shaft.

There are many other things I could mention, but I think you get the idea.

[FreedomAngel82]

41. Back in 1965

when Lyndon Johnson signed the voting rights act he said "we're(democrats) going to lose the south for a long time." Why? Racism pure and simple. So now all those racists fools are in the republican party.

[Lexingtonian]

22. yep

Republicans are the party of the entitled-yet-resentful-of-diminishing-privilege white men. Aka the ME ME ME Party.

I'm a white guy, I've know these sorry vile hordes of losers, cheats, cowards, morons, and egomaniac nihilists for what they are since the sandbox days. Too. Weakness plus sense of entitlement plus numbers= evil idiocy, collusion against their betters and change for the better, and rejection of responsibility.

Yes, they always accuse other people of the way they themselves think and behave and are. It's what they know and understand. And it's impossible for people they resent to be wiser or better informed or more intelligent or better behaved than themselves, because then they'd objectively have to consider themselves inferior. Which is unbearable, of course. Thus the psychotic behavior when reality demonstrates the fact too clearly.

They hate Kerry because he (a) had greater privilege than they ever had and (b) it didn't corrupt him. To the contrary, he learned the great lesson that selfless service and living by nobility is the great and single justification and best/only true use of all that privilege. Rather than be one of a slew of merit-devoid champions of the merit-deficient American caste system in decay that, at its fringes, gives undue advantages to the likes of your ex. For that Kerry has to be impugned as the most degraded, (class/race/gender-)traitorous, and foolish human being ever. (Note the subtle or overt classically anti-Semitic stuff they generally throw at him and Teresa as well.)

Indians are forever the bee in the bonnet of 'conservative' American white men. Indians always make them feel fake and in possession of stolen goods, so Indians must unceasingly be portrayed as thieves and liars and counterfeits.

Nietzsche wrote the definitive treatments of this crap attitude and people, in his day the aristocratic classes of Germany, their willful hatred and vicious perverse, morally bankrupt, egomaniacal behavior of people losing undue privileges, privileges which they foolishly made vital to their identity, which they know they will never get back once they lose them. He uses the German word 'Widerwillen' (literally, counter/contrary will-fulness) an awful lot; the English translations usually render it as the French term ressentiment.

You're right that they never really change, they only get crushed and fade away, become clearly obsolete. Their raging at their loss ends only in the grave.

[crowcalling]

26. ahhh... Thank you!

You said :
Indians are forever the bee in the bonnet of 'conservative' American white men. Indians always
make them feel fake and in possession of stolen goods, so Indians must unceasingly be portrayed as
thieves and liars and counterfeits.

His comments really shocked me. My current hubbie is NA, so that is why it really sort of slapped me in the face. He doesn't know this though.

This is part of what shocked me. He said reservations were made to put the criminal native americans into a penal colony. The ones that were okay were integrated into white society. He is mad because he cannot buy reservation land. So the indians have it and it is just left there to rot.

Then shaken to the core, I calmly asked him, what HE would do with the land if he had it? And what did he mean by leaving the land to rot?

"Well you know Develop! I would develop and produce things on the land!!, Indians never developed or produced anything!"

Sorry - to state this here. But perhaps it should be said, to open eyes.

[Lexingtonian]

49. that's typical, actually

That's the American Indian As A Savage concept. It was standard throughout the Conquest/Settlement.

It seems bizarre now, but from Ancient Europe and the Middle East up to WW2 the conventional view of the people of/from there was that cultivated fields and intact houses were beautiful and comforting, the signs of safety, representing wealth and food and human protection from wild animals, barbarians, and starvation. Wilderness was considered ugly, fearful, undesirable, always containing hidden danger. The Romans termed wooded wilderness, barren mountainous terrain, large/huge stretches of sand or rocks, and places where humans had for reasons of war or pestilence or drought abandoned arable land all deserta- and they considered it not worth portrayal or artistic rendition, it was just ugly and bad news. We get the English words 'desert' and 'deserted' from that- the Roman root is for that which is empty or left unclaimed or left behind.

It's an Agrarian Age, medieval, pre-machine view of the world- from a time in which there was never much of a surplus of food, if enough at all, and always insufficient human and animal labor to provide for all the needs there were. There was never the amount of wealth available that allowed for leisure. Medieval European farming peoples had horrible, terrible, murderous contempt for hunter-gatherers and herders, who they saw as always preying on their crops and flocks (which, after enough bad and inequitable treatment, these groups, e.g. the Gypsies, resorted to). Or engaged in outright as raiders, e.g. the Magyars and Mongols and Huns.

It is said that the Enlightenment, particularly Montesquieu and Luther, discovered the Alps- everyone before them only crossed them, suppressing or ignoring any appreciation for or human value to them. In the Americas the discovery of Nature as something to cherish in its wild and uncultivated form as spiritually revealing and immensely more important in that than in material use goes to the Native peoples that befriended white settlers. Joe Polis, a Maine Algonquin, is the root of Henry David Thoreau's Naturalism, and Emerson's and Jefferson's more intellectual views of Nature as central revelation and value is is something of an indirect and partial appreciation. Lewis and Clark and Audubon add to it, and Ansel Adams is sort of the final matured convert.

In the Modern world, wilderness is considered more valuable and enormously more beautiful than cultivated or paved/concrete-filled spaces.

Uniquely American values are to my understanding all white partial assimilation/adoption of Native views and behavior- Americans are one of the few peoples that find wilderness tolerable if not desirable to a large degree, uniquely among the (majority) white peoples of the world. (You won't believe the paranoia and psychotic reactions I saw in Switzerland when the first small wolves, migrant from the Balkans or Appenines, were discovered in the Alps a few years ago.) Americans even find their unique strength and joy in 'pioneering'- in setting out for new, still-wild, places where people have not previously tried to live their lives in a satisfactory way. American practicality and empiricism, avoidance of theoreticality and abstract philosophy, used to be legendary (until the present Right wing wackos made each resentful working shlub an ideologue, that is). Mom, baseball, and apple pie are perhaps also indirect, altered, borrowings from the Algonquin peoples.

[FreedomAngel82]

42. It's sad

Kerry should be praised for not letting a corrupt lifestyle corrupt him. Same with his daughters and with Teresa and her sons. They're not snobs or anything like that. All you have to do is watch RNC conventions or get togethers and than compare them to democratic coneventions or get togethers. You can see it. What Howard Dean said about them is true and right on the button.

[leftofthedial]

23. oh, but he IS all too representative of many, if not most, supporters

of King Lord George

[SmokingJacket]

25. Let me guess...

he's always been conservative in some ways, but unpredictable in other ways... then he started listening to Rush Limbaugh and suddenly he started spouting all that garbage...

That's what happened in my family. Fricking tragic.

[crowcalling]

28. Yep!

And my sympathy as well.

I want to expose the thinking, at least in this one case. I feel like many of us scratch our heads as to why people are buying into the crap. I think you have to understand why the crap is rewarding certain people - why it fills their needs.

But I also want to express how hard it would be for these people to change once the mechanism has been locked in, so to speak.

[salin]

31. For some it would take a huge jarring, jolt.

Something like - calling off elections; Declaring a national curfew; something so jarring and shocking - and personal... that it would make the disconnect between belief/trust in the Amer system and the belief/trust in bushco HAVE to be confronted and rectified. I believe that these things are not likely, and thus unless/until the rw media echochamber dies down - some of these folks are going to be pretty set.

[Tsiyu]

27. It's so sad when you think how deluded these folks are

If you actually show them the funds spent on human welfare versus Corporate welfare, they might understand, but even that probably wouldn't get through.

Facts are "liberal" ideas. These people do not want facts. They like rumor, gossip, hatred, enmity, enemies. It is so discouraging when you try to reach them with the truth.

In the end, i have decided that there are some folks who just have the DNA to be hate-filled, paranoid and delusional. No drug, no compassion, no amount of reasoning can cure these poor, tormented souls. But they got what they wanted, didn't they? And they somehow must see that having all the power this nation could give them was STILL not enough to cure them of hate, paranoia and delusion. They WANT to hate and to hurt anyone "not like them." It had to have been absolutely thrilling to the racists and the homophobes and the bigots to have "one of their own" in the White House. How sorry they must feel knowing that their surefire "cure" of hatred and abuse and oprression and lies and theft and deception in the end didn't save any of them.

They will NEVER take responsibility for their own lives. It saddens me when I think that all that energy they waste on hatred and fear and bigotry could be used to make this a better nation.


I no longer feel fear or anger toward guys like your ex. I just feel immense sympathy for them. I really think they are mutant humans who can't help themselves, unlike the NeoCons who led them down the Primrose Path to hell.

[crowcalling]

29. Very possibly true!

These folks DO exist. They DO think this way. And as a previous poster has pointed out, they have been given at least the illusion of a certain amount of power now which has the effect of giving
a dangerous drug to an addict who could have been on a road to recovery by drying out but is too weak to refuse the offer.

[Tsiyu]

44. In George Washington's Farewell speech

he warned against the "baneful effects of the Spirit of Party."

"This Spirit, unfortunately, is inseperable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all Governments, more or less stifled, controuled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form it is seen in its greatest rankness and is truly their worst enemy.

"The ...dominion...of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an Individual: and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty..."


Too bad your ex will never understand what Ol' George was trying to tell us....about the "New" George

[ddeclue]

30. Get a restraining order NOW...

Change your phones...

Move..

Change your job.

Don't leave a forwarding address...

Your ex sounds psychotic/delusional to me - explains a lot about his love for Bush.

Doug D.

[crowcalling]

32. Thanks for the concern...

However, I am not worried at this point.

[mitchum]

38. I wholeheartedly agree with your advice.

The warning signs are there.

[Maddy McCall]

33. So, basically, this is your ex:

[crowcalling]

34. Yeah!

You Got it! - LOL.. :crazy:

[mitchum]

35. Be very glad that you are no longer with that batshit crazy individual....

he is obviously mentally ill.
And it sounds like he has all the danger signs of the type "who can no longer take it", and proceeds to go on a public killing spree.
I'm serious. Please stay away from him.

[crowcalling]

40. Yes.. you are right

He is far away from me right now. And, I certainly hope that never happens. And I don't associate.

[FreedomAngel82]

36. Ask him how he likes Bush

sending his job(s) overseas. Thousands of jobs, good one's, have gone over seas and now millions are homeless and/or just unemployed and aren't being counted anymore. How does he like that? The thought that dear fearless leader didn't save jobs? How about the fact he never served honorably in the military? Show him the military records where Bush said he didn't want to go to Vietnam while John Kerry REQUESTED he go to Vietnam. John Kerry didn't sit on his ass like George Bush who had his daddy get him everything. Ask him how does he like rich frat boys to get into high good colleges because of their daddy? Don't tell him it's George Bush until after he expresses his feelings on that. Ask him what he thinks of politicians going on free trips on his money and not doing a damn thing for him but giving rich people more money? Than point out what they're all doing in Congress. Ask him if he likes sex trades. Tell him Tom DeLay was bribed into keeping open a sex trade when Clinton was president (who wanted it closed) and children are being used for sex. Ask him if he someday wants a Social Security check. Look up the Confederate Constitution and show it to him and ask him how he likes living in the country we have today and tell him to thank a liberal. And how dare he spout off about native Americans. WE STOLE THEIR LAND AND KILLED THEM!

[crowcalling]

43. You are stating facts..

Wouldn't help in this case, I'm sorry to say. And he pointed out that the Liberal Judges are the ones that are enabling sex crimes. Right...

And regarding the Native Americans - I hated to share that, but it shows that there are some who think this way. I know it is disgusting, and ugly, and shocking, but better to know what is really thought, because the ones that are true bigots usually hide these things in their general dealings.

You see, he didn't say - oh we took their land and killed them all. He didn't say that. He stated some weird theory that makes white people look like the victims.

I can remember a republican senator (can't remember who now, and wish I could) on, C-SPAN? who stated that the indian wars were just like how we are fighting the terrorists now. He offered that example of how we had fought and won in the past. He didn't come out and say indians were terrorists, but he could have, and what was he really thinking?

I hope my posting has offered a look under the covers so to speak. Probably not surprising to most.

[FreedomAngel82]

45. What a disgusting person

[RagingInMiami]

46. Sounds like he gets his information from Rush Limbaugh

[crowcalling]

47. Maybe?

I was shocked by his ranting. I don't listen to Rush. Probably why I was so shocked. I know many that do though, but they stay quiet.

[Mme. Defarge]

48. What is it about the term "liberal"

that strikes such a nerve with certain people? If you expect to persuade someone who has such a reaction with logic, you will lose. What has happened here is that Republican strategists have found a concept expressed in the word "liberal" that evokes an irrational, yet highly predictable reaction in some individuals. It's brilliant, really.

Here's my take on it. I believe that it's all about social class. And social class in this country -- even though it is taboo to admit that it exists in the U.S. -- is not just about having wealth and power, but about higher education, which is where the "liberal" part comes in. The liberal label also comes into play in urban versus rural. (Imagine my surprise, when, at the age of 12, I spent a week with a friend who lived on a farm and had to cope with endless jibes from her older brother about being a "city kid"!) I think that there is massive subliminal, as well as conscious, resentment on the part of many white native U.S. citizens who have limited education and/or cultural sophistication. Think about it -- which would have the greater psychological and emotional impact? A sense of inferiority over what you have or don't have, or over what you ARE? In my opinion, this is why the crass Republican emphasis on wealth is infinitely less threatening than what the intelligentia (otherwise known as liberals) represents for someone who is much further down on the cultural foodchain. It also explains why it is extremely important for these types to have others who are below them on the social status ladder.

[crowcalling]

50. Very good points!

I agree with you on your take. It is brilliant of the Repugs isn't it? And also why it is such a tough nut to crack. Because, this segment of society is not going away any time soon, and in fact the Repugs are doing everything in their power to make it larger, with the jobs, college benefits, health, etc.

I don't think they will give up their hero at this point - Bush. He is going to be their hero for a long long time. The ones that know this, and use this, what evil people they are!

And people like my ex? Not everyone, but people who think like he does? Well I believe they will go down fighting for their hero. I don't think they will ever be convinced to think differently.

[Mme. Defarge]

51. Thanks for your comments.

Thinking this through even further ... if you don't have money and power, or possess any intellectual/cultural prestige, what's left?

MORAL SUPERIORITY!!!

Yes, you're are right, it's a very tough nut to crack because it involves so much personal defensiveness. This is why they can't hear us. I think our only hope is to find a way to convince this group that they've been duped or betrayed by the very people they trust. And, it has to be very personal. Somehow we must find a way to get them to redirect all of that righteous indignation toward their true oppressors.

Difficult? Definitely. Impossible? No.