My 86-year-old mother tells my sister off!

[Elwood P Dowd]

She has voted republican since Ike. She has had it with the Swift Boat talk. She is tired of the killing in Iraq. She is fed up with the cost of gasoline, health care, and food that is forcing her to modify her lifestyle. She finally stopped listening to Rush Limbaugh. She called my sister an idiot for supporting Bush! Take that Bush!

[Fridays Child]

1. I kiss your mother!

Mwah!

[Dookus]

2. awesome

I think my mother is about to vote for her first Democrat since John Kennedy.

[Pachamama]

3. Alright Mama Dowd!

:kick:

You go grrrlll!

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Best Regards to Mom

Mom is always right.

[Kanary]

5. Glad to hear it.

However, it seems to me it shows that unless/until people are personally affected, they won't "get it".

We are no longer a people who can care about others, even when we are doing OK. It has to hit us first.

That's very scary.

Kanary

[Elwood P Dowd]

10. I had a tiny bit of influence

but she kept listening to her friends and my sister. They are all republicans. It's hard to get through but once you get their attention about their own situation, they start looking at the big picture. You have crawl before you walk.

[Kanary]

11. Again, glad you did.

The point was, there have been many threads, asking what it's going to take to get the country back. Many of us are saying it will take a huge catastrophe that affects MOST people. They just don't respond anymore to the pain of others, they have to feel it directly.

*THAT* is what makes me hugely sad.

We're no longer a nation of compassion.

Kanary

[Elwood P Dowd]

15. You're right

but look at the media. The average person hears sound bites and corporate propaganda. They are good people, but they have no clue what is really happening.

Most on this board hate Pat Buchanan, but one night on a radio interview years ago he said something prophetic. He said, "If the American people actually knew everything that was being done to them by the politicians in Washington, they would become like the peasants with pitchforks, attack the castle, and kill the inhabitants." I'm paraphrasing of course, but it was something along those lines. Every so often, Pat tells it like it is.

[Kanary]

16. sigh....... look, I'm really glad you affected her, and glad she has come

around.

But, I WILL NOT blame the lack of compassion in this nation on "the media".

We have come to a sad pass, and it needs to be faced head-on.

There has been plenty of evidence, before she was personally affected, that there are many poor people being hurt. That didn't affect her until it got to her personally. (I'm not trying to pick on her...... she's now an example of what I'm pointing out.

I'm not picking on you, or just arguing for the heck of it....... IMO this is an important fact to consider in why there is a "shift", and what it means in this society.

Again, good for you, and glad it happened. I just don't like WHY it happened...... I wish she had seen it when others were hurting, and I wish it was in her list of reasons.

Kanary

[REP]

19. The Woman in Question is *86*

Chances are very, very good that she is not wealthy. She may not consider herself poor, but if the price of food, medicine and gas is forcing her to make changes she doesn't want to make, chances are she's very close to what a lot of us would consider poor.

I understand that the point your were trying to make, but using a woman of 86 years to make it is not particularly effective way to make it. You seem to think that people should stop focusing on their own problems and worry more about the problems of the those less fortunate than themselves. If you find a way to make that happen, please pass it on.

In the meantime, I shall continue my efforts to point out that most of us are in the same leaky boat, and we all need help.

[Kanary]

24. Well, that certainly explains it, then.

:eyes:

"You seem to think that people should stop focusing on their own
problems and worry more about the problems of the those less fortunate than themselves."

Could you please point out where I said that?

:crazy:

People of all ages, including children, are capable of caring about others, AS WELL AS THEMSELVES.

Geeeez, it's even taught in Sunday School.

Kanary

[dansolo]

28. On the flip side

Older people are notoriously difficult to get to change their opinions, especially when they are set in their ways for decades. For things to get so bad that even they are reassessing their own long held beliefs, there is a glimmer of hope.

[soothsayer]

6. Great! She'll learn to love and respect Kerry when he's Pres. n/t

[underseasurveyor]

7. Bravo for Mom

Yeah (we need a clapping smilie)
LOL Love it and her ;-)

[Judi Lynn]

8. One of the finest stories a person's likely to hear!

All those years of assuming they were right, yet coming to real awareness after reflection. Simply beautiful.

She should have some way to celebrate her new independence from a dreadful group of sly, cynical propagandists running the Republican Party.

Bless that woman. Not many people are intellectually active enough to keep thinking things over.

[LiberalVoice]

9. My mom is voting for the first time since Carter!

I've been explaining to her and encouraging her to find out on her own what Bush is really doing! I'm also getting my sister and brother to vote for the first time in their lives. She's 24 he's 19!

[underseasurveyor]

14. My mom would beat my wittle ass

which isn't so wittle no more :-) if I didn't vote, but especially NOW.
She would too and my dad would help her :spank: ;-)

[YankeeFan]

12. Gas Prices

Tell your Mother never, NEVER go to Europe for a vacation.

Business takes me to Germany and France a couple times a year. A gallon of gas goes for about $5.00. FOR REAL. And England is slightly cheaper.

Why do you think that Foreign automobiles are always so much smaller than American cars? Most of the price of gasoline in Europe is taxes. Americans are spoiled rotten when it comes to cheap gasoline.

[drhilarius]

20. Well, I certainly don't feel spoiled...

spending $2.20 a gallon. Of course, I'm a humble Ph.D. student and don't have the cash to jet set around Europe (or New Zealand, for that matter), which is funny since I'm part of the "pointed headed, liberal elite". Oh well, next time I fork over $20 bucks for gas I'll thank my lucky stars rather than bitch about the food I could've bought or the movie I could've seen with my Girlfriend (us wage slaves don't need nourishment or entertainment).

[Kellanved]

21. true

The Gallon is about €4.40, at the current exchange rate over $5.

England is the most expensive BTW.

http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/download/document/preise_in_europa.pdf

[madrchsod]

13. my mom ,my daughter(16) ,and i

listened to bush`s attempt at a speech right after 9-11..my mother commented that it wasn`t as good as fdr`s speech..one of the few times in my life i`d ever heard my mother use dead pan humor..i `m sure your mom remembers fdr`s speech those many years ago and it may have dawned her that bush is no fdr like they would like to make him out to be....

[Elwood P Dowd]

17. She remembers them

When I was a kid we would listen to Truman's talks on an old Zenith tube radio. I remember one hot summer night in 1953 listening to that radio when the Korean War ended. By the time I was drafted during Vietnam it was on the fritz - TV had taken over. Bet that old radio would bring a nice price on eBay today.

[Andromeda]

18. I'm glad she's finally seen the light!

:kick:

[cthrumatrix]

22. many people feel the same way...I see it every day

[Puglover]

23. Give your Mom

a big smooch for me!
:toast:

[ElectroPrincess]

26. I second that sentiment!

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments of pjeffrey4444.

A grateful hug and a kiss on the check for your insightful Mother.

If only my "lifetime republican" 79 y.o. Mom could come to the same realization. <I'm still hopeful>

[ComerPerro]

25. My friends mother, very republican, told her

That she would in no way vote for Alan Keyes (but she didn't say she would vote for Obama either, she may just not vote for either). And then she told her that she would definately not be voting for Bush. She said she is voting for Edwards.

To this, my friend replied, "You mean Kerry/Edwards?"

"No," she said, "Edwards".

My friend then told me that her mother explained that this was how she could rationalize it to herself and to her family, which is mostly right wing. So, when anyone asks, although she is voting Kerry, she is voting "Edwards".

LOL

My friend told me that yesterday and it made my day

[bushwakker]

27. mother now know's best

[jackieforthedems]

29. 86?! She Sounds Cute

Hope I still have that kind of spunk at that age!

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. Hooray for Mama!

[stanwyck]

31. Here's my Dad's email

from today. I hope I'm as successful as you at having a parent change his/her mind.
(he's commenting on my missing Arnold Schwartznegger's speech)_


I'm sorry you missed Arnold. You would probably would have switched
parties if you had heard him and the Bush girls speak I can't decide who
to vote for. It will probably be for the party that will reduce taxes, fund
and
support education, protect the environment, reduce the cost of medicine,
provide jobs, lower gas prices, support our troops , increase national
security,
help old people and minorities, and reduce the budget.

I'll check with you later so you can advise me on the best way to go.



I told him, based on his criteria, he's a Democrat and should vote accordingly.