Help me win over a lukewarm Bush supporter

[Ishoutandscream]

A teacher at my school told me she was on the fence with this election (leaning to Bush), but she told she was open to changing her vote if I could convince her.

She's a wonderful lady and an excellent algebra teacher. Mid-twenties, single, African American. She is one of my closest friends here at work.

I've already converted two ladies to vote for Kerry who have 18 year old boys (providing them the excellent links to the Selective Service info which has been posted here). Two more I've gotten to register to vote. Marjorie (that's her name) may be a tough one for me.

I could go several angles, but I guess I need some of our African American members to help me out here. I'm a middle aged white guy (as a matter of fact, today is my 43rd birthday). Would playing what our Republican friends call the "race card" be of benefit? I don't know if that is my place to bring these issues to her. There's a lot of stuff out there, but this might be a tough sale. She still thinks Bush is keeping us safer; I reminded her 9/11 took place on his watch. She agreed.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

James

[annabanana]

1. ask her

If she's had to supply any of her students out of her own pocket...or if she knows of colleagues who have had to. Make sure she knows that the "No Child Left Behind" is an unfunded smokescreen that's allowing him to bankrupt the public school systems while promoting "voucher schools"...(a bunch of which have just gone belly up in California)

[mcar]

2. How can any teacher be for *?

Ask her what she knows about No Child Left Behind. Tell her about how Bush has underfunded education and is pushing for private school vouchers in a bid to decimate public education.

Also, pocketbook issues. Teachers live on low salaries (I know, I'm married to one :)).

Find out why she is on the fence. Why can't she decide? What are her hot-button issues that have her considering Bush? Once you know that, you can work on her with facts.

Good luck.

[BJ]

3. "No Child Left Behind" That should be enough.

Link to NPR

[bryant69]

4. Playing the "race card"

as another white guy, my thought is that all peole are individuals. There are people for whom that would be verhy swaying, and others for whom it would be somewhat insulting.

If she is a teacher, what does she think of Bush's education bill? And what does she think about him defunding it (well most of it, money to go to religious charter schools stayed in)? What does she thinks about Kerry's education plan? If you want to review them --> http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/education/

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[TahitiNut]

5. Why would any teacher ...

... support an example of the failure of education? Does she really want to show what a "C student" can achieve?


Happy Birthday

[punpirate]

6. Well, first...

... quote J.C. Watt's father. If that doesn't work, remind her that she's not just voting for Bush. She's also voting for Wolfowitz, Perle, Bolton, Cheney, Libby, Feith and a whole lot of other people who don't give a shit about her, her students or her community--they only care about running the world--if she doesn't get that, don't waste any more time on her.

Cheers.

[johnnie]

7. Hannity and Colmes had someone on yesterday

Of course Hannity was an ass as usual, but the man they had was an African American that was talking about the repugs and what they did to the A.A. vote in 2000. Hannity kept saying that it is a shame that the Dems are pulling the race card and this guy was just nailing Hannity.
I wish I could remember his name, but maybe someone here saw it or knows what I am talking about. It could be a way to go to help you out.

[blm]

8. Why talk to her any differently? She should care about being secure and

having a president who REALLY understands terror and how to shut them down, not one who fosters more terror against us with his blind arrogance.

Print out this article from Washington Monthly. It's very effective in explaining how Kerry was actually the FIRST lawmaker to take on terrorists' and their funding while the Republican administrations were intent on covering up for them.

The question from reporters SHOULD be WHY did so many in the Bush1 administration try to STOP Kerry from exposing the funding of terrorism?

And isn't there a likely relationship between those efforts and the Bush2 administration's attempt to stop the 9-11 investigations?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

September 2004
Follow the Money
How John Kerry busted the terrorists' favorite bank.
By David Sirota and Jonathan Baskin
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two decades ago, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was a highly respected financial titan. In 1987, when its subsidiary helped finance a deal involving Texas oilman George W. Bush, the bank appeared to be a reputable institution, with attractive branch offices, a traveler's check business, and a solid reputation for financing international trade. It had high-powered allies in Washington and boasted relationships with respected figures around the world.

All that changed in early 1988, when John Kerry, then a young senator from Massachusetts, decided to probe the finances of Latin American drug cartels. Over the next three years, Kerry fought against intense opposition from vested interests at home and abroad, from senior members of his own party; and from the Reagan and Bush administrations, none of whom were eager to see him succeed.

By the end, Kerry had helped dismantle a massive criminal enterprise and exposed the infrastructure of BCCI and its affiliated institutions, a web that law enforcement officials today acknowledge would become a model for international terrorist financing. As Kerry's investigation revealed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, BCCI was interested in more than just enriching its clients--it had a fundamentally anti-Western mission. Among the stated goals of its Pakistani founder were to "fight the evil influence of the West," and finance Muslim terrorist organizations. In retrospect, Kerry's investigation had uncovered an institution at the fulcrum of America's first great post-Cold War security challenge.

More than a decade later, Kerry is his party's nominee for president, and terrorist financing is anything but a back-burner issue. The Bush campaign has settled on a new strategy for attacking Kerry: Portray him as a do-nothing senator who's weak on fighting terrorism. "After 19 years in the Senate, he's had thousands of votes, but few signature achievements," President Bush charged recently at a campaign rally in Pittsburgh; spin that's been echoed by Bush's surrogates, conservative pundits, and mainstream reporters alike, and by a steady barrage of campaign ads suggesting that the one thing Kerry did do in Congress was prove he knew nothing about terrorism. Ridiculing the senator for not mentioning al Qaeda in his 1997 book on terrorism, one ad asks: "How can John Kerry win a war if he doesn't know the enemy?"
>>>>>>>>>
But legislation is only one facet of a senator's record. As the BCCI investigation shows, Kerry developed a very different record of accomplishment--one often as vital, if not more so, than passage of bills. Kerry's probe didn't create any popular new governmental programs, reform the tax code, or eliminate bureaucratic waste and fraud. Instead, he shrewdly used the Senate's oversight powers to address the threat of terrorism well before it was in vogue, and dismantled a key terrorist weapon. In the process, observers saw a senator with tremendous fortitude, and a willingness to put the public good ahead of his own career. Those qualities might be hard to communicate to voters via one-line sound bites, but they would surely aid Kerry as president in his attempts to battle the threat of terrorism.
>>>>>>>>

  

[mairceridwen]

9. health care

Statistically, african american and other women of color are more likely to be uninsured.

Still...there should be enough without having to even bring up race.

Remind her that there is absolutely no reason to believe that Kerry wouldn't make terrorism and homeland security a priority. that we are losing the war in iraq and depleting our economic and military resources with Bush's approach.


Ask her, if they can't keep protesters out of the RNC, how well can they keep terrorists out of the country?

[DiverDave]

10. Ask her if

she is comfortable with the fact that blacks are tokens to the republicans.
Ask her how she feels about bush's stand on the Michigan Affirmative Action case.
Ask her if she heard about the black delegate, With credentials around his neck, that was ordered by a white repub delegate to "Take my bags upstairs to my room" this was in Philly at the RNC convention.
Ask her why a bunch of small town black office holders were paraded in Philly.
Ask her why she wants to vote against herself and her students.
A teacher, you say?
Sounds pretty dense to me.

[JimmyJazz]

11. Free advice is only worth what you paid for it, but since you asked

I have found it useful to keep my arguments short and sweet. For exapmle, I have found it effective to say: Do you want a government that makes decisions that are in your best interest or in the best interest of Halliburton, Enron and other large corporations?

And, of course, there is always the war in Iraq. Very few people support the war these days.

And, the above suggestions are also very good.

[Ishoutandscream]

12. Thanks to all. It really surprises me also

and I have said this - how can any educator support Bush? But here at my North Texas suburbia school, Bush supporters probably out number us 4 to 1. It's staggering.

[in_cog_ni_to]

13. The Bush DRAFT! SHE will be

serving at the plaesure of the chickenhawk chimp. Send her here: http://www.blatanttruth.org/draft.php

for ALL the details. EVERYONE between the ages of 18-34 will be serving. Married or single...doesn't matter. Men and WOMEN WILL BE DRAFTED. Got children? So what! YOU ARE SERVING! If I were her, at HER AGE, I would vote for Kerry. :scared:

[Poiuyt]

14. Bush has been VERY weak on homeland security!

It's a myth that Bush has been pushing that he's making us safer. The Bush administration's main objective was to invade Iraq, which wasn't a threat to the US, even though they had to divert funds from the war against al Queda, which was (and still is). Please have her check this web site. It gives many examples of how Republicans are talking one way, but acting another:

http://americanpundit.blog-city.com/read/537356.htm