Are you in a mixed political marriage or relationship?

[DeeDeeNY]

I can't imagine how anyone could have a Republican significant other. I definitely could not. I think about this every time I see Carville speaking.

[AlCzervik]

1. no.

[Lex]

2. Nope. Couldn't imagine having such fundamental differences

about . . . well, everything.

[codjh9]

3. Nope couldn't do it. Haven't been in one like that since I was maybe 23 or so.

[southernleftylady]

4. yes BUT...

I have now got him to say he is a conservative dem and he wants to take me to see the movie W.

[Avalux]

5. Nope. Not anymore. At one point we were, but I converted him.

We are on the same page now. :toast:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Yes. My wife's a Marxist and I'm an Anarchist.

The ends are the same, but we disagree on the means...and who empties he cat box.

[DeeDeeNY]

7. I've occasionally seen posts from DUers who are married to Repukes

There have also been callers into Randi's show from time to time who mention this. It's beyond my comprehension.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

8. I could never, ever see myself in that situation. I don't even have

any Repuke friends and thank goodness all of my family are Democrats.

[DeeDeeNY]

12. Same with me

My entire family are Democrats, as are my friends. I just don't share values with Repukes.

[codjh9]

19. My God you people are lucky if your whole family are Dems. Mine is *maybe* 50-50

if I'm lucky... probably 60-40 (with the Repukes having an edge)...

[tilsammans]

23. That would be my family's demographic too, I think

Very odd, because many of the folks from "blue" areas are Republicans. Go figure.

:shrug:

[RevolutionStartsNow]

9. Yes, technically we are in different parties. BUT

he hates GW and won't be voting for McCain/Palin either.

He's a registered Repub, always has been, although when we met he was supporting Clinton so I didn't really notice. He's a RINO, I suppose. He's a bit wary of Obama but is impressed with Joe Biden.

I was talking to my sister about this the other day and was telling her that even though we are in different parties, our core values on just about everything are the same. I think that's far more important than party affiliation.

[NeedleCast]

I was for awhile

My most recent ex was a moderate conservative...I'm a moderate Democrat. I guess a lot of it depends on how far from the fence you are. She's not a Bush fan, so it's a lost easier to get along with someone who agrees the current president is awful. Utlimately though, it's an abaility to respect the decisions of another person whether I agree with them or not. She is like a bunch of people our age who are from conservative/military backgrounds...she's a fiscal conservative and a social moderate/liberal. She gets easily caught up in nationalism/patriotism. She likes McCain, doesn't like Palin.

Most of the conservative talking heads are pretty far to the right (or at least play neo-cons on TV). Most conservatives I know are not anywhere near that far gone and cross the conservative-liberal line in some areas.

[goodgd_yall]

15. I think what you say is so

about it depending on "how far from the fence you are." I'm a liberal Democrat so it's hard to find commanility with any Republican because my own political philosophy is very opposite from even a moderate Republican.

[NeedleCast]

16. and it does go both ways

for peple who are in these sort of relationships I think it's almost always a two-way street. This particular ex-girlfriend and I are still on very good terms and talk politics regularly. We both watched the debate last night and were chatting about it via the internet while it was going on. She agrees that Obama won and brought up the fact that McCain really needs to minimize the time that he and Obama are in the same place because Obama looks and speaks much better than McCain. She also called McCain on the "that one" comment and kept questioning that whole "look, my friends..." stuff.

She's a very smart girl and I'm betting she'll be a full-fledged democrat at some point down the road as she becomes more independent from her folks. They're good people too, but VERY traditional.

For example, her folks take her to some random place in Rhode Island every year for her birthday. It's just what they do. Last year I suggested we spend her birthday here in D.C. instead, because at the time I was traveling about 250 days a year for work and another road trip was not what I was looking forward too. She says "I always go to Rhode Island. My folks wouldn't understand if I didn't want to go."

So, I went to Rhode Island. You make compromises. Honestly, I think she only identifies as a conservative because she always has and having gotten a look at her family background, they seem to do a lot of things for that reason. I learned very early on in that relationship that she would get defensive if challenged on why she feels she is a conservative but if I point out, indirectly, that her view on one thing or another actually is closer to Obama's/Democratic thinking, she was usually pretty receptive to it.

One other example I'll give...she worked for a huge conservative non-profit called Freedom Alliance. They are fairly apolitical and do a lot of stuff for wounded veterans and veteran scholarship funds, which I respect, being a vet myself. The "front" of the orginization is Ollie North...yeah, that Ollie North. She was, essentially, an event planner and North's personal handler. I met him on several occasions through her and found him to be pretty intelligent man...and intelligent man who did something very illegal and who I think should have gone to jail. I can respect Col. North because he can explain his views in an intelligent, well spoken manner AND while he and I will never agree on many things, is equally receptive and tolerant of other points of view...unlike a bunch of the right wing fundies who do nothing more than shout slogans and thump their religious texts. Being in a relationship with her ment hanging out with some of her pretty conservative co-workers and at conservative events but it was almost always very relaxed. They knew I was the "dirty liberal" of the bunch and I told them I was their Carville and that someone had to keep them fair and balanced.

I think if you have one (or both) persons in the relationship who's just hard headed or hearted about it you either get a disaster or a relationship where one persons views eventually get consumed or supressed.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. No and I don't think I could be. In fact I know I couldn't.

[NeedleCast]

11. dupe

[goodgd_yall]

13. I think it would be very difficult

I live with my mother who is a Republican and it does get in the way of our relationship. It's not the party affiliation but the underlying belief system that draws her to be a Republican that is the sticking point. Party affiliation is a reflection of beliefs and attitudes. The differences between two people sharing different political philosophies goes deep, in actuality. I suppose they can get along as long as the differences don't have that much opportunity to arise, but I can't imagine a really close relationship being able to survive the differences (although I know there are such relationships---it just seems for me, it would be hard). On edit, see my post #15.

[Mike Daniels]

14. I'm married to a Republican and we get along fine

My whole family are Dems - her whole family are Repubs and there have never been any problems.

Maybe it's because our political involvement is limited to voting and with the exception of politics we share the same interests.

Same with our social circle. Living is DC it's pretty hard not to run into people who have different views. However, that circle ultimatly has more than enough things in common to where our politics don't enter into it at all.

[demokatgurrl]

17. Hell no

I could marry someone of any religion, race or ethnic group. But a Republican?
No effing way.

[demokatgurrl]

18. Hell no

I could marry someone of any religion, race or ethnic group. But a Republican?
No effing way.

[Pendrench]

20. Yes...my wife is a registered Republican.

And we've been happily married for 13 years this month (our anniversary is Oct. 28).

Tim

[tilsammans]

21. My SO isn't interested in politics at all

If I had to classify his leanings, I'd say libertarian-ish.

But he does most certainly view Dubya as an incompetent idiot.

I could NEVER date/marry a Rethug. And I live in Freeperville, so that leaves me with slim pickin's.

:dem:

[goclark]

22. Yep I was married to a Repub

He was so rigid in his thinking.

Bye, bye to him. :bounce:

[OhioChick]

24. Hell No...

I don't know how those who are, do it.

[ejpoeta]

25. no, but i have republican family members. which is worse? lol.

i guess i can avoid my family members. hard to avoid a spouse/significant other. lol. my sis in law is a dem (who says she won't vote for obama) and my brother is a republican who listens to rush and probably watches faux news. she says she can't stand when pat goes off like he does. and she won't talk politics with him.

[foxfeet]

26. He was a Reagan Republican when I met him

but I converted him pretty quickly. He's now rabidly anti-Republican and has been for many years.
:spank:

[EFerrari]

27. I have winger family members and my Dad is a Republican.

We don't talk very often. I could never be married to one of those people. Their ignorance alone would kill me.

[pinstikfartherin]

28. Yes, although..

.. he has voted democratic in the past. I don't think he will be voting for Obama because he, stupidly, gets caught up in lies and really does not pay attention to politics or the candidates stances enough.

We avoid the politics issue because we are very opposite when it comes to some core beliefs. For instance, during the debate he stated that healthcare is a privilege, while I definitely believe it is a right. To me, he needs to come work with me, volunteer to go see the elderly hospice patients, deliver food, and sit down and talk to them. If he could see how so many of these people cannot afford to buy food or medicine because they have to choose between the two, which is ridiculous, I like to think that he would change. If he had thousands of dollars in medical bills that put him into bankruptcy, he would change his mind. If he didn't have insurance and came down with a disease or cancer and could not get treatment he needed, he would change.

He many times has stated stupid things like we should or should've nuke(d), so-and-so, etc.

And the list goes on...

I can't stand it, but other than politics we are on the right page. We agree on raising our kids, handling relationship problems/conflict, etc.

Right now, it's a trade off... but I hope to change his mind in the future.

[cobalt1999]

29. We are are to some degree

There are hundreds of political issues and no two people will see eye to eye on each and every one.

I can be extremely liberal on some issues, libertarian on some issues, and down right conservative on others. Same with my wife.

[Fuzz]

30. Nope

[iiibbb]

31. I'm in one. People are people. Respect is something everyone deserves even when wrong.

I'm an independent with Republican parents. I can say that the parties have changed immensely in the past 70 years.

It's a fact that people tend to stick with the party in spite of how they change.

My wife is BLUER than BLUE.

She and I have swayed each other on several issues. We see eye-to-eye on many if not most.

[ferrferr]

32. I'm not married .. do I count?

My boyfriend of almost 3 years (I've been shacked up with him almost as long as I've been dating him) is on mostly the same level as me. He sits and talks smack about McCain and his stupid with me. :D

My mom I suspect is a republican. My dad is independent, but tends to be rather liberal. Of course my mom does not talk politics with anyone. No idea why. *whistles*

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

33. Well, I used to be a Republican.

And my values haven't changed much over the years, but I always was more of a libertarian back then as opposed to a main-line conservative. It's just that I found that I identified more with the Democrats in terms of how we should promote my values. So today in a lot of respects I'm a borderline socialist (and definitely a socialist measured by the American yardstick) but my values haven't changed at all. I still value the well-being of the less fortunate, the opportunity for anyone to get ahead, compromise, self-determination, freedom of expression, etc. The main breaking point for me was when I started to believe in societal responsibility. This is something that the Republicans are dead set against, and the longer I live an the more tragedy I see, the more I am convinced that it is an incredibly important concept. I don't think conservatives are necessarily bad people. They're wrong, I mean Good God are they ever wrong, but far be it from me to question what anyone feels in their heart. And if I were to fall in love with a Republican (assuming there are still some Republicans left who share my values) I wouldn't worry about it. Successful relationships are built on common values, and that's something that transcends politics.

But James Carville and Mary Matalin are still assholes.

[prolesunited]

34. Met my mate on DU

so we're pretty like minded.

[kestrel91316]

35. I was for a few years. When we met he claimed to be moderate.

He lied.

I don't regret things. I got a lot of nice restaurant meals and movies out of the SOB.

[scorpiogirl]

36. No and I can't imagine it either.

Actually, my husband's the one who turned me on to politics. I think he might be regretting it a little bit now :-)

[librechik]

37. I'm a Democrat and my husband is a lunatic. Does that count? n/t