Too many folks don't understand the St. Louis mentality is generally a fairly polite one.
Posted on 11/02/2004 1:41:42 PM PST by misharu
Today I took the day off of work to volunteer for Bush Cheney in the capacity of a ballot tracker at two west St. Louis County polls. The job entailed getting a voter, preferably a Bush supporter, to remember thier ballot number and after voting to let me know, whereupon I called the number in to the HQ. I had to do this at 10am and 2pm
At one of the polls I was to go to, an elementary school, there was a MoveOn.org volunteer standing outside. In the morning we struck up a conversation as I waited for the gentleman who was nice enough to get me his ballot number. It was a nice, friendly conversation. No histrionics or yelling back and forth.
When I returned at 2pm, he was still there standing in the cold overcast day. As it was sort of a dead time for voters and I had to wait for someone to help me out, we got to talking some more. He asked me why I liked Bush and I asked him why he was involved in an organization like MoveOn.org. Most of the voters who passed looked at us strangely as we were laughing and generally having a nice discussion. (I had my "W" button and a GOP cap on and he had a MoveON.org armband.)
One gentleman stopped by us, looked from me to the other guy noting out polar opposite attire and asked "You two are getting along?" I told him that we might not agree about politics or social issues or anything else, but we were both Americans. And as such, why shouldn't we be able to have an amiable conversation while waiting outside a polling place in a light drizzle and cold wind?
Don't get me wrong. I vehemently oppose what MoveOn.org espouses, but at that moment we were two St. Louisans who did not feel that animosity was an answer. This is something you won't see on the MSM --- two political opposites getting along and being courteous to each other. Maybe there is hope for us after all.
Please don't flame me for being nice to the guy. I am a Midwesterner and we are basically nice and courteous in nature. I just did not see the need to hate the guy for what HE believed in. After all, its his right as an American.
Can't we all just. . snif snif. . get along.
This may sound like a flame...but that was a lot of blather. What were the "internals" of your encounter. Did you disabuse him of any wrongheaded notions? Did you question him about George Soros trying to unseat a president? When he threw out falsehoods about W, were you able to answer him right back?
Right on. You did us proud.
When I first walked up THAT was my first instinct!
Thank you for working the polls.
I have a fairly close friend who is also a socialist (so he thinks). In spite of that, he's a decent human being, though he clearly is a little short on critical thinking skills.
I totally agree, but hopefully you at least slashed his tires on your way out of the parking lot. </joke joke joke>
No flames here. My Lord teaches me to love my enemies; to hate the sin, but love the sinner.
You're a good egg in my book.
I was just thinking the same thing.... LOL.
Too many folks don't understand the St. Louis mentality is generally a fairly polite one.
Yeah, I was poll checking right next to some Democrat poll checkers and one of them tipped over in his chair and I was there just in time to catch him.
In reality, after spending 4 hours at the polls, I couldn't tell the Democrats from the Republicans just by looking at them.
You only got along because he didn't say "Bush lied and kids died." I don't mind others with different points of view so long as they are intellectually honest.
its stories like these that really make me sick.
just kidding, i think.
You never told us why he is working for a radical organization like MO.O.
Good for you. For me the best way to convince others is to first establish some kind of similarities. Hostility get people nowhere.
I'm conservative as all get out and my girlfriend is my exact polar opposite; in fact, she's a moveon.org contributor and volunteer as well.
She thinks I'm wrong, I know she's wrong, and we just agree to disagree. When I first met her, she was a rabid Bush-hater, but I've made real progress in shaving down those sharp edges.
Can't convert the wrong if you simply ignore them, you know.
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