Two weeks ago, I visited my parents, both in their 80's, who planned to vote this year. They were both firmly seated in Obama's camp. Happy happy.
However, when I talked to my dad today--to confirm that he'd seen further erosion of the Republicans' case, hoping to commiserate with him about the 500 point drop on Wall Street and other recent developments--he started babbling about how he wasn't sure who he'd vote for today--McCain had been in Washington and been through years of "knowing how things are done," and essentially letting me know how afraid he was of something new (Obama) and why it was "safe" (go figure) to stay with McCain. Well, reaming out my 87 year old dad is not something I'm particularly proud of, but I did it anyway. I let him have it. What could he be thinking? Why wouldn't he want a tax break (he doesn't make $250,000), after he parroted the line how Obama would "raise his taxes." Why would he elect someone who was a lockstep Republican? Did he think the country had improved in the last eight years? Why would he elect a clueless idiot from the hinterlands? Sad to say, he had no cogent responses, and had been pretty misled by the recent coverage. The only way I brought him back was to do my Sarah Palin imitation (which is pretty good, I must say) and make him laugh about the absurdity of voting for someone with like her on the ticket. This conversation came a day after one with my sister--who I practically stopped talking to after 2000 and again in 2004, when she voted for Bush--wherein she told me that she "didn't hate Sarah Palin. She didn't come out and say she'd vote for her, but she didn't hate her, either.
Now, my family members aren't a bunch of Rhodes scholars, but I don't think of them as idiots, either. It is truly scary, however, how they seem to fall under the thrall of these freakin' Republican nutjobs. I know my family relationships suffered after Gore and Kerry lost. I spent countless hours trying to get them to see why Bush was a losing proposition, and when I found out that some of them had voted for him, I could barely talk to them. This time, I'm determined to not let them slip through my fingers. They're in Michigan, which is showing signs of falling for McCain's bs. I'm discouraged tonight, but I'm also really angry. One of the biggest misconceptions people seem to have (and I hear this from places other than Michigan) is that Obama will raise their taxes. Why doesn't the campaign run simple, straightforward ads about lowering people's taxes? Why are the Republicans getting away with the Obama would "raise your taxes" lie? Why not an ad that says: Obama will lower your taxes? How 'bout an ad that says that: Obama will cut your taxes?