My mother is an alcoholic bipolar republican.
Never before have I summed her up so succinctly. We've had one fruitless discussion too many, and I think it's time for a political intervention. So, I'm asking Kossacks for some advice. Ideas on how to guide her back from the edge of the abyss. Perhaps some success stories, with your own loved ones?
It's just so difficult trying to have a constructive conversation with someone, who firmly believes the two scariest things on the planet are Islam and taxes. She believes that Bill Clinton was a worse president than George W. Bush, as well as anything else that Fox says.
I don't know how it happened, to tell you the truth. During the primaries, she was an Obama supporter after hearing one of his steller speeches one evening during dinner. For Mother's Day, I even gave her "The Audacity of Hope" because I was so thrilled.
Not even a month later, just in time for my birthday, she had a McCain sticker on the back of her crossover-SUV. (As if by Karma, she was rear-ended a couple weeks later.)
Our last discussion - and my last straw - started when she asked how I was feeling, a day after I raged over Senator Graham's fearmongering speech at the RNC. I don't think she realized I knew how to say some of the words that came out of my mouth.
She asked me why I wasn't concerned about people overseas that want to kill us. I replied that they're a huge minority, and the only reason that the rest of the world is angry with the US is because of how we dealt with that little minority. I suggested that she should probably be more anxious about China and Russia than the Middle East, and she began talking about a new Cold War between the US and Russia. I tried to point out that McCain would feed right into that machine, but she was far too engrossed in repeating Rove's rhetoric.
By the time I was talking about Scandinavian quality of life vs. tax rates, her eyes had glossed over.
I have no idea how to break through her short attention span. It seems like only Cindy McCain's earrings have the power to do that. ("She's in a position that most women DREAM about..." "What, being an heiress?" "You... urr. Did you see her speech? She blew Michelle Obama out of the water...")
Maybe I'll just come by and steal her keys on election day. /snark
EDIT: I just wanted to publicly thank everyone who commented, I really wasn't expecting this kind of turnout. Your kind words and advice are extremely appreciated. Thank you.