Before you flame me read this trough to understand the title. I’m back after being gone for a week and a half. The Mrs. and I have been on summer vacation visiting folks back in Texas. We don’t get to see relatives very often because of work obligations and vacation time. It pulls on us at times. Since I had last seen my grandfather a year and a half ago he’s had two brushes with death. At the age of 85 he survived throat cancer, a remarkable feet for his age and at 86 he survived an emergency tracheotomy performed with no real pain relief since it was do it now or let him die. The need for the trach was a side effect of swelling from the cancer treatments months later.
For readers of my site, yes I'm back, and this article is cross-posted there.
As my wife’s family is closer to us, (still a painfully long car drive) we had seen them eight months ago. Her great grandmother is 100 years old and five months. She’s counting the months these days and admits that she doesn’t understand why she is still around and at times comments that she wishes the good lord would just take her already. She is in amazing health and at her assisted living facility, has the staff baffled at how the oldest resident needs the least amount of help and assistance.
You would think that these two amazing story’s would consume the conversations during our travels across Texas, but you’d be wrong. Politics was front and center at ever table and ever living room we walked into. Here is what I picked up in my travels.
Stop One: This stop consisted of low information voters. My parents are not very well off and do what they can to save money. I grew up with no computer and no cable television. For half my trip I was plunged back into the low information world and I found it amazing. Suddenly, I was no longer worried about the day to day battles we have here on the net. The only news I got was from local and world news. I got such little information on those programs that I had no idea McCain was having a bad week until Thursday and nothing hit the headlines to worry me much.
My parents and relatives don’t follow politics much. My mother voted for Bush twice and will be voting Dem down the ticket in November. She use to be a down ticket Democrat until Bush scared her. What has changed is her brother’s son is on his way to Afghanistan. (I thought he was already over there, but he won’t be deployed till September or October.) What also changed is the economy, gas is up, food is up, dollar won’t go as far so it’s time to change. The later was the excuse relative after relative I visited gave for voting for Obama. They don’t care about the day to day battles and gaffes. They don’t pay attention to even a fraction of them, all they care about is "change," so the Dems it is. Oh, and they have no clue what FISA is beyond how the local news phrases it and TRUST ME, they don’t care and the way the local outlet phrases it sounds bad for Democrats. One other thing I heard a lot was "He’s too old," when talking about McCain. The issue was there in their minds, but not as much as the other stops.
Stop Two: Moderate Information voters... Democrats all the way. They will follow the news from time to time but watch just as much Entertainment Tonight and Show Biz. Politics is not at the front and center, but this year is different. The election was brought up by them not me or my wife. The issue that kicked it off.... The economy. Gas prices are high, everything cost more, can’t save as much. This was a stop at some of my wife’s relatives. One member of the conversation was a managing level employee at an oil refinery. He’s voting Obama and he reports that you would be amazed at the amount of Prius’s that are in the parking lots at his work site, but not all are voting Obama, they just want to save money like the rest of us. The one thing that all the adults at the table agreed on was that McCain was too old and didn’t seem all there. His forgetfulness made them worry and those running his campaign made them laugh. They don’t know that it is a game he plays with the media to lighten the mood and soften reporters. They see his forgetful ness of lack of knowledge on a subjest as scary.
Stop Three: One moderate and one high information voter. The high information voter gets his news from Fox news so I’ll demote him down to moderate information cause he at least knows what battles are being fought daily even though he gets the wrong information. Both these voters are Republicans who are voting Obama and two things about this stop are still ringing in my head. The first is AWSOME! Remember, this is a quote from a Republican who is voting for Obama.
Just because you got shot doesn’t mean you can be president.
Thank You Wes Clark! His attack on McCain worked. The issue is out there and part of conversation. Most importantly the talking point / argument has been embedded into every day voters and it’s working. Wes Clark attacked, Obama took the high road and the message was delivered.
The second quote that stuck in my head came after watching cable news for about 10 minutes of watching the news on Thursday. Here it is.
My god he’s an early stages Alzheimer’s patient.
I was trying to piggyback some wi-fi at the time to check the KOS headlines and looked up and asked, "What?"
"McCain, it’s like he’s got the early stages of Alzheimer’s, he can’t remember anything even what he voted for,"
was the answer I received. We may not realize it but even though the media isn't hammering away at every gaffe, and there are many, they are sinking into the average voters mind. This lack of knowlege and playful forgetfulness is biting McCain in the butt.
What few Republicans I visited over the long holiday that are voting for McCain have already admitted defeat. Not a single one I met thought they had a chance in hell to keep the White House. Good news in my book. Everyone I met thinks McCain is too old, one thinks he’s losing it, all think that the idea might not be too far off since all they see on the news is that he can’t remember saying that, can’t remember voting on that, doesn’t have enough information to comment on that.... They see him as grandpa not President. That’s a problem for McCain. I personally don’t think he’s got Alzheimers, I just think he’s a poor candidate past his prime, but regular average voters are getting a different picture and all they really care about is "CHANGE," because "It’s the economy stupid,"
Keep working and keep donating because the only person that is going to bring all the people I visited some relief at the pumps, bring family members home, and bring much needed financial help to some good people that really need it is Barack Obama. I owe it to all those I visited to keep fighting the daily battles even if they don’t know they are happening because this year is too important. This year, we CAN change the world!