There are also booths set up providing an assortment of various products and services that you may wish to buy on impulse, such as sunrooms or vinyl siding for your entire home. Our county Democratic party also had a booth set up, registering voters and giving away bumper stickers for various state and local candidates, as well as pencils, nail files, rulers, brochures, temporary tattoos, coloring books, and candy with candidates' names on them.
I rode along with several other members of our local Democratic party on the party's float in the parade, tossing out candy to kids along the parade route. Also with me on the float were my four-year-old daughter, who kept screaming "Vote Democrack!", and my wife, who voted for George W. Bush in 2000 (before I knew her), but with some brainwashing convincing arguments she has become quite involved in Democratic politics, even getting elected to the County Democratic Executive Committee.
Maybe it was just the candy being thrown, but people on the parade route seemed pretty excited when they saw the Democratic Party float. There was a lot of applause and enthusiasm and even some shouts of "No more Bush!"
At the end of the parade route, we made our way to the Democratic Party's booth at the festival. My daughter handed out candy and small flags to other children passing by. My wife helped several people register to vote, even though they won't be able to vote in the primary because the deadline has passed. At least one Republican switched their registration to Democratic, even though it would disqualify them from voting in the primary. I was feeling pretty hopeful.
One woman walked by and kind of pumped her fist and shouted, "Go Hillary!" I just smiled politely, but one of the volunteers manning the booth with us shouted back, "But you'll vote for Obama if he wins, right? We've got to stick together in November."
The woman called back, "No, if Obama wins I'll vote for McCain."
That kind of pissed off the volunteer, who shouted back, "Do you really want 100 more years of war?" The response was, "I'd rather have McCain than Obama." And she walked away.
This pattern repeated several more times during the day. Some people came up and voiced their support for Obama, but about twice as many swore they would not vote for him. Some just said that they would stay home and not vote for anyone. One or two said that they would vote for McCain rather than Obama. When asked why they felt so strongly against Obama, almost none of them would give an answer other than, "I just don't like him."
Others just gave very vague answers, like, "There are just too many questions about him." When asked what questions they needed answers, they could come up with nothing. Big surprise.
I didn't really have to get out the Bullshit to English Translator to figure out exactly what their problem was that they would not say out loud: "He's black."
Finally, a man came up and started looking at brochures for Senate campaigns. I told him, "These men are all in the primary to try to get Mitch McConnell out of office. Would you like some brochures or maybe some bumper stickers?"
He said, "No, I don't really know anything about these guys."
I said, "Well, that's why we're giving out brochures -- so you can figure out which candidate you want to vote for."
He kind of ignored that and then looked up and asked, "Do you think Hillary Clinton is going to beat Obama?"
Since I was working for the Democratic Party at large, I'm supposed to remain neutral regarding primary candidates when I'm acting in an official capacity, but I saw no harm in stating a basic fact: "The numbers are really all on Obama's side."
He just shook his head in disgust and said, "Well let me tell you something. He is a Muslim. And I am not a Muslim. And we are fighting Muslims. And I will NEVER vote for that fucking Muslim. We're at war against his people, not voting for them!"
I was blown away by the ignorance. I studied his face for a second to see if he was just fucking with my head. It was almost too much stupid to be contained inside one person, and I looked for any evidence that suggested some kind of parody. But the guy was serious -- the only parody was the one this guy was doing of himself.
I said, "I don't know where to begin. That's just wrong on several levels."
His voice raised much higher. "What are you talkin' about? He's a MUSLIM!"
I said, "He is not."
He started getting angry, then sort of calmed down and looked at me as though he wished I wasn't so ignorant. "Yes, he is too. He went to one of them Islam terrorist schools. There are pictures of him at the terrorist school all over the Internet."
I said, "He's not a Muslim. And he never went to a 'terrorist school'."
The man became agitated again. "Well, yes he did, and his name is Hussein!" The man now looked pretty satisfied, as though Obama's middle name was irrefutable proof of the sheer genius of his argument.
Convinced he had won the Obama-is-a-Muslim argument, the man continued to his next round of ammunition. "Plus, he has that black pastor who hates America and wants us to be attacked by terrorists..."
"Wait," I interrupted him, "How does he have a pastor if he's a Muslim?"
"That's just what he wants you to think! He's a Muslim but he's pretending not to be! And I'm not voting for no fucking Muslim!"
"He's not even a Muslim," I said again.
"Yes, he is. And you know what? Why don't you do a little research. I think you'll be very surprised." The man sneered back at me.
"I assure you, I have done plenty of research."
My wife intervened, trying to be helpful. "He was raised by his mama and--"
"Black Muslim!" the man interrupted, nonsensically. I don't know if he thought he was referring to Obama or Obama's mother.
My wife must have assumed he was talking about Obama's mother. "His mom was white," she corrected.
That's when he dropped this bomb on us: "Then maybe he's half good."
I said, "You know what, we're done here. Have a nice day, sir." And I turned my back to him. He walked away, safely swaddled in a warm cocoon of blissful ignorance with a side of arrogant self-assuredness.
The guy was certainly the exception and not the rule that day. There was a lot of enthusiasm for the Democrats. And I think a lot of the Clinton supporters we talked to will come around by November. To their credit, most of them agreed that McCain would be a continuation of the disaster we're living in, even in a fairly conservative and rural town.
Our friend will be voting for McCain if he votes at all, I'm sure, and somehow I doubt he would have really voted for a woman either. I'm just amazed at how a person can believe -- without question! -- a rumor spread on the Internet, no matter what conflicting information or evidence might come their way.
