I have precisely one conservative friend. (I could have more, but I've allowed many of them to fall by the wayside not because of politics, but because life's gotten in the way.)
During last night's debate, a mutual friend (who's as liberal as I am) commented on FB that she couldn't watch--it was too stressful for her. I commented to the effect that our guy was doing quite well.
Our conservative friend jumped in with the comment, "Doing well by lying?"
I went through approximately five minutes of dithering between bringing up the lying that the "winner" of the last debate had done, reminding her of her one-time fervent support of Rick Perry at one point in the last year, and a whole bunch of other responses that would pretty much kill our friendship.
This friend is important to me. She's part of the group of women that I met when my oldest child was a newborn. While she isn't my closest friend in that group, I genuinely care about her, wish her the best, and want the best for her two kids.
In fact, I thought about bringing up our children in my reply. She has two daughters, for crap's sake. Does she imagine they'll never want or need birth control, or that they'll never need an abortion?
I wanted to tell her, Under Obama, all our children are protected. Under Romney, your children are golden, but my kids (particularly my one with special needs) are screwed.
I blame her love for her husband for her conservatism. Plus in their situation I suppose Republicans are better for them, economically, and at least they're voting with and for their wallets. (He does something in national security--not within government, though.) I don't think the past 4 years have been bad for them economically, but I know a Republican return would be better for her husband's work.
In the end, I chose friendship over politics. I replied to her, "Let's accept that we're friends despite our political differences--and that neither of us is ever going to change the other's mind!" which she graciously agreed to.
I'm hoping I can be as gracious in case our guy doesn't win, but I'm also hopeful that the scenario won't even come up.