(UPDATED) Help, please: what to say to a GOP friend / undecided voter

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Tuesday October 14, 2008 · 8:21 PM PDT

2008/10/14 · 20:21

True Confessions: One of my best friends is a Republican. (GASP!!!)

Over the years, we've tolerated each other's politics with mutual respect (albeit with some good-natured ribbing).

We have stuck by each other through two Bush elections (she was a major volunteer in 2000 -- we're talking invited-to-an-inaugural-ball type of volunteer, although she did not volunteer for him in 2004).

We were also bridesmaids in each other's weddings, and we regularly keep in touch despite living 800 miles apart.

My friend has been drifting from the GOP for a while now -- she is against the Iraq War and she thinks Bush is a failure. She even asked me serious questions about the Democratic primary candidates this past spring.

Today, she admitted to me that she is still an undecided voter.

I just spent the past hour and a half writing to her. I didn't really know what to say -- where do you even begin??? However, after all that time, I came up with something somewhat coherent and sent it to her.

This is what I wrote:

anabelle

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Thursday October 02, 2008 · 2:16 PM PDT

2008/10/02 · 14:16

Why Palin sounds so weird & how to make sense of her rambling "sentences"

If you're anything like me, you love anything involving:
1) dialectal analysis of spoken American English, and
2) proper sentence diagramming.

(You think I'm kidding? I'm not kidding. I love this stuff. I'm going to teach high school English, after all.)

Sarah Palin, bless her heart, brings both absolutely riveting topics to the fore. Thank you, Governor!

(And thank you, Slate, for publishing both articles!)

Poll

122 votes Show Results

Which aspect of linguistics and the English language do you find most enthralling?

122 votes Vote Now!

Which aspect of linguistics and the English language do you find most enthralling?

Sentence diagramming

23 votes

American dialectal analysis

43 votes

Creative uses of curse words

20 votes

Debating what two words create the contraction "ain't"

4 votes

'Framing' issues for good, not evil

6 votes

Taking particular delight at Bush's malapropisms

19 votes

Uh, I never really thought about it.

5 votes

None of the above. I hate language; therefore, I do not speak, read, or write.

2 votes

"Letters to the Next President" (my day in a high school classroom)

anabelle

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Wednesday September 24, 2008 · 6:39 PM PDT

2008/09/24 · 18:39

I don't know if this is an acceptable diary topic for DailyKos, but I feel compelled to share this story. It isn't explicitly political . . . but then again, it is. If you want to get an idea of what's on the mind of high school students when it comes to political issues that affect them, read on.

A little background: I'm working on bachelor's degree #2 to get my teaching certification in secondary English education. This semester, I have to teach a class in a local high school a few times a month.

Today was my third time working with this class, a 'remedial reading' type of class with students from all grade levels in it. The school is located in a working-class city next to a large Army post that deploys frequently. The student population is quite diverse; in fact, it is a "majority-minority' school, meaning that a majority of the students are minorities in terms of race/ethnicity.

Today's lesson was for the students to write a letter to the next president, focusing on an issue of their choice that is personally relevant.

anabelle

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Tuesday September 09, 2008 · 7:50 PM PDT

2008/09/09 · 19:50

We've all been reading the diaries lately urging Democrats to get back on message, stop talking exclusively about Sarah Palin, turn the conversation back on McCain and Bush, and focus on the issues.

We need to do more than that. We need to frame our arguments for maximum impact. (For more on progressive framing, check out linguist George Lakoff's books, especially "Don't Think Of An Elephant" and the one I'm currently reading, "The Political Mind".)

So-called "low information voters" aren't likely to listen to a nuanced discussion of why Obama's foreign policy proposals are better than McCain's, or what economic policies Obama will implement that McCain won't, or why Obama's stance on health care is superior to whatever McCain has thrown together.

Democrats, bless our hearts, are prone to discussing issues at length -- you know, because details matter. (And they absolutely DO, don't get me wrong.) However, at this point in the election, we need to do what Republicans have excelled at doing for years: create pithy 'bumper sticker' talking points, and repeat them over and over until they stick.

Without further ado, here's my 'bumper sticker' . . . .

McCain isn't CHANGE; McCain is EX-CHANGE: exchanging eight years of Bush for four years of McSame.

anabelle

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Wednesday September 03, 2008 · 7:42 PM PDT

2008/09/03 · 19:42

I wrote a diary yesterday about Sarah Palin's 'loose lips' re: her son's deployment. Perhaps I should have waited a couple of hours.

Last night, the McCain-Palin campaign demonstrated, through primetime RNC speaker Fred Thompson, that Palin's initial disclosure about her son's deployment date wasn't an accident. Rather, it confirmed my worst suspicions -- that Palin was using her son's deployment as a political prop.

anabelle

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday September 02, 2008 · 5:29 PM PDT

2008/09/02 · 17:29

When Palin was introduced as McCain's running mate, she stated that her oldest son enlisted in the Army on 9/11 of last year, and is deploying on 9/11 of this year. Not only is this an uncanny coincidence, I think there is a high probability that Palin is either lying or compromising the safety and security of that entire unit by publicizing their deployment date.

EDITED TO ADD LINK: Sarah Palin announcing her son's deployment date (4:43 to 5:32)

RSS

(UPDATED) Help, please: what to say to a GOP friend / undecided voter

Fun with Linguistics - Thanks, Sarah Palin!

"Letters to the Next President" (my day in a high school classroom)

'It's the framing, stupid': McCain is the EX-CHANGE Candidate

Politicizing Our Troops: McCain-Palin Do It Again

Palin on son's deployment: Either she's lying or she's putting soldiers at risk