I do not write well so do your best to follow and if that is not possible say to hell with it and move on.This will be short but should be eye opening to fence sitters. I am and always have been a liberal but I referred to myself in a generic term as a conservative. I was parked in my pickup Monday and being bored turned on the radio. It happened to be on an AM talk show. Since I do not visit Repug sites or pay attention to their TV ads, I did not have a true feeling for the far right people. I think, based on absolutely zero research, that most people voting republican are more well off and thus have a different perspective. The foreman is R and the workers are D.
The best of the poor is after the jump. Follow me.
Keep in mind that the 538 site has Obama up +8 while my state, Tennessee, has McCain up by +25. The talk show came on as if the volume had been maxed. They were obviously agitated and shouting, because of the given that Obama was to be elected but I had not yet realized the reason for their agitation. The first accusation was that Obama had people in every state rigging elections. Next, the media activity's conspiracy to have Obama elected. The proof given was when Obama went to Iraq he was given eight minutes of coverage while McCain's latest trip received only one minute. Conclusion, the media is for Obama by eight to one. The source of the minutes ???. One lady caller said that Oak Ridge had 25,000 registered voters with a population of just 35,000. This started a rant by the host that it was probably due to the SOP of democrats of refusing to purge the voter rolls. Democrats allowed people in the cemetery, even back to the Civil War, to vote. I personally know the population of Oak Ridge is very elderly, most with no mortgage and a pension to supplement SS and savings to fall back on. These are basically skilled craftsmen who had worked for 20-30 years with excellent free health care. They put in the time, paid off the mortgage and retired. Of course there are those above and below this standard. Younger workers at the lone industry of nuclear stuff and those from OR National Labs/ University of Tennessee are well paid and have job security with the best of benefits, since they are funded by DOE. Even as the people are honest, hardworking and community minded they do not personally have the concerns of most Americans and from their secure perch are mostly Independents but accept REpug talking points. I would bet when the polls come in they meet 538's number of +25% McCain over Obama. It is ignorance or an agenda to make the above accusations from only 25 miles away.
Putting aside the upside down logic used in the talk program and the vicious slurs hurled at democrats generally and Obama in particular, the kicker came as I had reached 212+ Fahrenheit. I was amazed when the host said our two R senators were ver ver afraid of the "colored" vote costing them their jobs(one up for reelect this time) and that they were paying him to say the things they could not say in public. The truth of this statement is self evident and deeply disturbing. Even after years of reading DKos I had no feel for the true vicious, lying, win any way possible of the far right until Monday. Suddenly the scales fell from my eyes. The far left exaggerates, the far right lies.
Finally I apologize for the low content, any inadvertent inaccuracies, lack of references, poor writing and especially for the political wrongness of East Tennesseans. To Oak Ridgers, if I offended or was inaccurate, I appoligse. Once I was one of you. The episode was so upsetting, I stewed for days then self indulged at your expense. Sorry.