What a wonderful day. The market is crazy, it's cold outside, and I just got a call from a McCain campaign volunteer that tried to convice me that I was voting for the wrong person. Boy was this a bad conversation for her. But I gotta give her credit, she tried her best.
The first 5 minutes of the conversation was her trying to go thru the "Talking Points" with me on the Republican agenda. After I talked her down from that with " McCain has shown no vision and given no specifics on what he will do". I asked her to give me some specifics on his plan and again she went to the talking points. I got to the point where I had to almost beg her to give me one thing, and of course you know where she went. "Drill baby drill". That of course didn't go over well with me because unlike Gov. Palin, I pay attention to detail. Then she went to the "Well Obama is gonna", and at that point I stopped her and said that I knew what Obama was gonna do, tell me what McCain is gonna do. Again she couldn't give me specifics on his agenda.
Then the conversation switched to the William Ayers saga. Again she talked about how unrepentant he is. I told her that he doesn't owe me an apology because I don't know him and what he did 40 years ago has absolutely no bearing on my life. I told her that was the beauty of this country. We have rights. I asked her if Ayers was arrested or he turned himself in and she said he turned himself in. I asked if there was a trial and she said yes. I asked what the verdict was and she said, "They let him off". I said, "so 12 American citizens let him off?" "I guess" was her answer. I told her that since that point in his life he has become a well-respected teacher at a university and is on boards with Republicans and Democrats. She agreed. Then she said something stupid. "Well we don't know what he is teaching those kids". At that point I had to stop and ask, so he is teaching them to be terrorist?" She said no, and I said, "so what is the problem", and she said, "He is teaching them to be "leftist". I asked if being leftist meant being a terrorist? Got her again. Then she spoke of seeing women in the grocery store that wore the burka and it "scared" her. I asked why she felt she had to fear someone and she said, " All I can see is their eyes." She said her husband had to explain to her that it was appropriate for her to dress that way because of where she came from, and then the volunteer said " Well if they are gonna live in this country they should dress like we do". Damn
I asked what McCain is gonna do to get the country back on track. Then we go to "he is not gonna raise taxes" and that is gonna put people back to work. Not an argument that is gonna set well with me. So I had to talk her down off of that branch. I told her that I have spoken to several different corporations over the last few months and every time I do I have to speak to someone in a foreign country. What is McCain gonna do to get those jobs back in the US? So she goes into some story about her husband working for a big corporation who moved their customer service jobs overseas so they could hire more technicians. I asked her when this happened and she said 20 years ago. I said I am talking about "NOW". What is he gonna do to get something simple like customer service back into this country so we can speak English on the phone when you have a problem. No answer. I told her that with this negative campaign that he is running he would not get my vote.
Then we came to my favorite part. I spoke to her about the division that is going on in the country that irritates me more than anything. I spoke to her about the Red State/Blue State thing that the media and the Republicans run on. This Pro America/Anti America thing. She said she was calling me from Crystal City Virginia and I said, So you must be in the "Fake Virginia". She didn't like that.
So after a very combative 20 minute conversation she said she had to go. I guess she didn't convince me! Hopefully someone will call again and I'll try and show him or her that they are playing on the wrong team. Have a Good Day...
Update: thanks for the love folks. And to sooth the feelings, no I was not rude in any way. She just happended to call an intellegent Independent voter who understands the issue. But most of all she got in touch with someone who likes to debate the "Facts".. I truly enjoyed the conversation and so did she. Like I said, I give her credit for taking me on and hanging as long as she could. I could have gone another 10 rounds...