Maybe I had some influence, maybe he's just tired of hiding that he voted for Obama(Which is really shocking when you consider that when I went to college in '92, I had to tell him not to call people "colored" anymore!)
But the honest truth is, I think Arizona R's have gotten too crazy.
Even for my dad.
My dad is a fiftysomething midwest transplant. If he were a color, it would probably be navy. If he were a flavor, it would probably be vanilla. He thinks he is the one responsible guy left in America, and talking about God? Kind of makes him squirm, although he is not the type to tell you he doesn't believe either, because that would be drawing attention to himself.People that draw attention to themselves upset my dad, because he likes to think that America is some kind of endless suburb where everyone eats bran flakes for breakfast and frets over their sprinkler heads.
Obama or no, diversity makes him uncomfortable. He is privileged in the way that he doesn't have to look at his privileges(We used to fight about that, but now we don't talk much, Ordinary People style. But I still have to celebrate his coming out from the Republican insanity, at least enough to see how messed up the Tea Party and the American Taliban God Squad have made everything. ) If Republicans in a state like this have lost people like my father: a for-real small businessman who voted for Reagan twice and actually buys striped ties and considered Nixon a boyhood hero, Senator Harkin may be right.
They are a cult.