Is the Chic Fil A controversy rallying Republican voters?

[JohnnyLib2]

Sure does look and sound that way in this area (Kentucky). The religious right is standin' in line and chompin' away.

[Walk away]

1. Maybe they'll all be too fat to fit into the voting booth!

That would work for me!

[get the red out]

2. If this were October

But it's early August. The chicken will be digested and pooped by election day.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Yep. Down the memory hole.

[JaneyVee]

3. Rallying them to an early "rapture".

[atreides1]

4. Probably

Especially if you're a religious fanatic, bigoted, intolerant, homophobe!

[LaydeeBug]

5. Really? How crowded is it *today*?

Do some math: they have roughly 1600 stores. We have roughly 300 million peeps here in the US...

again... **HOW** crowded are they right now?

[JohnnyLib2]

17. LOL, I'll go look.

The news reports Thursday were of increased business again. This is a red state, though. I'm wondering about elsewhere.

[AtomicKitten]

6. No, it's rallying haters that just happen to vote Republican.

[uponit7771]

7. +1

[arbusto_baboso]

8. Any of these bigots who could be bothered enough to trundle their fat asses down to Chick-Fil-A...

are also going to be going out to vote against Obama anyway.

What's to rally?

[Tom Ripley]

9. +1,000,000

[progressivebydesign]

10. No. It's the same old bigoted right wing Jesus-loving, unChristians, who would vote anyway..

... to get that "secret Muslim" out of office. Those folks would vote anyway... cuz their churches told them to.

[RedStateLiberal]

11. Maybe.

Rethugs commonly use wedge issues because they have nothing else to run on. It may encourage their base to GOTV but it should turn off most Independents. Polls show more Americans now support same-sex marriage so let them run on this issue. It will hurt them more than help them IMO.

[C_U_L8R]

12. If they keep eating that Chik-Fil-Fatty

they'll have coronies before election day.

Self-raptured by fryolator.

[Arugula Latte]

30. One can only hope.

[modem77]

13. Yes, but it is driving a wedge between them and independents in swing states.

[Grammy23]

14. Those who Went to Chik Fil-A on Wednesday

The folks who showed up at Chik Fil A Wednesday were only so happy to show their support to Mr. Cathy. Did you get a look at their faces? They were positively giddy that there were lines and traffic jams around the restaurants. Waiting for an hour or more was no problem for them...just spurred them on, in fact. These people honestly feel that they are under attack and that their way of life is threatened. I hear it from some of my relatives all the time (on FB and said aloud). They truly believe that THEIR rights are under siege and are coming to an end. Why do you think they say, "We want to take back our country" all the time?? And every last one of them that say this (to me anyhow) are Republicans. Voted that way in 2008 and will vote that way this time. Coming together for their Chik-fest only reinforced their impressions that they outnumber the rest of us, are in the majority and will prevail by sheer numbers alone.

I have not had one of them explain to me how allowing Marriage Equality in any way jeopardizes their way of life but that is the underlying theme in their expressions of concern about how "things are going to hell in a handbag". Oddly enough, most of the ones that imply that allowing LBGT folks to tie the knot somehow endangers their freedoms and threaten the family are all DIVORCED. Never once do I hear a word from them about the impact of that on the family and their families in particular. You'd think for folks so concerned about the future of the HOME, they would spend just a little time thinking about how to bring the divorce rate down so that our children can be raised in happy, well functioning homes. But no, they'd rather invest their time, money and energy into finding ways to thwart other people's happiness. All in the name of God, by the way.

One of these days when I have on some asbestos underwear and a Kevlar vest, I might have the nerve to ask one of them exactly HOW allowing Marriage Equality will turn their world upside down?

[JohnnyLib2]

19. Good points, particularly on reinforcing beliefs.

Sigh.....

[backscatter712]

16. If it wasn't this, the right-wing would concoct something else to get the zombie fundie hordes out.

Remember, these are the brainless ones that sit in churches at least every Sunday morning, more likely several times a week, and when their fire-and-brimstone preacher tells them to get their fat asses to Chick-Fil-A, they go.

The GOP still doesn't have much of a problem with GOTV - they've got a ready-built network called fundie-church congregations that they use to rally their zombies.

[JohnnyLib2]

18. Yup. I see some of the same Palinmania look and comments.

[JohnnyLib2]

20. And then there are the ever-expanding private Christian schools...

[Grammy23]

23. Don't Overlook Home Schools

I am not trying to bash home schooling as 100% a bad thing. My DIL has home schooled our three grandchildren for all of their education and the oldest one is starting HS this year. And when she started doing it, I believe she did it for the right reasons....the school district they lived in was bad and she felt like she could do a better job. But as the years have passed, she has "found religion" and has slowly slanted their education to a really conservative, narrow view of the world. She is teaching them a Biblical based version of science even though she was advised by highly educated family members who are experts in the field of education not to go that route. They tried to explain to her the problems the children will face if they do not have the right background in science once they reach college age, particularly the oldest one who is interested in engineering. They even gave her a referral to someone they knew at a university in her state so she could discuss what she was planning to do regarding their science education. She chose not to take any of the expert advise she got. She is an intelligent women, but believes the Bible is to be taken literally, so that is what she teaches. I nearly weep every time I think about it, but there is nothing I can do except try to not create problems by making this a huge issue.

My main point is to emphasize how much support home schoolers give each other and how much they reinforce their Right Wing Opinions. ( am not saying there are not liberal homeschoolers....just that I have seen how many there are that are very conservative.) They do this via Face book, email and blogs. Some years ago the average home schooling family would have had few resources but that has changed and they have many, many ways to connect with one another. I've read some of their blogs and FB entries and they are a unified bunch who will go out of their way to support each other and make sure they know that others feel just like they do. And they do discuss politics and issues like Marriage Equality and abortion. All of that matters very much to them.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. It will all be over in a few days and they'll move on to their next outrage.

[yellowcanine]

22. If they eat too much of that stuff it could kill them.

Particularly if they are eating other stuff like it all of the time.

[sibelian]

24. Well, I think the voters to be worried about are moderates.

And I think it's a little unlikely that any of them would have been part of that "movement"

[HopeHoops]

25. No. It's rallying lard asses who probably won't vote anyway.

[grok]

27. One chick-fil-a is registering voters on site.

It's just one In Alabama though. Sponsored by the RNC in the parking lot.. Not a bad idea. About as targeted as you can get.

What if the others follow suit?

[HopeHoops]

28. Like Chick-A-Phobe lard asses would vote for Obama to begin with?

[grok]

33. Absolutely true, but are they registered yet?

That's the point.

Whether they eventually get a coronary or type two diabetes from getting their newly found fatty chicken fix..

My guess is they will survive till November

[MNBrewer]

26. Does it matter?

[Lex]

29. They have ONE store, a chicken sandwich chain, that agrees with their batshit crazy religious hate

and so that ONE store means a lot to them.

[Quixote1818]

31. This is no longer a winning issue for them. Why Obama felt safe enough to come out in support of gay

marriage.

[kctim]

32. Yes, but not as the major component that will turn the election.

It's more of just another piece of ammo they will have to rally support as we get closer to Nov.

It wouldn't be much on its own, but when you add it to other things we have given them, like the mandate, paying for contraception, talks of ammunition limits and banning "assault" weapons etc..., more and more independents and moderates start swinging their way.

All this has done is add to the possibility that the election will be closer than it should be.

[JohnnyLib2]

37. Agreed; it's something to add to the "them (lefties) against us" thinking that appeals to too many.

[Bluenorthwest]

34. No offense, but I get annoyed with 'around this area' reports that fail to mention the area...

Around this area, nothing happened at all, because we have no Chick Fil A stores here in Oregon. So I see no 'rally' at all, and you say you do somewhere. My guess of course is that where you are was not exactly going to rally around anyone but the Republicans no matter what happens. Just my guess. Got to guess when the location is used to make a point but is not named.

[JohnnyLib2]

36. My goof; it's Kentucky.

I've been annoyed at the same thing!

[gulliver]

35. No. It's exposing a few of them.

And it is making it harder for the company president to walk back his remarks. I don't have any statistics to back it up, but I'll bet a lot of the current crowds aren't big chicken sandwich fans. So this will either improve their health, or, more likely, they'll go back to their old eating habits. Then Chic Fil A will probably have to come up with some sort of non-apology apology. It's easier to not go somewhere because you don't like their politics than it is to force yourself to eat something you don't like that much.

[hay rick]

38. Can't blame them. Obama wants to take away their chicken sandwiches.

They are all repugs already. They stood in line for an hour just to find out that c-f-a ran out out of chicken an hour ago.