Now my BROTHER in Kansas is saying he won't vote

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

He called to tell me my niece is being driven to the hospital because she's 4 days overdue with her first baby and is just miserable. He read the emails I've sent about voting for Obama, but informed me that he's never voted in his life because he's never had a candidate he wanted to vote for. I asked him who his ideal candidate would be, and he said Hillary - he would have gotten out and voted for her. He said he loves Bill Clinton and is really pissed at what happened to him. I told him I understand his viewpoint, especially as he lives in Kansas, but that he HAS to vote. He said in April that "there was just something about Obama that he didn't trust."

MY GOD, CAN'T WE GET PAST THIS RACIST CRAP?????????????? I'm a white woman from El Dorado, Kansas, home of Barack's grandparents - for God's sake, I turned out to be an open-minded person who celebrates diversity! So did Bullwinkle925! IT CAN BE DONE!!

[knixphan]

1. maybe ask him to write it down on paper

'I don't trust Barack Obama because...'

force him to look at it in writing?

[Joe the Revelator]

2. Why are there three posts telling the same "true" story

about a family member just not "feeling" Obama?

Suspect.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

9. Um, are you saying you suspect me of something?

I'm volunteering my ass off for Obama. My husband is Pakistani and has faced crap from people for being married to a white woman. Are you saying you think I'm a troll??

[Joe the Revelator]

15. I'm saying I suspect your story of being regurgitated because I've read it before

I don't know you personally, so of course I don't suspect you of anything.

[AZBlue]

19. Personally I don't think you're a troll - but I definitely disagree with these threads.

I can't imagine why it would be necessary to start two individual threads on this topic. I too know people who are not voting or undecided and even know some who are voting for McCain. I'm sure we all do. I simply keep giving them the information they need to make a better decision and given that we have 48 days left I'm sure a few of them will make the right decision.

But I do wonder what these threads accomplish? How do they help get Obama elected? If there's a need for the threads at all, I'd think they'd belong more in GD than here.

I simply prefer to discuss and learn about issues here on DU - issues ranging from trivial to important, but nontheless issues.

[BlooInBloo]

30. Because there are a LOT of white folks in this country?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. If he was going to vote for HRC, then it is essentially the same policies

it is racism, you are right

[codjh9]

4. Of course it can be done! Your brother's bizarre '... something about Obama he didn't

trust' remark reminds me of my ex-mother-in-law, who said re: Bill Clinton that ' ... there's just something in his eyes'. Give me a break! Meanwhile on their side we have a list of bad crap a mile long.

[TheDoorbellRang]

18. Actually, I said the same thing about Bill Clinton back in the 90's

I also said the same thing about Edwards earlier this year. OTOH, I think Obama is authentically awesome. :shrug:

[progressivebydesign]

5. Remind him that his "ideal candidate" is wholeheartedly supporting OBama.

And that she understands that the future of our Country depends upon keeping the repubs out of the White House. I don't think he'd like the kind of world that his grandbaby would grow up in if he refused to vote and let McCain/Palin continue the bankrupting of our Country.

[jaysunb]

6. Try this on him...

I'm a little confused.
>>
>> Let me see if I have this straight. . . .
>> * If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents,
>> you're "exotic,
>> different."
>> * Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential
>> American story.
>> *
>> * If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic
>> Muslim.
>> * Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a
>> maverick.
>> *
>> * Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable.
>> * Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating,
>> you're well grounded.
>> *
>> * If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer,
>> become the first
>> black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter
>> registration drive
>> that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a
>> Constitutional Law
>> professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a
>> district with
>> over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state
>> Senate's Health and Human
>> Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States
>> Senate representing a
>> state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and
>> serving on the
>> Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and
>> Veteran's Affairs
>> committees, you don't have any real leadership
>> experience.
>> * If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on
>> the city council
>> and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 6,000
>> people, 20 months as
>> the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then
>> you're qualified to
>> become the country's second highest ranking executive.
>> *
>> * If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years
>> while raising 2
>> beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches,
>> you're not a real
>> Christian.
>> * If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress,
>> and left your
>> disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month,
>> you're a Christian.
>> *
>> * If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education,
>> including the
>> proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of
>> society.
>> * If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence
>> only, with no other
>> option in sex education in your state's school system
>> while your unwed teen
>> daughter ends up pregnant , you're very responsible.
>> *
>> * If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a
>> position in a
>> prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her
>> inner city community,
>> then gave that up to raise a family, your family's
>> values don't represent
>> America's.
>> * If you're husband is nicknamed "First
>> Dude", with at least one DWI
>> conviction and no college education, who didn't
>> register to vote until age
>> 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the
>> secession of Alaska
>> from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
>> OK, much clearer now
>>
>>

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

12. I sent him that, and he said he read it

He doesn't want to "waste $5 of gas" to drive to the polls. :banghead:

[SheilaT]

29. He can vote by advance ballot.

It will cost him all of the price of postage. And he won't have to stand in line.

[ibegurpard]

7. What would you like us to do about it?

I don't understand these threads

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

10. I guess I can't vent my frustrations with family and friends here anymore

I guess I'll leave. Congratulations - you're the one who finally convinced me to leave DU. Thanks for your help!

[FrenchieCat]

11. They are meant for us to believe that there are too many Racist White people

for Obama to win.

It is specifically intended to demoralize Obama's base.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Tell him to vote for Biden. n/t

[seabeyond]

13. loved bill clinton but never went out and voted for him? he isnt gonna vote, let him go

i have a rw, fox news watchin, limbaugh, knuckle draggin brother that is always harping on politics and them damn liberals and on and on and on. and he has never gotten his out to vote.

[WindRiverMan]

14. That's okay

Having them not vote at all is almost as good as having them vote for us.

[Motown_Johnny]

16. We all knew going in that some people won't vote for him because of their bigotry. He can still win

despite the bigots

[ljm2002]

17. I'll bet he watches Faux News...

...if not in his home, then at work / waiting rooms / wherever. I know around here that every waiting room I go into, whether it be an auto repair shop or a dental office, if they have a TV on it's on Faux News. And I swear, they have it down to a science -- they are able to tap into something that gets otherwise rational people to think "there's just something about him..."

I think they have found a way to be very effective at this sort of brainwashing. Maybe it dredges up hidden racism within the person, maybe it dredges up their fears about Islamic terrorists and somehow links him to them -- but they are very, very effective.

I base this opinion on an acquaintance of mine who I have heard the very same things from, and who was an ardent Hillary supporter. I would never, ever have thought of this person as racist. And yet now, I hear "there's just something very wrong with him... I look into his eyes, and I see evil... I have to go with my gut."

Weird, very weird, and very disturbing.

[protect our future]

20. Tell him he's got this choice:

Either vote for a black man, or vote for a possible nuclear war.

[xultar]

21. As a Black Woman, I cannot get past this racist crap. Why the Obama campaign

couldn't tell people people who were were supporters not to go on TV and call Bill and Hillary Clinton Racists is beyond me. Why they couldn't pass the word through the blogosphere and say hey y'all stop that is beyond me. They were able to do it for other shit.

They wanted that shit to happen, allowed it to happen, and the shit did in fact happen. PEOPLE ARE fucking PISSED and STILL fucking Pissed. Twisting words to create a divide is bullshit tactic it wasn't pretty when it happened in the primaries and it isn't pretty happening to Obama now.

Everyone HERE who called Hillary and Bill racist know very fucking well that they weren't but still did that shit. You don't think people noticed? Fuck yeah, we noticed.

While I am voting for Obama because he is the Dem candidate..that's all I'm doing.

Maybe people need to realize that their actions have impact and before a white liberals calls a black woman (me) racist yeah someone on DU called me racist or insinuates that I or anyone else is a racist or that I'm to fucking stupid to know what racism is, they'll think before they type and/or fucking speak.

[goldcanyonaz]

24. Yep, I have a few friends that were big hillary donors and they will vote for Obama but not donate a

cent to him.

[protect our future]

25. I KNOW that Hillary and Bill are not racists.

And I too was appalled by the accusations, especially when they hit the MSM.

(I'm a white woman, btw, and I've supported Obama ever since Biden dropped out after Iowa.)

[xultar]

33. Biden was my #1 and Hillary #2.

I'm really happy that Obama chose Biden. Made me like him a little more.

[goldcanyonaz]

22. It's Kansas, time to move on.

[Eric J in MN]

26. Right. It would be different if he lived in Ohio or Florida...

...but there is no way Obama will win Kansas in 2008.

[SheilaT]

31. I wonder about that.

I participated in the Kansas caucuses in 2004. Approximately 1300 people showed up across the state. In my caucus location there was maybe one person under the age of 40, and it was almost entirely people 50-65.

In 2008 I also participated in the caucus. It was on Super Tuesday, in the evening. This year some 130,000 people participated, most of them standing for two or three hours in snow, sleet, or freezing rain to get inside the caucus location. A tenfold increase! At my location I'd say about 20% were under age 25. Four days later on a mild Saturday, when there were still seven candidates running, a whopping 20,000 Republicans showed up for their caucuses.

And so if caucus participation is any indication of November participation, maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised at the results from Kansas.

Think about it. 130,000 Democrats to 20,000 Republicans. In Kansas. With truly wretched weather for the Dems, nice weather for the Republicans. And in many locations hundreds of people gave up waiting and standing in the cold and freezing rain. (It's hard to emphasize how really miserable it was that night).

[PsN2Wind]

23. That's the way Butler County

has always been. When I lived in Augusta in the fifties the railroad had to park the outfit cars (living cars} outside the city limits if there were any blacks on the gangs.

[LibGranny]

27. My brother-in-law is somewhat racist

but is an Obama supporter - he says he'll vote for the "white half". He also sports a sign (made on his PC) that says "McCain = Bush" so I think his shriveled heart is in the right place!

[RoccoR5955]

28. Your brother is a freakin' racist! Just tell him that Obama is only HALF African American and...

...half (whatever your preferred nationality is)- American, so it's not much of a compromise for his "beliefs," no matter how warped they are.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

32. If he loved Bill Clinton so much, why didn't he vote for him? (n/t)

[samuraiguppy]

34. that sucks

I would be very frustrated.