panhandle of texas.... amarillo. my sons middle school

[seabeyond]

the language teacher says that she feels the kids need to be informed. so they have to write summaries on what is going on this election and have open discussion in class. she started by saying, .... i wont say who i am voting for but... i have a son old enough to draft. i have voted for one party for a life time. i will vote for the other party for the first time

today in the locker room after footie footie football game the boys got into a political discussion. TWO of the texan white male macho coaches came in and told them to get moving. they got dragged into the political discussion. one started talking about for the first time he thought he would have to go dem. he was going to watch all the debates, but was looking at obama. obama way more educated. only plus for mccain is military and all else falls to obama. and palin useless. the second coach concurred. the third coach kept his own opinion

this is a look at the reddest of red areas

[YDogg]

1. thanks for posting!

[seabeyond]

6. your welcome. n/t

[MadMaddie]

2. Damn!! That's fantastic! I think these conversations

are going on all over the country.

[seabeyond]

7. i think so too. we are hearing more and more in this area. n/t

[babylonsister]

3. That is great to read, seabeyond! Maybe there is hope. nt

[seabeyond]

4. it was good day for 13 yr old son. the girl he has crush on likes obama but doesnt know much.

he is gonna educate her... lol. but there was a group of boys that wanted to show off and didnt know she was for obama. most assume mccain fans here. so son took on a handful of boys and she chimes in she too supports obama. and stood with son.

son was just glowing when i picked him up. lol

[tosh]

11. Smart boy...with a good eye for smart girls, lol!

[chiefofclarinet]

31. Damn, he's lucky!

I remember my days in high school. (I don't want to remember middle school at all.) I lived in Western Iowa, and went to a Catholic school. 60% of the school was rabid neocon Repuke, 20% was apathetic, 15% was moderate (from paleo-conservative to centrist Democrat) and 5% (at most) was liberal. Every single girl I had a crush on turned out to be a Republican, except maybe one.

Your son is living through a time where you can be proud to be a Dem. I had to hide it in high school to some extent. I just let off a lot of steam at home. And, in this case, it worked out great that his crush ended up being an Obama supporter as well.

[seabeyond]

32. isnt it .... fun, lol lol. watching him. i would never want to do all that crap again, lol

they went to a christian private school thru nov 2004 and got so harsh i pulled them out and put them into public. kids are nicer, bah hahahha. for real. would think the other way around, but not.

this is an unusual time in this area.... and i am going to enjoy it.

[tulsakatz]

5. wow!!!!

that's incredible!! And btw, you would never hear a democrat saying anything close to that.....that they've been a democrat their whole life but are voting republican because they're a better choice. That's because McCain doesn't provide better choices.

[MagickMuffin]

8. I'm hoping Tarrant County will turn BLUE this year, as well as the rest of Texas

I just wish Obama would campaign here. Dallas and Fort Worth in one day, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, a two/three day swing could really benefit his chances. He drew really large crowds during the primaries. I think he could really some more of his magick. With our 34 electoral votes it would be so exciting to see us in play. 34 electoral votes is nothing to sneeze at.

I'm glad to hear that Amarillo has some thinking people who might vote for Obama, instead of throwing their support to Bob Barr.

Texas will have a three candidate ballot this year for president.

[seabeyond]

9. i forgot about barr. this area for repug convention a couple counties went to huckabee

AFTER he got out of the race. i can see a lot of texas repug going for barr.

i would like to see him come out and do the swing you suggest. i think it would be a good thing and well deserved reward for dems in htis area battling repugs. also be good for the dems running here. help the ticket

[babylonsister]

10. Kickin' for Texas and possibility! nt

[moc]

12. Amarillo?!? Be still my heart....

:wow:

I've done work with folks in Amarillo on MCH (maternal and child health) related issues. I know how conservative it is (like how there's a very high teen pg rate but despite that they still don't want to provide access to family planning for teens; result is a very high recurring teen pg rate of course).

I live in Collin County. Hope we can see the same here.

[seabeyond]

14. highest underage teen preg in nation. and really young marriages.

i am from calif and moved here. surprised the shit out of me the number of girls got married at 13, 14 ect.

also in htis fundamentalist world. divorces. geeeezus. i worked at coca cola two decades ago and took all the women in offices and added number of marriages and divided, over 2. something per person and i had never been married so brought it way low. they have the man waiting in the wings so as soon as they divorce they can remarry.

yup

[No Elephants]

13. Obama is not only ahead in the polls, he is a game changer for the Party for years to come.

[daggahead]

15. That's encouraging. At least Red people are considering voting for "That One." n/t

[texas1928]

16. It is the same here.

In Lubbock. But they are still rabid down here for Bush, and you see tons of McCain stuff.

[seabeyond]

21. the none bigoted, non fundie OLDER white conservative with money and without are able

to turn and vote obama. the party they remember is not what they are seeing today and they are able to say no to mccain and voting for obama. image is not holding them to the party vote. my father, an upper income, businessman, conservative and his friends are voting for obama or not voting, but not stickers and signs.

the signs are on the south side of town. younger, 30's and 40's, that have bought into the bush image of a republican so they are not offended by what they repugs are doing, cause they think this is what repug is. the older people know this is not repug is

also

i am just not finding much enthusiasm at all for bush. 9 out of 10 people i talk to are negative and disgusted with bush. not finding support at all but by a very very small number of people

[texas1928]

27. I meet a lot of people who suddenly became liberatarian.

It takes a lot of prodding now to find out that they voted for Bush. But they still think repukes are for smaller government and no taxes. It is maddening.

[seabeyond]

29. ya... lol lol. me too. started appearing about 2005. lots of fox news watching

white macho man libertarians. my brother. tells me after years arguing, not a republican. no way... i say. no, a libertarian. i bust up laughing. and have heard from a handful of others

that is funny

uh hu

[Hutzpa]

17. la-lala-laaaaaaa hey jude

and on it goes......

[seabeyond]

22. lol.....

i looked at the map again today. i know it isnt going to go blue BUT.... oh man it feels good pink. and to have a blue nm and blue colo right next to me feels soooo good.

[blogslut]

18. I'll kick this

wink wink ;)

[onetiredmom]

19. Can I ask an honest question?

Do you think people who have been conservative and/or Republicans their entire adult life are going to completely switch their allegiances to the Democratic party? Or this is a "I'll vote for Obama because we don't have a good Republican candidate?" Are they going to vote a straight Democratic ticket for local offices like judges, DA's, etc? How much of a real, lasting change will come from this? How long does it take to change - a generation? Two cycles of elections? If you look at the voting history since I started voting (1976): 4 yrs Dem, 12 yrs Rep, 8 yrs Dem, 8 yrs Rep. It looks like a pendulum that swings back and forth about every 8 yrs. How much change can come in 8 years?

It seems like, from reading DU, that alot of Dems want to CRUSH the Republicans. I mean obliterate, destroy. I don't mean the people at the top of the GOP, every day people just going about their business voting the way they believe, doing the best they can with the life they have. If they think they are going to "pay and pay and pay" for the political side they have chosen, why would they want to come to the other side? What permanent change comes from that?

Please don't take this as anything but a serious question. I am kinda new to political discussions and have wanted to ask this for some time.

[seabeyond]

20. interesting. a lot in your post. NO, it is not coming to dem party AT all.

not even. not kinda. they are republicans. they like being republicans and they dont like what has happened to their party and can no longer turn away, dismiss, have a blind eye to, or bury head in sand on this one. just went too far.

my husband is a texan, republican, use to be nra cardholder until they didnt something against his moral compass, trust fund, white male. never would have thought about voting dem, ever. likes being republican. is a republican.

listening to me rant what repugs were doing with clinton was the start. he voted bush first time. listen to me rant after theft and to the iraq war made him start researching just to stay up with me and be informed. by iraq he turned. he was disgusted. disgusted with bushco.

by 2004 he was par with me. he came to respect kerry, surprising himself. he felt election was stolen and that disgusted him. after that he walked away from media for months. refuses to vote repug again. though he says he is still republican and i respect that

these people are not leaving their party. they are standing up to their party. that is what has been pissing me off about them for last two election. being cowards, ignoring truth, for their ego purposes.

[crispini]

23. I totally agree with you. They're voting Obama, but may not vote downballot.

Check out this blog entry to see what I mean.

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2008/10/06/obama-leads-mccain-in-heart-of-bush-country/

I think I may have to go post this as an OP, actually.

[seabeyond]

24. thanks. i am going ot have to print this out for son. i love they are talking in class. 1 girl

a mccain supporter, said (get this, lol) obama was going to decrease taxes for 95%. all htose lazy people could go out and work......

(you know she heard her parents say this)

wait a minute i tell son.... NINETY FIVE %. that is ALL of us including her family. and the non workers DON'T get taxed, it is the workers busting their asses that are getting taxed.

i dont care how a kid goes. i like that they are talking about this. it at least leaves the possibility for them to learn

[onetiredmom]

30. Thanks for your answer.

So do you think your hubby will go back to voting Republican if a worthy nominee is on the ballot next time?

I guess what I'm really asking is how much good it does either side to be extreme, to have 8-12 yrs in office to undo everything that happened 8-12 years before. I would guess that really, most Americans (at least the ones around me) are not that political, they just want to make a living and raise a decent family. I am around very few people who ever talk politics, I have hardly heard this election mentioned in my small office. How did both parties give in to small groups that make all the rules for all of us? Is that a valid question?

[seabeyond]

34. i dont know that he will ever be able to vote national office repug, they put in low iq

and my husband really does not respect that. bush, reagan and now mccain and palin. my husband is very academically and intellectually minded. and he is pissed. but locally he wont have any problem supporting repugs. what i see the change will be for him, it will no longer be hard to vote for who he sees as the best.... not by party.

i really dont see the national dems being run by extreme. i see that locally

the other way around for repugs. i see nationally the religious right has them by the balls, but for the most part locally they arent extreme, though i have seen the attempt in some areas of the country like kansas. the people are standing against it though.

[onetiredmom]

37. I have been apolitical

most of my life, so from MY perspective, both sides are extreme.

[seabeyond]

38. that is one of the problems

being apolitical is being, not informed. now... here you readily admit that you have not been informed all your life, this is your "uninformed" perspective and instead of delving into it and becoming informed to see if whether or not it is a fact, you prefer to hold onto an uninformed belief.

it may sound like i am being disrespectful, but i am not. i know many many people that are not informed.i wish i could live an uninformed life. i dont want to have this need to find out as much as i can to make an informed decision. the other day i had to do fuckin research on banks, loans, wallstreet and all kinds of crap i have absolutely no interest in what so ever. so i respect the person that choses not to gather info

but then that is how i am in all things. hubby opposite. i tell him, his life is much easier, healthier. i wish i could, .... i cant

BUT

without the information you perpetuate a non truth and that damages the country, damages progression, damages my children's future.

i respect the person that says, you know, ..... being apolitical, it looks to me.... but then i dont have the info. so i am not sure i am right.

it is like the perpetuation that we have a liberal media. anyone that really pays attention and takes a look knows better, but it is the story told, the story sold and the story bought. until we can set in truth, problems cannot be solved

the left moved to center with clinton. many of clintons policy was right wing. why many repugs had a problem with clinton, he was giving them what they wanted and getting the credit.

[progressivebydesign]

28. I've been here on DU for many years. I have never seen that Dems want to "crush" ordinary repubs.

From my view, Democrats want the republicans out of power. We have watched our once prosperous and positive Country turn into something none of us recognize. We are now suffering the effects of years of republicans controlling Congress, and 8 years in the White House. We remember the good times and the way the Country moved forward under Bill Clinton. The republican political machine started the hatefest... not the Dems. The first salvo was fired by people like Newt Gingrich, and Rush Limbaugh, and they have not let up since then.

We just want our Country back. We don't want to see people having to hold BAKE SALES to pay for cancer treatments. We don't want our parents to have to choose between medicine and food. We'd like to stop seeing family pets turned into shelters because people lose their homes or cannot afford to care for them. We'd like to see more people moving OUT of homelessness, not into it. Mainly, I think we want to get back to where the rest of the world respects us.. not view America as aggressors.

We have no beef with ordinary republican voters. We will, however, call out the racists. And we will ALWAYS call out the republicans and right wing religious people in power who continue to use republican voters for their own financial gain. It's frustrating, as a Democrat to see so many people in dire need who actually believe that the republicans are going to help them climb out of this mess. There is a frustration here with people who continually vote against their own self interests and security. That's what I see.

And.. I do believe that there will be many republicans who will move over to the left for this election, and stay there. There is that phenom of Reagan Democrats, Clinton Republicans, and Bush Democrats. The majority of America is moderate -- in the middle, and the republican party has become such a band of extremists (especially with Palin on board) that the moderate repubs are going to move over further to the left.

thanks for asking.

[seabeyond]

35. there is a difference i have seen. i do not see the dems (except maybe a little last year)

wanting to take out the whole of the repug party.

but.... i have chatted on repug boards and i listen to soooooo many and really, they want to eliminate libs.... that is no joke.

so there really is a difference in the two parties and the people in the party

same with lies. dems you may be promised things and may have tad exaggerations. repugs you have flat out in your face lies.

[littlebit]

25. The town that I loved so much

I got the hell out of there are fast as I could. I spent the first 24 years of my life in that hell hole. If it wasn't for my parents I would never go back there. Anyway my mom was telling me a few weeks ago that a lot of the republicans that she knows are voting for Obama.

[seabeyond]

26. no way.... lol lol, ya i hear ya

my parents were here. i was living in nevada playing too hard. came here just to slow down a bit, recoop. oh lordy, got married to a texan. i didnt make it out soon enough.

ah well

good to hear your mom giving the same news.

[Eyes_wide_ open]

33. I love hearing stories like this

they feed the hope that was ignited in me by our candidate after years of feeling there was nothing any of us could do. Here in South Carolina I see it too, people ARE waking up ... finally!

Thanks for sharing it.

[seabeyond]

36. i like them too. some people dont, and htat is fine, they dont have to read

but i like to hear other peoples stories also

thanks