Why is the phrase "all my friends..." destroying the Dems?

Question

Just saw a post from a guy here in Austin who is sure Kinky Friedman is going to win for governor. he used a phrase I constantly hear from Dems "All my friends are voting for him." Dems cannot believe they lost the last two elections because "all of their friends" voted Democratic. They never quite see the conundrum.

The most partisan Dems are surprisingly insular. They run in the same circles, refusing to date or socialize with non-Dems. Since I'm in a liberal town, most women assume I'm Dem until they hear I was in th Marines. I constantly hear how someone proudly describes themselves a "total bleeding heart liberal" all about peace and love. What comes next? A list of people they hate. And boy is it long. All Republicans, non-vegans, Christians, "rich white guys" etc. Their hate list usually hits aboout 75% of the country.

Dems, especially libs, need to branch out more and not put themselves on a pedestal. It would help you regain the populist edge that you lost.

MCKENZIE CALHOUN- Good post, kind of rambling, but well thought out and it never devolved into "BUSH IS WORSE THAN HITLER." I'm all into the Dems reclaiming their former glory. Check out my post on "Could you libs look any more intolerant?" to see responses from a bunch of people your party that you need to excise.

G- 6 years of calling the average American voters morons for not viting for y'all hasn't exactly endeared you to them. You can't run an Anti-Bush Campaign next time either.

Answer 1

Actually, all MY friends voted for Bush in 2000...

then went on to regret it and changed their minds, got some sense...

J.K.

I don't hate all Republicans; I love to eat the dead flesh of chickens, cows, pigs, and fish; I go to church all Sunday that I can wake up early enough; I would like to BE a rich, white guy (but I still wouldn't change parties...there's a lot of rich Democrats).

People I generally don't like (hate's a little strong): bigots, people who spout the exact same words I hear on FOX News, people who start a political debate by using insulting words, people who say disagreeing with the war means you hate the USA.

People I do hate: Ann Coulter (she pretty much manages to put all of my dislikes together into one package that she claims is pretty...I say eat a sandwich and check yourself into a mental health center you shrew...Sorry, she does piss me off.)

Otherwise, I enjoy political debate when it's done with respect, courtesy, and a sense of humor, and I don't hate people who believe differently from me. I only hate people who hate people who don't believe like them.

Answer 2

... hahaha.. you act like the election was a blowout... it was pretty close... and with Bush and Republicans in congress digging the hole deeper since then... you may be wondering where "all your friends" are in 08... especially since we will probably field a better candidate than Kerry (I mean how could we do much worse?)... and you won't have Bush anymore...

I think you see some people that you think are "dems" that are pretty insular... but there are many others that aren't that vote democratic... clearly, all the 47 percent of the country that voted for Kerry are not insular...

Answer 3

Some of my best friends are vegans, Christians, and rich white guys. A few of my friends are Republicans. Several of my friends are ex-service people.

I'm doing my branching out bit.

I'd be interested in hearing how many people who consider themselves conservatives have friends who are poor, vegetarian, non-Christian, or Democrats.

Answer 4

I know what you mean. I grew up in SoCal, so most people I meet back home assume I'm liberal until I tell them I'm in the Army. It's just a relentless cycle of "Why did you sign up to kill innocent people for oil?" from there. Don't worry about it. If they want to keep alienating themselves like this, fine. They will pay for it in 2008.

Answer 5

Thank you for your service to our country. I don't understand everything about the war, but I will always support the majority decisions of our country even though I may disagree out loud. We do not need to undermine our own country or it's reputation in the world. You are one of my heroes, and will be to my daughter. I teach children that we (teachers) are not heroes. The people who risk their lives for us are heroes. That's you.
More, we need to stop name-calling, spreading rumors, and undermining our country for political points. We should leave that to the people who CLAIM they are Republican or Democrat (they think they are), but are really the main enemy of this country, after terrorists, of course. We should remove the political officials who behave this way and replace them with Democrat (sorry about that) officials who can disagree and dissent without doing so in a country-bashing way or calling each-other names. It's demeaning to all of us.

We can retake the White House. Here's how:
Bring back the principals that we, the Democrats, made into household words and made dear to the country as a whole. The job isn't finished. We got detoured:

1) Equal rights. Not special rights, but clear, very strict rules about equality and laws to enforce it.
2) Free speech. Support the Republicans that want radio stations, news stations, etc. Be the party that stands for freedom of speech, not silencing the opposition "because they are biased, and we are not". That makes us look silly.
3) Free expression, including of religion. We have alienated so much of America by our attacks on religion. We've been taken over by trying to appease our minority groups trying to force it down the throats of the majority, such as gay marraige.
Turn it around! Don't make it marraige. Respect the word.
"We are sad that the rest of America does not believe it is possible to have a union as sacred and special as between a man and a women between two people of the same gender. We understand that change is hard, and sometimes slow? What can we do to help you see us as equals? What can we do to get the same benefits as married couples without compromising OUR ethics and values for religious ones we don't share?"

Challenge people to be aware of their own prejudices without attacking them or taking things from them. Let them give it, freely, as they always do when they see the whole picture.

We need to go back to our roots, get rid of those pushing special agendas for a minority rather than educating the majority, and be a party of principle and ethics.

We need to cheer the Republicans when they are right about something, then smile and say, "but this doesn't mean we're going to compromise our values on the things that are important to us!" We need to show that we are not anti-Republican, anti-government (unless it's us!), but Pro-political discourse (if we're right, an open debate will show that), and Pro-government (it works, better than almost every government in every way, and WE GET TO TINKER WITH IT TO IMPROVE IT! YEA!)
Thank you for the advice, and there's more of us than you might think. I think we just lost a few to our ethics problems and national defense. You'll see us next election. Encourage us to make the right choices (not Republican, after all, you don't want robots or a monarchy, do you? Good, I thought we agreed).