Please help me to convert my *Shrub loving little league coach

I have sent this man a few emails over the past two years. I have pretty much pissed off two different season sets of league parents. I am in extreme Repug land.

But tonight he made a joke to me about why I wasn't at home watching Dubya's speech. I told him that I was listening to *him in the car in the parking lot for about 13 minutes, that I thought he was only going to speak for 12 minutes and then take questions, but I couldn't stomach it anymore.

Anyway he came up to the fence several times during our game tonight and asked questions in a joking fashion. Then my husband told me that last night at practice he asked him about who I thought the terrorists would like to see as POTUS. So he is really questioning his beliefs or at least my motivations for hating "the greatest president ever." (he actually said that). I told him that I would send him some stuff, and that I would take him one step at a time.

So I was thinking about how to start out with my first real opportunity to convert someone other than my family members. I was considering starting with the PNAC and their manifesto. Can you guys help me.

Right after 9/11, I was pretty naive about the goings on in the Dubya house when I stumbled upon this site. Don't get me wrong, I've never liked him, but I didn't know the extent of their corruption and greed until I found DU. It really opened my eyes. I have a DU bumper sticker on my car and I hope it's brought others in my area over from the dark side.

Machiavelli taught that it is dangerous for a leader to practice goodness. Instead, he must pretend to be good and then do the opposite. Machiavelli taught that a leader will succeed on appearances alone. A good leader puts his finger to the wind and changes course whenever it is expedient to do so. Machiavelli wrote this revealing passage that could be applied not only to false religious leaders but to a false President:

Let a prince therefore aim at conquering and maintaining the state, and the means will always be judged honourable and praised by every one, for the vulgar is always taken by appearances and the issue of the event; and the world consists only of the vulgar, and the few who are not vulgar are isolated when the many have a rallying point in the prince.” (p. 94)
The Yurica Report explains so much!!!

Please go to: http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm

then ask him if the "greatest president ever" would ever say something like, "Give me a minute and maybe something will pop into my head" during the press Q and A.

Honestly, if he's a thinking man, that ought to give him pause. If he's not, then perhaps he's a lost cause.

the Daily Howler might be helpful. They are great at debunking media lies. Some of the recent stuff on Clarke and Rice has been very good.

I know everyone is busy tonight on all the other threads so I am gonna kick myself.

Ouch.

kick

But right now you got to start with square one. This guy probably listens to talk (hate) radio to and from work and then watches Fox News at 10:00. I have to take this guy from the beginning. Can someone help me make my case.

He's playing you and you're going for it every time. Bullies never pick on folks who ignore them. He's jagging you just to get a reaction. Your response feeds his sense of self importance. The best thing you can do is to not try to change his mind. He's already pegged you as someone that he can get a reaction.

I'll bet you'll see his jaw drop when he gets no reaction. If he's really a prick he'll keep trying. Just ignore it and be pleasant. You'll ruin his day.

Spend your efforts talking to folks that don't have their head up their ass and didn't make up their mind in 2000 about who they were going to vote for this year.

(From my posting archive)

Re: Not letting politics be too heavy to talk about, get into discussions where you can to make a difference.

The way bad things happen is people are afraid to speak up. Period.
Talk everywhere you can. People are receptive if you keep it fun and funny.

1) Read read read so you know what you're talking about.

2) Wear a button or something to initiate discussion.

3) Don't attack people for not knowing what you know. Share information as if it was a beer or a cookie, generously, graciously and with respect.

4) Treat the person you're talking with as if you are on the same sports team and trying to decide what play to make next so that you BOTH win.

5) Leave space for them to speak, don't just motormouth and rant. Do some listening to see where they are at, what their beliefs and fears are, what they've heard, what they wonder about. Then respond to those interests and weave in information that hooks and surprises them.

6) Smile and laugh during the conversation. It really is amusing.

I have a big IMPEACH BUSH NOW! sticker on my computer bag over my shoulder when I fly to work (showbiz) and it draws people standing in lines with me in airports or at service counters or taxis into conversation all the time.

You'd be amazed how many people have come out of the woodwork when they see my buttons or stickers or overhear me talking to someone else. They frequently say "I thought I was the only one who felt that way!" I give them encouragement and some talking points to use with who ever they talk with next.

saying they prefer bush to be president. just to rile him up. then don't talk to him any more, as it's almost certainly a pointless endeavor.

especially in the areas of what Bush's policies have done to families and the military. My site has a great listing of facts that Americans like your friend seem not to be aware of.

www.doyouknow.org

I find that when I tell someone clearly ignornat of the facts that our men are dying over there because they don't have the right body armor and that troops are having to make homemade armor for their humvees, it gets them at least thinking. I also ask them where that $87 billion went, cause it sure hasn't gone to safeguard the troops. Maybe to pay for those $1000 a day mercenaries we're using?


Folks like your friend tend to respond from the "Mom and apple pie" part of themselves, so point out in detail just how Bush is falling on those issues.

Patriotic talk from a president is nice, but when we have thousand of our men and women dead or with their legs blown off because their unfortified humvess couldn't protect them from a roadside bomb, talk is fucking cheap.