Repub friend asks: "What did you do today?"

After work I met with a few of the fellas for some beers at happy hour.

I had a pretty bad day and got there a little late. One guy, who still claims to support Bush but talks less and less about politics these days (go figure).

So he asks how my day went, and for whatever reason I just popped off..

"Well, for starters, me and you spent another 300 hundred million dollars today on that bullshit war your boy started in Iraq"

It just came out, almost by accident, and I didnt expect much in return, maybe his usual fight'em over there claptrap.

He says, almost asking.. "300 million.. 300 million dollars"

I respond.. "Yes, 300 million dollars today, we spent 300 million yesterday, and it will be another 300 million or MORE for tomorrow"

Well, apparently this floored him. The guy who always has a bullshit answer for everything was totally speechless.

At that point I sat down and expected to hear some kind of ridiculous response, and looked over and he just had a weird blank stare. He said nothing, not one word.

And he didnt bring up anything about politics for the rest of the night, which was nice, there have been more than a couple times we have gone toe to toe in front of everybody.

Not sure exactly what to make of it. I read blogs and DU pretty regular and just assume most people know, or at least have a general idea, of how much we are spending on this occupation of Iraq.

But after that, I'm starting to wonder if a lot of these people realize, or grasp, just how much money we are spending on this disaster.

And it's the only thing guaranteed to get their attention! It works every time! Just mention money and all of a sudden, you've got their attention.

I agree.. "it's the only thing guaranteed to get their attention"

Its like a contest or football game with some of these people.

And then they get hit personally, like in the wallet.. and then its like 'oh no ya dont'

Selfishness with a lot hatred mixed in-between.

They care about money more than people's lives and more than what is best for the country!!

Of all of the problems that this country has had in the last 6 yrs, the thing that really got to republicans was high gas prices because it affected their own wallets!!

I get so sick of hearing republicans talk about taxes, taxes, taxes! As if money is the only thing that matters.......

Thats one of the first things I thought about when seeing your original post.

A lot of the repubs I know really turned after gas went crazy last year.

I have no way of knowing if they had reservations before that and just didnt say anything (some I suspect did) but by golly when gas went up and it hit them un-deniably in the wallet.. well they sure as hell started speaking up then.

.....like I said, it's the only thing they really understand!!

If you really want to make an impression on a Republican, just mention money or taxes..........it gets them every time!!

white Christian fetuses. :eyes:

Or brain dead patients like Schiavo.........

They do care about life.......so long as it suits their political purposes.

The waste of money is going to kill Americans through deprivation. I'd say $300 million down the drain has got to be at least two lives' worth. The waste of money will probably kill more of us in the end than the war itself.

hopefully more people are waking up to the fact that W isn't that great a leader in the least bit, and his idea's are for the most part, worthless, and bad for our country.

world. So, since you brought up the price tag with this war (which, he don't hear from RW radio and probably didn't know), and he now know because you brought it up and gave him something to think about. Your respond was the perfect one.

It is his not his son or daughter those are safe.
But nooooo that 300 millions damn to hell this is his money too.

Have they changed their singlemost important talking point?

"Billion" and "trillion" are very abstract numbers only mathematicians have any concept of how to handle. And this obscene war is costing over $318 billion dollars. People just can't wrap their minds around it. http://costofwar.com/numbers.html

But you caught this guy at a teachable moment, and you gave him a number ($300 million dollars) and a unit of time (a day) that he could easily understand. The population of the US will be 300 million in just a few months. Various annual budgets of meaningful goods and services fall well within that framework.

He had a "sudden enlightenment" moment. Thank you for providing him with the opportunity.

Hekate

When it comes up every year, its 60 billion.. or now (I think) 100 billion.

Thats so much money its hard for people to grasp and it becomes just a number.

I was in a bad mood and ready to go at it about the no-bid contracts, the waste, etc and then the human loss.. but the 300 million just stuck to him.

I think you are right, it was just one of those 'moments' that maybe caught him off-guard and he realized how much we are throwing down the toilet.

The budget for FY 2006 comes to $3,801/Iraqi. Converted to dinars at the offical exchange rate, this is more than double their per person GDP. It's like spending $92,468 per person in the U.S.

Before the war, White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsay estimated the cost at $100 to $200 billion. We're now near $300 billion, and annual costs are still rising. The White House got rid of Lindsay and "re-estimated" the cost at $50 to $60 billion.

"We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon" - Wolfowitz, March 28, 2003.



http://zfacts.com/p/447.html

"Well, for starters, me and you . . .
Should be "you and I"

Both are correct.

appropriate: http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/052.html

...both are not correct ("Me" is the first person singular object pronoun; "I" is the first person singular subject pronoun.), but ERF is being extremely annoying by playing grammar cop.

Additionally, for ERF's benefit, since the incorrect grammar was in quotes, the writing is grammatically correct, but the speaker was not -- no matter that it's the same person, the OPer.

I get corrected on this frequently. I must have missed that day in elementary school and now they both sound correct to me, which I hate. I honestly think they both sound fine and I must sound ignorant when it slips into my speech...I don't know how to correct it either..ugh. Sort of like "bring" and "take".

Good point, thanks (I think)

I always wondered what the conversations were like in the teachers lounge back in high school.. now I know

Just kidding. Heh Heh

PS- you owe another $300 million dollars

...since I didn't mention parentheses -- as there were none -- and I did say that you, as the speaker, were incorrect in saying "me and you spent...," I would hardly consider yourself "saved." Besides, considering the types in this country who call themselves "saved," is that a label you want to slap on yourself?

As for conversations in the teachers' lounge, I wouldn't know, but I suspect those were usually about sports scores, weekend plans, or detailed accounts of their latest tryst with -- or physical abuse of -- an underage student. My majors were accounting, management and legal studies at Wharton; I just read so much that I've kind of internalized grammar and spelling.

PS I owe shit; I opted out of this American corporate paradigm, designed to promote and reward the "well-born" and other superficially affable mediocrities, a long time ago.

Give me a break. :eyes:

it was fair game.

:evilgrin:

Actually to be truly correct it should have been --

"You, your children, your children's children, and I are BORROWING that much a day, and we all will spend the rest of our lives paying interest on that borrowed money"

How's that?

.

Oh yeah, and PS - this guy wouldn't know good grammar if it hit him on the forehead.

you like.

You don't have one complete sentence in your entire critique of his grammar. I find that highly ironic. :D

n/t

good one!

Shuts them up everytime.

Many of the 33% that support Bush are so divorced from reality that they'll end up rationalizing the facts later on.

during coffee break. It should raise some eyebrows with my republican co-workers

Thank-you!!! :yourock:

:wow:

Campaign strategists, take note.

I don't think they talk too much on Fox about the actual costs of Georgie's Great Adventure.

If I can calculate (in my head) that 100's of billions per year means we are spending 100's of millions a day over there, I just assume anybody can. Gosh I can do that in my head :)

Well if people don't know this we need to help them. Here's someone with a bumper sticker idea on that:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1884022

never, EVER mentioned by our corportate media. I'm sure most people, even the vast majority of Dems, don't have a clue.

to toss ourselves and our children into. We could have bought any sort of future we wanted for our country with this almost inconceivable amount of money, and instead, we have this.

If there was a catastrophic disaster in a major US city.. Bush would come back from vacation and take care of it.

With at least half the enthusiasm and money that he and Dick Cheney spend every day on the Iraq occupation.

*cough* .. right?

else with these people, hit 'em in the pocketbook. Lives lost - be damned. They don't care. But if it's brought home to them how frickin' expensive it is - especially for the return we're all getting on our money (HAH!). It's almost ALWAYS about the money with folks like these.

The next time one of them starts complaining about cutbacks somewhere in the essential-services department (good for PTA meetings and other school venues, OR those impossible wait-all-night hospital waiting rooms), hit 'em with "I know where we can get 100-thousand bucks a minute." They perk up at this with interest, and if their lips don't ask "where," straight out, their facial expressions never fail to do so. Your answer: "Stop the war and bring everybody HOME ( - where they belong. Searching out terrorists HERE before they can strike us, and protecting our borders.)" In parentheses - optional add-on.

I did that in an elementary school library in a Chicago suburb when my kid was visiting there, and the librarian was COMPLETELY won over. She admitted she had no idea it was that obscene a waste of money. Try it. This one works, too.

BTW - GREAT job! I wonder how deeply your whack-upside-the-head to this guy will sink in. Sounds like it had a rather dramatic effect.

You don't go for the heart with some people....you go straight for the wallet. I'm glad that this was such an epiphany moment. Makes me wonder how many other people don't know things like this. Given the fact that like 65% of Americans STILL think that Saddam was connected with Al Qaeda, I would have to say a lot...

Anyways, I feel a new talking point coming on. Good job!

repeated in their face at every turn...