My head nearly exploded talking with my co-workers this morning.

I work in a hospital as a nurse in Los Gatos, and this morning after receiving patient report from two others nurses one of them asked who we were voting for. Both of them said they were voting for McCain so I asked why. One actually said about Obama, "I don't want to vote for a Muslim; he's a Muslim you know!" I tried to tell her that he's Christian and not Muslim but she just didn't believe it. The other nurse said, "He's too idealistic; at least with McCain, I know what he's going to do!" I spent the whole day trying to convince her that McCain was the same as Bush but I couldn't sway her. She just kept saying, "At least I know what he's going to do. Obama doesn't give specifics."

This is from two nurses in California. I just hope they're not typical of everybody else in the country. Today, I saw how much the right wing propaganda has worked its way into some people and it's just disgusting--and the second nurse even said that I haven't done any critical thinking about the candidates (and this is after she admitted that the economy has been hard on her and she doesn't like the way things are going). I nearly had a stroke trying to understand their logic. Thankfully, several other people working today didn't feel the same way about Obama and they think McCain and his VP pick are the worst possible people for the country; they help me keep my sanity. But just talking to those McCain-voting nurses just makes me cringe at how--and I don't say this lightly--irrational some people are. (I just had to post this to blow off some steam. I still shaking my head from this morning.)

then don't even bother to vote. :eyes:

Furthermore, a lot will change after the debates.

about is that it happened here in California; this state will probably go for Obama and their votes for McCain won't make much difference. But it's the level of ignorance and the lack of being informed about the candidates that blew my mind. I'm just thinking that if the propaganda can penetrate the minds of two otherwise rational nurses what's it doing to the people in the rest of the country?

Don't get me wrong. She is execrable. But after the Carter-Reagan debates, I realized that much of America is pig-ignorant and just plain stupid. They will vote for glitz over issues.

I pray for this election.

It seems to me that I remember sitting in my apartment and watching Kerry OWN Bush only to have Bush easily win come November. That leads me to ask, just how important are the debates anyway?

Did he? With all the shenanigans in Ohio, it is highly doubtful that Bush "easily won". I think the debates are very important, and, this year, perhaps even moreso than ever before.

I am a manager of an apartment community in Glendale. Today, as I was walking around the property, I ran into one of the residents. He had an envelop in his hand with an Obama logo on it. He mentioned that he has been a Republican all his life, recently retired from the Air Force and he had just re-registered as a Democrat so he could vote for Obama. He said there was no way he would ever vote for McCain or another Republican again!

About a month ago, I went to a doctor's appt & had a nice chat with the receptionist as I checked in. A couple of other people came in after me. I noticed that the TV was set to Fox news so I asked the receptionist why it was set on that station that it was a propaganda machine for the Bush administration. She said that one of the doctors had recommended it as a news station. I told her that Fox was notorious for distorting the truth, the latest being the labeling of Ted Steven's as a Democrat. The other lady in the lobby suggested she change it to the Food Channel & I suggested HGTV. We ended up with HGTV. We all laughed as she was changing channels & said even cartoons would be better than Fox News. The other lady made the statement that everyone in her family was looking forward to voting for Obama. My x-ray tech complemented my Obama logo on my nails and also told me she and her all family are voting for Obama and can hardly wait to elect him President. All in all, it was great to meet these wonderful people!!!

I run into some of those people too. Maybe it's because I work on a unit with a lot of old people as patients, the news channel that is on their television most of the time is FOX. When I have to visit their rooms for some reason and they're not there, sometimes I switch the station to something like CNN or MSNBC! It probably won't help to change their thinking and they'll probably change the channel back, but at least for a few moments I don't have to hear that drivel coming out of their rooms.

because he is Muslim!!!???

Aside from the utter stupidity of still believing the lies, it is obvious they have not given one moment's thought to the real issues...THESE are the kind of people who are to blame for the last 8 years....




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banality_of_Evil


IF YOU ARE NOT APPALLED,YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION

EVIL PREVAILS WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DO NOTHING

...even when slapped in the face the truth. They're the kind of people the Repubs count on fooling every time.

Let's hope there are more realists than gullible fools out there this November.

I'm just hoping that people realize how bad they're hurting and vote some real change in although it doesn't help that McCain is disguising himself as change.

It was on the evening news, him hawking himself and Palin as the "change" ticket. Right! And then -- serendipity -- Obama's ad came on, the one that starts with McSame hugging Bush** and has the video of him saying how he voted with Bush** 90% of the time....And I just laughed. The timing was perfect!

We're not going get them all to open their eyes to the lies, peabody. Especially with the media reporting dubious poll information that casts McSame in a favorable light over Obama. We can only keep working to dispel the lies. SOME will listen.

And btw, welcome to DU! :hi:

I'm not even go to try to get through to them this time, but bravo to you for the effort!

California is solid for Obama...

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It just surprised me that people can even buy into Obama's-a-Muslin garbage.

Welcome to DU!!!!

That one's gonna make me chuckle every time I see it, regardless of my mood.

Glad you're here!!!!!

:hi:

I've actually been reading DU for years but I seldom post. Maybe I'll start doing it more often. I learn a lot here and I really like the diversity of opinions and the intellectual level of the posts (most of them at least). It's a great oasis from the all the static coming from the media.

Good thread about newer arrivals or low-post-count'ers here, and I as usual ran off at the mouth. But I've often argued that DU really ought to be repositioned as a think tank for precisely the reason you just outlined (a LOT more concisely than I did!).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3935979&mesg_id=3941006

We really have a great thing going here! Glad you're part of it!

:hi:

the place I go to for some sanity and reality check. Most of my family are fundamentalist Christians very active in church and sometimes talking to them can be a real challenge. Just a few weeks ago, my brother-in-law said that he really liked what McCain said to that pastor during the debate at Saddleback Church when he was asked what should we do about evil. I didn't watch the debate but my brother-in-law said that McCain replied that evil "should be stopped." I tired to tell him that the word evil was just a highly charged buzz word that politicians throw out to label things they don't like and to manipulate the public; plus what else can he say about evil, certainly not that we should embrace it or anything like that. Well, he just thought that it was the best reply in the whole world even though I kept trying to tell him that not everything is so black and white, and that what he thinks is evil might not be to someone else. I used the example of killing to protect one's family. While that is evil in his eyes because it is killing after all, it's not evil to me because it's self-defense of life. Well, he just couldn't grasp that and he just kept telling me that any killing is evil. Drove me nuts. Maybe not everybody here will agree with me in all things but at least most, but certainly not all, of the discussions are rational and civilized.

Anyway, I have another shift starting up in a few hours so I better go to bed. Thanks for everyone's support and encouragement; and keep up the good fight. Maybe we can eventually turn the country around so that living here will be better for everyone and not just the wealthy.

It's too discouraging to listen to blue collar, union men declare that they will vote against their own interests because of the skin color of the man who is on their side.

it´s just that all the republicans I´ve met are stupid.

California is true azure blue.

And Welcome to DU! (Hey! That rhymes!)

Well, Los Gatos is great and I miss it like mad, but .... well ... part of the wonderful DIVERSITY I miss includes some real imbeciles. I lived just down the way from Good Sam (lots of smaller hospitals and clinics in that area) near the intersection of Los Gatos Boulevard and Los Gatos Almaden Road.

For those attitudes to survive in an area as liberal as the Bay Area, an especially thick skull and immunity to information is needed. Some people seem to regard the strength of their "faith" as being measured by their ability to remain ignorant.

but Community Hospital of Los Gatos.

passed thru "the tubes of the Internets", or have the leader of their religious belief system telling them these lies; it's no surprise they have these attitudes.

The Repukes are masters of spreading fear, you know. It's the food that sustains them.

All you need is lots of money and power with an unstoppable need for more.

It's probably racism.

Forget them. They deserve what they get.

i feel exactly the same way.

please see this, it sort of says it all:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3941092&mesg_id=3941092

watching a train wreck in slow motion but we're just helpless to stop it? Sometimes I just want to talk back to the people on tv but I know they'll never hear me. These "journalists" don't ask the tough questions and sometimes they seem more gullible than anybody I know.

Seriously, there are two hard core groups that will "never" be swayed...single-issue voters and party fans. Single issue voters (abortion and gay rights are the classic examples) simply can't be swayed--they will vote the platform that satisfies their stance on the issue. You'll no more get an active gay rights supporter to vote republican than a fundie "lifer" to vote democratic. They'll often say their vote is for the person running, but it really isn't.
Media games and divisive politics have polarized a large group of voters. I call them Party Fans. Party fans are those "died-in-the-wool" members of either party that vote straight ticket come hell or high water (or even a horrible candidate of their chosen party). Like the single-issue voter, these folks don't vote the candidate, but they do tend to be even more insistent and creative in providing reasons why their candidate is god's gift and the other is the devil.
Sadly, although both these types are on both sides of the aisle, in my opinion, more Democrats than repubs fall into the relatively small category of thoughtful, open-minded voter, i.e., the kind that can be swayed by the issues and candidates abilities.

Sounds like you ran into a couple of nurses that are either single-issue or hard-core repubs. Your facts don't have a chance.

No worries!

Tell them they can thank you after Obama gets elected and we finally get this country back on the right track.

the right-wing noise machine is putting it out there for the "moderates"

About this election. I live in CA too. Idiots are idiots. They exist, but they won't win.

A winger brought up politics at dinner the other night, in the same breath with how badly things were going on the DoD job, no money, no space, no nothing, so it must be the boss's fault, or the union's.

I was very specific in my response, explaining why it wasn't either's fault, meanwhile explaining whose fault it was. The winger couldn't explain the discrepancy in her logic of why the boss or the union were to blame, and her winger friend couldn't either. I said that it was so frustrating for me to watch the DoD going down the tubes, predictably, and yet talk to co-workers who were also aware of our deteriorating situation, yet hadn't the foggiest notion how the organization, and the country, had devolved to this dismal point.

The winger, who had had a few drinks, started sobbing, and I didn't give a sh*t. All the so called "conservatives," who have had their heads in the sand for so long with their cliche bullcrap, making everyone else in the world suffer, should be bawling their eyes out.

ps The winger invited me to dinner a couple of weeks later, and she didn't bring up politics. I do hope the fog begins to clear for her, however. Sometimes people need a wake-up call.

They're prety well-educated people. Around my neck of the woods, it's the morans who "don't need no booklearnin" that are mostly for McCain.

Labor is for Obama.

Not that I'm known for being subtle. However, there is a shocking lack of specifics when people who claim they *can't* vote for Obama are asked "Why?" I'm getting tired of the lame excuses. That ability to justify a convenient lie is a major pet peeve with me - several of my family members are thusly afflicted.

I realize it's entirely too simplistic an approach, but if it succeeds in embarrassing a fraction of them into analyzing their prejudice or willingness to believe the Republic propaganda without questioning the source, it won't hurt the cause in November.