Here's a good reason to avoid patronizing Olive Garden, and Red Lobster

[norml]

THEY"RE REPUBLICANS!

MyDD :: Republican-only Corporate ContributorsI noticed Darden Restaurants on the list (at the 90% level). They are the parent company of Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze and Smokey Bones ...
www.mydd.com/story/2004/11/24/21161/391 - 51k - Cached - Similar pages



http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=darden+olive+garden+republicans&btnG=Search



As for myself, I'm cheap.

I never spend a lot for a meal.

I ate at Olive Garden once.

I had the salad bar.

I briefly worked at a Red Lobster.

Prepared with love their food is not.

You'd do better going to the frozen food section of your local supermarket.

For those who look down on Olive Garden and Red Lobster, because they're just not expensive enough.

Fuck the rich!

Damn them to Hell!

[democracyindanger]

1. A better reason

is that their food sucks. People could get much better Italian or seafood if they just spent a little time checking out local businesses.

[jobycom]

4. No it doesn't. Olive Garden is very good food.

You can get better, but the food is good, and when you're on the road, you can't research which restaurants are good and which are Digorno's. Local doesn't mean good. It can, or it can mean some yahoo decided to make a few bucks serving jarred pasta sauce over store-bought spaghetti. You know what you get at Olive Garden.

Red Lobster--I'm a vegetarian, I couldn't say, but when I ate meat it was a decent place. I grew up on the coast, so I was picky about seafood, and I was never upset with the quality of the food there. I never wrote home about it, either, but it didn't suck. I haven't eaten there in years, so I can't say now.

[txwhitedove]

2. Thanks, norml. Tonight, you've presented the best, factual,

non-bashing reason of all to not patronize those restaurants. Your Republican contributors list also explains to me why my former boss always shopped at J.C. Penney.

[Initech]

3. I havent been to either place in a couple years

As far as Italian goes I'll take the far superior Romano's Macaroni Grill, thanks!

As for Red Lobster: :puke:

[WCGreen]

5. Marconi Grill....

is okay if they are not singing Opera....

[jobycom]

6. This "boycott Republican" stuff would put me out of work it is succeeded.

Anyone ever worry about the people who work for these places? My employer is a staunch conservative, and is related to people who campaigned for Bush, and worked for Bush. One of the in-laws is even criticized in one of Al Franken's books, and one son-in-law was connected to Ralph Reed. I still need the job, and as far as employers go, this one is better than average.

I've had family members work for Walmart, Walgreens, and McDonalds. My spouse works for a conservative-owned bank. Many of my friends work for conservative companies.

I've heard Domino's trashed on here, without people even understanding that Domino's is a franchise, and the individual owners are just as likely to be Democrats as Republicans. I had a Dem friend who owned a Domino's in fact. He even donated to the party. (Olive Garden is not franchised).

These boycott plans scare me. They sound too much like the forced homogeneity of the Republican party. I don't want to live in a country where only one party is allowed to own businesses, even if it's my party.

And I've never seen an Olive Garden with a salad bar, so I think you are confusing restaurants.

[norml]

7. No salad bar?

Now that I see the phone book, it looks like I must have had that salad bar at a local place called The Garden Cafe.

Looks like I've never eaten at Olive Garden.

Good!

I'd rather not patronize repubs, when I can help it.

[txwhitedove]

10. Thanks, jobycom. Honest, I agree with you and had same

discussion with Democratic Activist recently, that most Americans can't afford to be elitist or boycott everything some say we should. It was a shock to find I could be shunned because a family member works for a big oil co. Tonight, I was just glad to see a factual reason against those 2 restaurants rather than blind bashing of another persons choice again.

Now, how do YOU do it, working with Republicans? I worked with one Republican woman for 3-1/2 years and we are still friends. The last boss, also Republican woman, was a loud scary fundamentalist who actually said, "I know how you voted." When I laughingly told her, no you don't, she said "Yes, I do, and how you vote is going to be a question on the job application from now on." I told her that would be illegal. It got creepy.

[jobycom]

12. That's EXACTLY why I say we shouldn't boycott based on politics.

You had a boss threaten your job because of how you vote. We have posters here who would shut a company down because of how the owners vote (not caring how many Dems might be hurt by the closing of the company). I really see no difference. I understand the Walmart opposition (even though I don't fully agree with it). In that case people want to boycott Walmart because of specific working conditions. (I still say the boycotts should be tied to an honest attempt to improve working conditions rather than an attempt to destroy Walmart, but I'm just a liberal like that).

But this whole "they are Republicans so we should shut them down, no questions asked" routine is just not what I identify as "liberal." If the company itself is promoting political views, that's one thing. But the owner's beliefs are his own.

To answer your question, I have no problem with my boss's politics, aside from a strong disagreement with them. He doesn't try to convert me, I rarely try to convert him, everything is fine. We leave the politics to our private lives. There have been times, though, when we've had to walk away from each other, when one of us was talking politics with someone who agreed with us. I can recognize how he closes his door in that situation.

[wickerwoman]

13. I don't find this argument convincing.

1.) I don't owe anyone a living. I'm a teacher. Am I supposed to get outraged when students choose (for considerably less laudable reasons than a desire not to contribute to the Rupublican party) not to take my subject? They might be putting me out of business, but that's life. I'm happy to pay taxes to support the unemployed, to help them retrain and to give them loans to start their own small businesses but I'll be damned if I'm patronizing businesses whose politics I hate simply because they're holding jobs hostage.

2.) Nobody is holding a gun to these business owners' heads and forcing them to contribute to a political party. If they kept their money out of politics, no one would ever know to boycott them. In fact, this is pretty much the only way I see of encouraging campaign finance reform. If enough people on both sides boycott businesses for political reasons, it will be the businesses supporting reform. That's not saying that all business owners *must* be democrats- it means that if you use my money to sponsor things I find morally repugnant you are risking your profit margin. How is that anything other than *exactly* how the democratic system is supposed to work?

3.) Boycotts are one of the very few non-violent tools that the people can use to make their voices heard in non-election years. The government long since stopped protecting people from business and boycotts are one of the few legal ways that people can protect themselves.

4.) Businesses that refuse to adapt to meet the demands of their customers go out of business. It's a simple as can be. It's a shame that people who work there lose their jobs but the fault lies with the business which refuses to adapt, not with the customers who demand something more.

[Nevernose]

14. Preach on, Sister.

Good post.

[jobycom]

16. I see your points, but I don't agree completely

You've laid them out well and written them well. I just think you are missing two things: One, you're still trying to put people out of work, and claiming they can ust go on welfare is pretty cold. Two, boycotts only work when they have a clearly defined goal. Using a boycott to punish someone, rather than to get them to change a specific policy, is ineffective. You might hurt business, but you aren't doing it for constructive reasons.

I've been in jobs where I got a hard time for being a liberal on my own time. I wouldn't want to turn that discrimination on anyone else, especially when I'd be hurting a lot of innocent people, too. I can agree with not spending your money on people who are morally repugnant, but so much of this boycott stuff sounds like pure hatred to me, and I'm a Democrat to get away from this hatred. And the picture is so much more complicated than these arguments make it seem. Employees and managers may be Democrats. And I'd be surprised if your favorite places to spend money don't have some Republican connections, too. Suppliers, wholesalers, people who make the dishwashing soap, whatever. Like my work--you could boycott it because it is owned by Republicans who donate lots of money to the Republicans. But I and another guy there are strong Democratic activists struggling to keep our jobs. We actually have some Democrats shop there because we are there. Some big name Dems in Texas, too.

I've walked out of restaurants for playing FOX News, or for displaying "UNDER GOD" in big letters somewhere (Interestingly, both of those were local restaurants--I have fewer problems with chains). But as long as the owners aren't pushing their message in the restaurant, I leave it alone. It's their money, they can spend it how they want. To hound their politics into their home sounds too fascist to me.

I know this is badly written, but I have to go get my kid from swim practice. Your well thought out post deserves better than this hastily written entry, but alas, my seven year old can't wait! :)

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

8. If I ate there, that'd be a reason for me to stop.

However, I think they both suck. I have access to better places for the same money. If this makes me a snob, then so be it. I'm a snob.

[derby378]

9. Aren't most restaurants owned by Republicans?

Sonic, however, gives 100% of its political donations to Democrats. I'll have another hot fudge shake, puh-leeze!

:toast:

[Wetzelbill]

17. oh no!

Like I need any other excuses to gorge myself at Sonic. :) I'm bad enough already.

[liberaltrucker]

11. Can't do it, sorry

RL has yummy shrimp scampi(sp), decadent lobster dipped in
clarified butter, the best margaritas this side of Margaritaville.

OG does suck, though.

Point is, if we boycotted every company that contributes to the Pukes,
we'd literally starve. Pick your battles carefully.

[applegrove]

15. Done!

[norml]

18. The Lounge has gone Olive Garden crazy!

1 | 2

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