One issue voters, how to combat?

[Erratic]

I got into an argument with a one issue voter about Israel last night and he saw voting for Bush as the only smart move because he is more forceful when it comes to the Middle East. Naturally he wasn't having any of the "Violence doesn't solve anything" argument and tried to cite Libya as a nation successfully cowed into doing our will after our actions in Iraq. He didn't care that N. Korea has become even more galvanized and heavily armed because it's not near Israel.

Now this person wasn't your typical rabid Bush supporter yet he obviously cared about one thing. I will no doubt run into this person again so do any of you DU'ers have any advice to combat this single-mindedness?

[gratuitous]

1. Simply remind him, with a smile

Of the loooooong list of items on which the corrupt Bush administration has said one thing and done another (health insurance, social security, the environment, the rationale for the invasion of Iraq, etc., etc.). If your friend truly believes that Bush means anything near what he's saying about the projection of force and power, does he really think that Bush has any intention of following through on any of it? Remind him of Afghanistan, Tora Bora, his steely resolve to clean up corporate misconduct, his unswerving devotion to tracking down the anthrax killer, etc., etc.

If he still doesn't quite get the picture, well, you tried.

[Arkana]

2. It's nearly impossible to combat single-mindedness

But you could try the excellent example of the BCCI--the terrorist bank Kerry busted (I think during the 1st Gulf War).

[TheFarseer]

3. The only way to stop a single issue voter

is to kill them

[Ruby Romaine]

4. you could say (I don't agree w/this-but just to argue)

both candidates are good for Israel but Kerry is also better for everything else, environment, jobs etc...
see
http://www.jewishwomenwatching.com/jewishvote_pcback.pdf

http://www.jewishwomenwatching.com/jewishvote_pressrelease.html

[rasputin1952]

5. "Single Issue" voters are the hardest to change, they only have...

one issue they care about. The world could blow up around them, and they would not care, as long as their "issue" was taken care of.

The two most obvious single issues are abortion and firearms. In both of these issues, heels are dug i so deeply, there is no room for discourse. However, very little has been done on either of these issues, because, in the grand scheme of things, if either were ever resolved, both parties would be out of a hot-button issue. RU-486 would eliminate the abortion debate, as the cell never becomes viable. No abortion, simple; and the right to choose is intact, simple.

Guns: there are tens of millions of guns across the country, the only group that has been hurt by gun legislation, are those that follow the law...basically criminals don't really care about the law, that is why they are criminals.

Death, at the hands of another is equally reprehensible; whether it be war or murder, or an accident. People refuse to be responsible, and we have all kinds of violent retribution. As a species, we really haven't developed that much. Capital Punishment does not deter crime, if it did, there would be no murders.

As for the war in Iraq, Iraq NEVER presented a threat to us, al-Qaeda does, and they are the enemy. Bush chose Iraq because Hussein was a punk, it was an "easy" war for him to win, and oil. Over 1000 of our citizen soldiers have died, for basically nothing. For those who think this is a grand idea, let them enlist or let their children enlist. Once they come home mangled, psychologically impaired, or worse yet, dead; they will change their minds, and quickly. People who cry for war, rarely fight them.

Just a few points on single issue voters....:)

[AndyTiedye]

6. Remind Him that Under Clinton, Israel was at Peace

There were ongoing negotiations under the Oslo framework.
There were not suicide bomb attacks every day, nor were
there helecopter gunships blowing up people in Gaza and
the West Bank every day either.

Israel was sharing in the economic boom as well. Her goods
were not being boycotted in much of the world as they are
now.

Ariel Sharon destroyed all that, and he did so with the
knowledge that Boosh would back him, no matter what
he did to the Palestinians. Now people on both sides
are getting killed every day. It's gotten so bad that
Israel is building its own version of the Berlin Wall.
Their policies are now so far out of whack that NO other
country in the world supports them besides the US.

Boosh is giving Israel so much rope that it's going to hang itself.