One janitor's opinion--that symbolizes so much.

[CoffeeCat]

Today, I had a conversation with my die-hard Republican brother-in-law that nearly knocked me off of my chair.

He's so Republican, that my husband and I often remind each other to avoid political discussions when BIL and his wife visit.

Today was different.

"Meet the Press" came on and brother in law set his cup of coffee down and said, "Boy was I hoodwinked into voting for Bush. I've been a Republican all of my life, and I believed in Bush and thought he was going to be a great president. He's turned out to be the worst president I've ever seen in my lifetime."

I was stunned. BIL has NEVER voted Democrat. Never.

He went on to describe his anger about Iraq--the wasted money, the wasted lives, the complete international fiasco that we've created, "Bush scared the hell out of us into voting for him, and now he's made the world less safe for all of us!"

I asked BIL if other Republican friends felt the way he did. He said, "I'm just a high-school janitor, but I work with a close-knit team of salt-of-the Earth people and most of them are not only against Bush--they're worried about the future of this country and the world their children are about to inherit." He went on to discuss the outrageous deficit, the high cost of medical care that is being ignored and immigration problems that are not being addressed.

I was stunned. He sounded like a DU member!

Brother in law is good people. He reminds me of Carl--the janitor from "The Breakfast Club." He's a hardworking, blue-collar family man who loves his country--and has supported Republicans his entire life.

Not now. He said he can't wait until the next election cycles (06 and 08--because he will be voting for Democrats for the first time in his life.

I know my BIL is only one person--but I felt that his opinion was very compelling and a microcosm of the shift that may be happening in this country.

It's not just Democrats who are angry. Many inside the Republican party not only feel angry--they feel betrayed--and they don't like what this pResident has done to our country.

A shift is happening--and it's not going to be pretty for George Bush.

[Clark2008]

1. I think the numbers are fairly high given the swift drop in blivet's

approval ratings.

However, few would have the courage that your BIL did to actually ADMIT they were hoodwinked.

Thanks for posting this.

After all the times someone here and on other blogs has yelled, "With story XYZ, the TIDE WILL TURN AGAINST BUSH," only to find Bush deflecting the criticism, I seriously think the tide HAS turned this time and it's going to be a long three years for the Pretender-in-Theif.

[Stand and Fight]

7. I agree. n/t

[senseandsensibility]

2. This is an uplifting post

Unfortunately, I have yet to see any "transformations" such as you describe. But I'm waiting for that fine day....

[CoffeeCat]

6. I understand what you're saying...

...about not seeing the "transformations" yet--but they are happening and they WILL happen.

The attitudinal change against Bush reminds me of marketing demographic models that I learned about in college...

Companies know that there are "early adopters" who race out to buy the latest technologies. DUers are "early adopters"--we quickly understood Bush was poison. We didn't need any convincing.

Besides the "early adopters" there are mid-level adopters who are less quick to make purchases. They need to hear the same messages repeated over and over. They need to mull over their buying decisions before they purchase that laptop or DVD player. They're not as quick to buy into an idea and they rely on others for information.

In the anti-Bush attitude shift--DUers (early adopters) have all ready "bought the laptop" and now the mid-level adopters are starting to "buy into" the truth about Bush. They've been hearing the truth about Iraq over and over---as well as other negative, honest information about Fundie radicals, a ballooning deficit, Republican powermongers, the trade deficit, lost jobs, etc. It's starting to sink in.

Many of them are buying into the truth about Bush. It just takes a while for the shift to happen. However, it is happening.

[senseandsensibility]

15. Thanks for sharing your theory

and experience. I don't disagree, but I can't wait until I see some sign of it myself.:)

[BamaBecky]

12. me too................n/t

[Selatius]

3. He saw darkness in the future Bush set before us, and he is afraid

He saw something he had never seen before, and he's moving in the opposite direction now. Personally, I think the damage has hit critical mass already. It takes a long time to slow down a train out of control. There's going to have to be a lot of people jumping under the wheels to stop it now.

[AlwaysDemocrat]

4. It's becoming very hard to defend a vote for *

Great post! It gives me hope that 2006 will be the year we get some part of our country back!

[ginnyinWI]

5. I agree: we are due for a sea change.

I do think that the GOP has been making one mistake after another, and it is finally seeping down into the consciousness of average (non-political) Americans. Traditionally, party dominance shifts every 40 years; well, the GOP's time will be up in 2008 (1968-2008). It takes that long for one party to get too drunk with power to act prudently and get thrown out (and maybe for the other party to get its act together to fight back). I don't count Carter and Clinton as Dem "dominance" because Carter was a reaction against Watergate, and Clinton won for the first time in a three-way race with Bush I and Perot. Neither election was won because the Dem party was dominant, it was only because the GOP had screwed up. Clinton was re-elected because of his own success, but it didn't carry over to other Dems.

[Stand and Fight]

9. A most astute observation.

I believe that you may have your finger on the chicken-switch. God knows that the country cannot bare much more of this upset.

[Stand and Fight]

8. A most amusing post...

I live deep in Bush country. I have been hoping to see this sort of sentiment materialize, but as to this date have been sadly disappointed. Let us pray that the sheeple around the country begin to wake up and call for impeachment. This man must be made to pay for his crimes against the American people and his crimes against humanity.

[jbnow]

10. Going to Christmas dinner I was warned

not to bring up politics. A staunch republican would be there and was very sensitive about it. I wondered why, since his guy won.

But that wasn't it. He had voted for Kerry, the first time he had ever voted for "the other side". When he was first telling his family about it he got tears in his eyes...shamed at what his party had become. He disagreed with many of Kerry's views but disagreed with almost all of bush's actions.
He'd thought of not voting for president but not for long. He felt for America and for his party, bush should not be president.

I am glad the shift is happening... better late then never, but late is very bad. Bad for bush? Unless he is jailed, what does he care? He has just become more blatant though it was never hard for the attentive to see how bad he was for the country. Honestly before 2000 I never dreamed he would be this bad, that anyone could be. But within days he started overturning policies and I knew we were in trouble.

Maybe the shift is republicans really will fall out of power so we have a chance to turn it around. 2002 and 2004 weren't hopeful, maybe 2006 and 2008 will be. But then there is the questions of electronic voting and tabulation...

[ginnyinWI]

11. people thought * would be like his dad

but he wasn't. He seems to think that if "some" is good, more is better. :(

He shouldn't have won this last election, and probably wouldn't have, if there had been paper-verified ballots in every state.

[merbex]

13. In my neck of the woods, MA, Repugs you run into are not proud

they are DEFENSIVE

Usually they are smug and love to point out how out of step we here in MA are with the rest of the country

Now, real quiet or defensive

That is the shift I see

We have to hit them hard on neo con beliefs; it's not the Repug Party they bought into so many years ago

[BR_Parkway]

14. Funny, here in the red state of NC, they aren't proud either - defensive

is a good descriptor. Oh they puff up and bleat out the party line about their glorious king, but the anger is there, the "don't you dare contradict me because I can't really defend it" attitude is there. And all they can really talk about is what doesn't work - all the fault of us overpowering libruls and the entire not so secret gay agenda, of course.

But they're not proud of their leadership.

[renaissanceguy]

20. We definitely have to hit them hard

about their connection with neocons, their lies, and their hypocrisy.

http://www.cafepress.com/liberalissues.14741193

[CTLawGuy]

22. I see the same sentiment

whenever I go to MA

There are few Repugs, but they are loud and obnoxious.

[converted_democrat]

16. Great!!!!!!!!

This post is great!!! I agree that people are pissed! Hell, that's how I ended up here. People are waking up. Slowly, but surely it's happening. I want to point something else out real quick---- There is one thing that this administration didn't think about---The people that are waking up now are pissed, just like us, and they have a strong since of betrayal. Loyalty is everything to these people. Hell hath no fury like a red neck scorned. This administration thinks Democrats have given them a hard time? You ain't seen nothing yet. This is about to get interesting. Just watch.......:popcorn: the show is about to get good.

[Doctor_J]

17. Sadly, there were many who saw the light before 11/04

but the voting machines rendered the point moot.

[tk2kewl]

18. It seems more and more that true conservatives are wising up

to the fact that the neoNaziCons are fascists not republicans. I hope this continues. 2006... BRING IT ON!

[Mad_Dem_X]

19. Thanks for sharing that! It's always good

to read about people whose eyes are being opened finally to what's going on.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. My BIL is an ardent Michael Savage fan and is now off Bu$h.. says

he's not a Repub, just a Born Again capitalist. (Hate ** for his liberal ways, like his amnesty for Illegals plan)

Yes, he's pretty scary but if he bail on ths GOP, I'm all for that!

[jasmeel]

23. It will have no effect on * - sadly. n/t

[merh]

24. What a wonderful post.

Thank you TwoSparkles for sharing this with us. :hi:

I believe that the weed that would be king will either be the undoing of his party or the total downfall of our nation. I pray it is the undoing of the party and your post helps me keep the faith. :patriot:

Good to see you. I hope all is well. :pals:

[deadparrot]

25. kick...and thanks.

Thanks for sharing your story. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any such shift up close and personal, but it's always encouraging to hear. :)