Talking points for your Repub friends

[KelleyKramer]

A Progressive friend wrote me recently about an experience he had with some friends who challenged him on why you would vote for a Dem president as opposed to a Republican.
He liked my response so I have decided to share it in the hopes it will help someone else, so here goes ...

Over the years I have refined my methods into this.. keep it simple, keep it very simple.

Usually what works the best is to just ask one or two simple questions. I have a few friends who always talk about how great the Republicans are and how terrible all Democrats are ...

Question ... Why is George Bush so good?

Get ready for the answer, 9 times out of 10 you will be shocked. And its never based on facts and usually has nothing to do with real issues.. you can make your case then. But as you ask this question with more people its best to just play along at this point and use a follow-up to ask the REAL question as to why someone votes for a president ...

Question .. If Bush is so great, name three things he did that were good for you personally.

Get ready for the answer, there is no telling what they will spew out, and 9 times out of 10 if not careful you will go into an uncontrolled burst of laughter.

Some of the best answers have included ..

Bush cut my taxes.

Suppress the laughter and ask them how that $300 check worked out? Remind them that they had to pay it back the next April.. it was nothing but another Bush lie and scam so his billionaire oil buddies could get richer. Plus, all your services have gone to crap, your local taxes are going up, and there is a huge debt Bush gave your children to spend their entire life paying the interest on.

Bush is strong on defense and national security.

Really? How many US troops died today? Did you know more US troops have been killed in the last 9 months under 'Bush security' than the first four YEARS of the Vietnam war?
And where are the WMD's? Have you faced the fact yet that Bush lied you into this war thats bankrupting our treasury and killing our troops??

911 changed everything.

Yet another Bush lie! Thanks to top cabinet member Paul O'Neil we now know for a fact that from day ONE the Bush people were planning on attacking Iraq. In just the second national security council meeting of the Bush administration, nine months before 911, the Bush NSC were reviewing maps of Iraq oil fields and lists of corporations to divide the oil to.
911 didn’t change anything, it just gave Bush the excuse to do what they were planning from day one. Besides, if 911 is so important to you, where is Osama Bin Laden? Where is the anthrax killer who attacked the US capital?

Those were the best answers I have received to date, and as you can see they dont hold up for a second. The rest of the time the answers are.. well .. entertaining.

But in every case, the person did not have much to say after the simple question was asked and answered. In most cases they had no answer at all.

The important thing is to be polite, its hard admitting you made a terrible mistake even to yourself, much less a political opponent.
The truth is Bush has done NOTHING for average Americans, but instead of telling them that, by asking the questions it forces them to make your point for you.. imho its much more effective that way.

They still usually will not admit it to you but they do become very silent (which is remarkable for some of these folks) and in the end you'll know that when they get home they will really be re-thinking this stuff.

And that is how we win.. by making them ask questions and think.

Try asking some simple questions, trust me, you'll like it,



Best!
Kelley


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[DrZhivago]

1. sad part is the'll go home

and think that YOU are the one who doesn't have a clue. Isn't it ironic? don't you think?






no really its best to convince the innocent bystanders, not the repub your grilling at the moment, like I was arguing with my girlfriends uncle who's response to everything was Clinton this Clinton that, typical freeper rebuttal, but in the end everyone around that was listening, cuz it got heated, was nodding along with me and asking me questions and I was like, "you could start by registering to vote" These are people who don't care either way, which is the actual silent majority. In the end these are the people we gotta reach.

[theorist]

2. Sounds like, "Fun with Bush Apologists."

These people know that Bush has ignored them since Jan 2001. The sad truth is that they have not liquidated their emotional investment, and I feel that the majority never will. They will take the Bush defeat hard. Get ready for the backlash. I know I'll realize I should have been a bit more belligerent about the Coup of 2000.

[NJCher]

3. some very good ideas

Sometimes we need to work on the people who are close to us. I agree it's better to work with independents because they're not so biased but we don't always have this luxury.

Thanks for the tips, Kelley. They came at just the right time. I'm going to give them a try.


Cher

[Blayde Starrfyre]

4. That's very Socratic

n/t

[Hamlette]

5. talk about the deficit

true conservatives are freaked about it.

It's an easier argument to make. Talking about the war is too painful for conservative thinkers. They know they blew but to have to admit it means saying they bear some responsibility for all the killing. And they don't know how we should get out. So they are not thinking about it, hoping against hope that something positive will come of it.

In the mean time they may vote Bush out on the basis of his economic policy which is destroying our future.

If you look at the 1992 election, Clinton and Perot were all about the economy. Perot's pie charts were about the deficit. Between them they got 63% of the vote. Against a rather innocuous bush compared to the one we have now.

86 43

[Speed8098]

6. Another question to pose

Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?

Lou Dobbs did this on a CNN poll a few weeks ago and the NO response was overwhelming. I don't remember the exact numbers, but it was someting like 94%NO with 15 or 16 thousand votes.

Funny thing is, I never saw the results broadcast on CNN.

I'm not saying Dobbs didn't talk about it, I just never heard it.

Anyone else remember that poll?

[SaintLouisBlues]

7. The "Are You Better Off" question should be shouted from the rooftops

Let them figure it out. I know a lot of guys that will never admit voting for the Democrat, but once in the booth will vote their pocketbook.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Great Stuff, Kelly...Even Simpler Question...

I use the Raygun chestnut on my Repugnican acquaintences..."Are you better off today than you were in 2000?". Almost everyone has had some job loss, more work thrown at them for the same or less money, lost their investments and/or retirement, are paying more for services and getting less...the list goes on.

Get ready for the "Clinton recession" crap...that's easy to deflect in pointing that this regime promised the TWO tax cuts...and don't fail to mention two, haven't done anywhere near what they've promised. Ask them how it's directly affected them. Your $300 back in taxes is a great response as is pointing the additional amount they're paying in oil, insurance and other necessary evils...this quiets things down fast.

I've found that you need to find a way to find a way to get these people to bitch (and they love to bitch) about something is counter the objectives and spin of this regime...then slowly but re-assuredly keep on that bitch...the economy works very well and the Iraq invasion is catching up...feuling their anger where you can and then gently bring up other issues. I've been noticing the glacier is melting a bit...closed minds aren't as rock solid as they were a year ago.

Keep up the great work and remember, it's one mind at a time.