The people we need to win over: a discussion with my boss

[EstimatedProphet]

I was discussing politics with my boss today. I know from past discussions that he's disappointed with the * administration, and he feels like the Republican party has been hijacked from him. Still, he falls for the Repub talking points (unfortunately in the deep south, that's often all anyone is exposed to) and he's conflicted. Here's what he feels right now:
1) The Clarke testimony damaging as everyone made out, because (he's heard) Clarke has been abusing his position for his entire career. the proof of this comes from the records the Repubs are releasing, although he admits their case is very suspicious since they won't release the whole transcripts, and he admits that he has a harder time with the situation because of the piecemeal way they are releasing information.
2) Condi Rice is a scoundrel and not to be believed.
3) The * administration thought they had a good reason for invading Iraq, and they tried to act in the best interest of the country.
4) The dominionist takeover of the Republican party is a very bad thing.
5) Corporatism is leading to restricted freedoms and invasions of privacy.
He calls himself a moderate, with conservative leanings. He feels that the country needs good moral leadership. He really, truly wants to believe that * is doing what is best for America, but he's wavering in that belief.
Now, the reason I bring this up is, I think in many ways, he's a prototype of the person we need to win over. We have a tendency on DU to concentrate on the Freepers (in some respects, it's understandable too, since they are clearly a hate site) but the middle of the road Americans are people we NEED to win over-this is the undecided voter.
I am hoping that, as has been mentioned before, party strategists read DU. If so, then this is the guy you need to convince not to vote for *. Here's who Mr. Undecided is:
-he wants to believe that the President is a good, respectable man. This is why the Clinton impeachment idiocy was so damaging-it has nothing to do with what happened, it has to do with the President being respectable. * still lokks respectable because he hasn't been shown yet to be lying. We need to make it clear exactly what happened in Iraq and why it was a lie.
-he believes in fairness and equality, but it hasn't been made clear to him why * isn't fair and equal.
-he is concerned about Clarke, O'Neill, all the other revelations, but he's not seeing how it is that they fit together.
This is the person we need to reach to rid the world of the evil *. We're not doing it yet, that's why the polls still show an even split. We need to help the dots get connected, or we're not going to win, and we all know what that means. It'll be a little too late to complain when the barbed wire goes up in everyone's neighborhood...

[arcane1]

1. sounds a lot like my boss

though she is still a bit more smitten with * than yours is

these are both good candidates for having their cable tv cancelled

[EstimatedProphet]

11. No, it isn't just that

although he does have a gullible streak (I had to debunk the idjit email about the guy that ate sushi and got worms for him-look at Snopes if you don't know that one). The point is that we have to find a way to get through the hundreds of feet of crap that's built up from accumulated Rove. What I am seeing, and I think the polls bear it out, is that people want to believe that * is a good man, but can't rectify that with what's going on with the situation. We have to come up with a way that the lightbulb clicks on, and they say "OH! Now I see!"
One thing that seemed to freak him out today was the story about the Press Corps dinner and * making fun of all the people that he's killed. My boss hadn't even heard of it!
We need to make sure this stuff doesn't die down, or people will forget.

[w4rma]

2. The GOP is running a smear campaign against Sen. John Kerry to destroy

the respect he has earned. Bush's ads are nearly all attack ads on Kerry. I don't know how to protect Kerry's reputation from Republican and big media smears, except through the positive ads that he is currently running.

Imho, the corporatists are currently trying to win by overpowering us with their control of big media and Bush's ~$200 million dollars in ads.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. Yes, they are

and the only way we are going to break it is by making it obvious that that's what they are doing to the average person.

[wryter2000]

3. I have a moderate coworker

It took her a while to believe that Bush* lies. What tipped the scale for her was Bush denying that he'd ever said Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11. She knew in her heart that he had. Turned out he hadn't said that explicity, but he misled people into thinking he had.

Ask your boss if he thought Bush was saying that SH was behind 9/11. If he's honest, he'll admit that that was what he thought he heard. Then, he'll have to think about what Bush's later denial means.

[EstimatedProphet]

8. What he said about that

is that he does believe that the administration thought they had a good reason-meaning self defense of the country, and SH in league with AlQ. I guarantee you that there are still a ton of people that believe that crap, because it was sold to them so effectively.

[Bandit]

4. Use his own moral guide as your reference points.

Ask him if he thinks Jesus would approve of the negative attacks and the awarding the wealthy and punishing the poor. Let true morality win out.

[EstimatedProphet]

6. Oh, he's no Xtian

and he doesn't like the power they wield. He just thinks that people should behave respectably.

[Bandit]

13. I'm not either but I believe in the things Jesus said about how to treat

your fellow man. Not all the God stuff but just general behavior. It doesn't matter if your boss is a Christian or not, Bush* says he is and most people have an idea of how Jesus expects people to behave. Most morality comes from a religious point of view and you stated your Boss believes in moral leadership.

[EstimatedProphet]

16. Point taken

I see what you mena now.

[Leilani]

15. If he's worried about people acting respectably

then point out to him how mean these people are.

Give him the details on the South Carolina primary in 2000.

Tell him about outing an undercover CIA agent, to punish her husband.

How about the trashing of Paul O'Neill?

What about Shinseki & Zinni, 2 Generals who served their country for their whole lives, & then were smeared for daring to disagree in public.

Tell him acting respectably is not only about sex. This admin is the most ruthless ever, & makes Nixon look like a boyscout.

[gristy]

5. This is what a most republican friend of mine had to say yesterday:

"I am certainly getting disillusioned with Bush and Co. You could say I'm undecided right now. However, I'm already tired of the process. I haven't been listening to details from Clarke, but everybody has 20/20 hindsight."

I'll take this as good news. Especially his reference to "and Co."

[ezee]

7. You are

correct. Please forward your letter to the campaigns, Democracy for America and Move ON.

[mouse7]

10. "Lou Dobbs" them

Use all the arguments on them that seem to have shifted Dobbs support from Dumbya. Watch what ticks off Dobbs and take notes.

Lou Dobbs is a perfect case study of how to convert a tradional consevatiive to a Dem.

[EstimatedProphet]

12. Yeah, OK

the question is, how do we go about doing it on a nationwide scale? I agree with what you're saying, but we need to get the word out to a lot more people clearly (polls say so) because it's getting stopped.

[Hamlette]

14. My talking points to republicans

Disclaimer: I don't necessarily believe this, I just find it works.

Bush is probably not a bad guy but I don't see him standing up to the powers that be. I have real trouble with us being in Iraq but its the deficit that really scares me. I think the corporations have too much influence on the economy and with Cheney, Rove, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld have too much influence in foreign affairs.

His dad was one of the good guys. I didn't always agree with him but he wasn't as extreme as his son is.

If we are going to fight a war we are all going to have to make sacrifices, not just the kids we send over there to die and be maimed. Tax cuts for the rich are not creating jobs, only debt. It makes me sick to think my son is going to have to pay back what my generation spent.

Then I walk away and let it sink in.

One of the things that drove me nuts when Clinton was prez is the arguments started with "Slick Willy is a crook and a rapist." After that, I was so mad it was impossible to hear what they said. If you start with "he could have prevented 9-11" or "he is a liar" they stop listening. In my experience anyway.

[EstimatedProphet]

17. That's a very good point

Maybe we'd do better nationally if we took that approach. Don't go after the Iraq thing as hard if it just frustrates people.

[sandnsea]

21. That's on target

There are just some things mainstream Americans will never believe because they don't take the time to dig into all the details. So when something comes over the news they tend to think it's just politics. Look at the people who still think the Vietnam war was winnable and Nixon did what everybody else did, he just got caught. Your way is just subtle enough to work.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. I guess what I'm trying to get at with this

isn't how to win over my boss-I can do that; he's halfway there already. It also isn't how I can win over the average person either.
These are important things to the campaign, and it's good to know how to do them.
But the big thing is, how do we design a campaign on a national level that will win over these people. They're teetering, but they've been teetering for months now and there's still many of them that are no farther away from "undecided" than they were at Thanksgiving. We're running out of time to change that significantly.

[lostnfound]

19. Sounds a lot like a coworker. But he added 'Bush is lesser of 2 evils'

I don't really understand why.

[Blue_Roses]

20. I agree and know of

what you speak. I live in the deep south around a ton of conservatives. They are extremely "tunnel-visioned" to how "moral" they think Bush is and it's just not true.