Today, during a multi
-family garage sale on my street, I met a rather vocal Republican (no shocker there) and his wife. They were taking quite an interest in a painting I had leaning against my car — that is until the man saw my Obama 2012 bumper sticker.
He stood up, pointed at it and grumbled. I asked with a laugh if the bumper sticker was a deterrent to buying the picture and he replied, “Sorta. Yeah, it is.”
He continued, much to his wife’s chagrin: “Just do me a favor. Just watch the movie, and you can see the direction he is trying to take this country.”
The movie I can only imagine he’s referring to is Dreams From My Real Father, an anti-Obama DVD of which 1.5 million copies have reportedly been sent — unsolicited — to voters.
Oddly enough, his wife responded to him by saying, “That movie is only one person’s opinion.”
To be honest, I can only stomach about two minutes of that film. It’s an incendiary piece that takes cheap shots by pairing pictures of President Obama next to Frank Marshall Davis, a Communist Party USA propagandist, in similar poses or wearing similar swim trunks. Yes, swim trunks. It seems to be based off the ignorant idea that all African Americans look the same. It holds the same weight on my political decision-making process as Us Weekly Magazine.
There was very little I could say to the man while keeping matters civil and respecting his wife’s wishes not to get into it.
But I wanted to tell him that I am voting for Obama because I have a vagina and like the rights it has in this century.
I wanted to tell him that I am voting for Obama because I believe in all equality — whether it be race, marriage or wage related.
I wanted to tell him that I am voting for Obama because I believe in universal healthcare and the importance of making education available to everyone.
Romney has made a series of grave errors during his embarrassing campaign. He has spit on 47 percent of the American people, made it clear the submissive position he thinks women should have, taken advantage of the system when it comes to paying taxes and eagerly stepped on the backs of others to make his wealth. He will not get my vote. It surprises and dismays me that there are women out there considering him.
Here’s a recent review of the Romney campaign … for the record, it wasn’t a very good week.
Annie Lane
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Actually Annie- I wish you and the man’s wife could have had the conversation you raised. I suspect that there a number of women out there who will be cancelling out their spouse’s vote.
It would have been really interesting to chat with her … the man, not so much. I feel that some people’s minds are simply made up – as is mine in this regard – and that starting a conversation like this can mostly lead to frustration on both sides.
He could be one of those hapless souls that’s actually paid money to see ‘Obama:2016’ the “moderate” version of the film mentioned above. The Dougchester has been giving it a free full page ad every day in the San Diego Fishwrap; rather than saying the President is a commie, it says he’s a Kenyan ‘anti-colonialist’.
This line of thinking makes it much easier to segue into the Obama is a Muslim meme. At the root of their message, both films are the same, seeking to stoke deep-seated fears about ‘somebody who’s not like us’ taking away ‘property’ (women) or ‘rights’ (beliefs based on a racist ideology).
The “real people” reviews of 2016: Obama’s America are worth a read: Right here.
They’re quite comforting.
Your painting definitely deserves a more appreciative new home – and most certainly a better one than with the likes of this fellow, who can discern neither the cost nor the value of anything around him.
Thanks, Thoughtful Bear. I’d have to agree.
Except, Obamacare is not universal health care… It’s forcing everyone in this country to buy health insurance that is quickly getting more and more expensive — and if people don’t buy it, then they get penalized, or “taxed.” It’s money on top of money on top of money, and the government will only absorb the costs for those who don’t work or those who stop working in order to get the medicaid. There is nothing universal about Obamacare, and if you think the country will be able to afford the huge influx of medicaid recipients, think again. It’s a disaster waiting to happen. It’s been a nightmare trying to find affordable healthcare for my business and employees — the “affordable” plans have an exposure rate of $10,000 or more for my family and my employees and no office visits, and the plans that take the burden off the patients and their families if they get injured or sick are so expensive that my company, let alone my employees, can hardly afford to pay the premiums.
I also have a vagina, but my vagina lives in the real world where it has to take other people’s lives into consideration, other people’s well being, and does not personally want to pay for YOUR birth control or vagina health. My vagina supports other families, and does not sit at home writing a blog. Why don’t you try to educate your vagina on what Obamacare really does for your vagina, because the answer is nothing.
I really appreciate your comment, at least the first paragraph of it. I believe that everyone should have health insurance – just as I believe that every car owner should have car insurance. If I get into a collision with someone, I expect them to be a responsible individual who has taken precautions in that regard. The same should be true for people facing unforeseen illness and injury. We’re all being taxed indirectly when an uninsured person goes to the emergency room as hospitals are not allowed to turn anyone away.
I think your anger toward Obama for the rising cost in healthcare premiums may be misdirected. It’s the for-profit system currently in place that is responsible.
As for your second paragraph, please don’t criticize someone for sitting at home on a weekend and writing a “blog” when you have sat down and taken the time to respond to it. That makes no sense.
Here’s how I look at birth control: Either we pay for it or we pay for more unwanted children in the world. The abstinence plan doesn’t seem to be working, and it shouldn’t have to.
In closing, here’s a link for your vagina (and you?) to read about all the things that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – which was upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court – has done: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-alderman/what-healthcare-reform-me_1_b_1726625.html. Obamacare has, in fact, done some really wonderful things.
Shannon- My vagina doesn’t live in It’s a Small World at Disneyland either. That must mean we both have real world vaginas! It may come as a complete shock (!) that I am willing to pay for not only your vaginal health, but the health of your breasts and ovaries as well as your uro-genital system. I support the research that results in breakthroughs to treat the health issues specific to women as well as the medically sound mechanisms for allowing us to choose when and if we will have children. I support pooling our monies to make sure that those things are available to all women. My support is exemplified not only through my taxes, but whom I vote for and the charitable organizations I support which have taken on these issues. That’s some of the ways that my vagina supports other families.
If you are part of any health insurance plan, you are indeed supporting treatments for diabetics and health care for people with congestive heart failure and maternity coverage. You are also supporting subsidies for viagra. I assume you are ok with all of that, but draw the line at birth control, etc.