Red State has an interesting anecdote about some Democrats who got together to vote early.
Yesterday, I heard a great story from a friend who describes herself as a “Legacy Democrat” she says that everyone in her family has been a registered Democrat as far back as she can remember – parents, grandparents, great-grandparents… you get the picture. Well the other day, her and four of her friends, all proud Nevada Democrats piled into the car and together went to early vote for Obama.
On the way to their polling place, she said they were all very excited but she kept having this funny feeling in her stomach. Upon entering the voting booth, she said, the anxiety worsened and standing there poised to cast her vote a little voice or call it instinct began gnawing away at this life long Democrat (life long – well she’s only 35) She finally said “I can’t do it… I can’t vote for Obama, he’s just not ready” and voted for McCain.
She said she was shocked walking out of the polling place, she didn’t think she would ever vote for a Republican… Ever!!!
On the ride home with her four friends the mood was a bit somber I think she even called it sobering. About halfway home she let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, and told her friends she had voted for McCain and her reasons for doing so. Their reaction was shocking, even to her, all but one said they had done the same thing and for the same reasons.
Steve Foley goes on to discuss what he calls The Readiness Effect. Read the whole thing and follow the links. Steve has been on this for a while.
H/T The Infidel Bloggers Alliance
Cross Posted at Power and Control
Comments
18 responses to “A Funny Thing Happened In The Voting Booth”
Thanks for sharing this Simon your readers may also find the original at http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/
Racist!
(Sorry. Couldn’t resist.) It sounds too good to be true. Usually that means …
I would love to see someone put together a resume for Obama. His objective of course is to become President of the United States. The resume should not be more than one page and should include specific accomplishments. A chronological resume is much preferred by those making the “hiring decision”.
I think if we saw that resume, we could see at a glance that this man is scarcely prepared for the job that he seeks. In fact, I think we would see just how unaccomplished he is for a man his age.
Rhodium Heart,
I have been seeing lots of similar anecdotes. All pointing to the fact that the picture we are getting is a very distorted version of reality.
I think the bloom is off the rose.
This is exactly what’s happening more and more. Surpriseeeee, you losers.
It would be wonderful if we could count on 80% of dem voters to vote for McCain, heck even 10-20% would swing it.
I certainly hope this is what happens to a lot of people. I had to laugh at one of the comments at Steve Foley’s post:
‘In 1964 the anti- Barry Goldwater slogan was “In your heart, you know he’s nuts!”
In 2008, the anti-Barry slogan is emerging: “In your heart, you know he’s fake!”‘
The really entertaining part would be to see the expressions on the faces of the network taling heads as the McCain landslide results come in. I would dearly love to see someone like Chris Matthews have a shrieking tantrum on the air.
I’d also like to see Jon Stewart get raped by a bear, but that’s a little less likely.
My mother and three aunts are all staunch Dems, they hate the GOP the way all-you-can-eat places hate Homer Simpson.
But…. in 2004 2 of them couldn’t pull the lever for J Effin Kerry and voted for Bush. One was actively angry at the Dems for nominating him.
Simon & Secrets
“I have been seeing lots of similar anecdotes.”
“This is exactly what’s happening more and more. Surpriseeeee, you losers.”
Ah, yes–anecdotal evidence that someone “heard from a friend.” When all reality-based evidence point to something you’d rather not believe, it must be a problem with reality, right? I’d have thought that after seeing the consequences of eight years of this type of magical thinking, you’d be ready to give it up.
Penny (Obama’s resume),
It’s been done – see here: http://www.theblogofrecord.com/2008/10/16/obamas-resume/
Sorry for feeding an off-topic excursion.
Dynamite, I can’t tell you who will win… however, on Nov 1, 2004 the average of all the polling showed a significant win for Kerry with about 300 electoral votes.
If that’s what you mean by “reality based”, I think I’ll just wait until actual reality comes about without trying to guess who will win.
darelf
I’m not big on guessing, either. I acknowledge that the 2004 polling did not account for Rove’s extremely effective GOTV organization.
However, in this election, Obama has by all accounts the largest, most ambitious, and best funded GOTV ground organization in history. Conversely, nearly all reports indicate that the McCain campaigns ground operations leave something to be desired in terms of both organization and enthusiasm.
If anything, I suspect that the polls are slightly skewed in McCain’s favor because they (the pollsters) cannot account for Obama’s unprecedented effort on this front.
You’re absolutely right, though–the proof will be in the pudding on the 4th.
No Bell,
But Obama lacks a lot of the positives Kerry had. Community organizer vs war hero fer instance. Not to mention the PUMA factor. The Ds were united in ’04. Not so much in ’08.
Re: polls. There are a couple of things gumming up the works. The voter model for one and an 80% refuse to respond rate. Now if the 80% are pretty much the same as the 20% no problem. If they are significantly different: big problem.
Let me add an urban rumor: union people are saying to pollsters that they are voting Obama when it is Palin they like. Why? Fear of union retribution. Which is always the problem with the Stalinist model of governance. There is no accurate way to judge the will of the people. That goes double for all the “vote Obama or you are a racist” talk. So you tell pollsters one thing and vote something different. Because in the voting booth it is only you and your conscience. I think the anecdote I posted might have something to do with the last factor I just mentioned.
TBOR,
OT is no problem around here. It is how we get a lot of useful tips.
No Bell,
Yep. Eight years of Magical Thinking. I have a record of it:
A Bush win in 2004. I was on record for that. I got the % wrong though.
Victory in Iraq. I never stopped supporting victory. Even St. Obama says that we have grasped victory from the jaws of defeatist like him.
In 2000? I was a Libertarian then and supported Browne. So you might say I had no dog in that fight. I did have a cute puppy though.
Simon
So you do you agree or disagree with my statements about the relative strengths of the candidates’ GOTV organizations?
“Not to mention the PUMA factor.”
You need to turn off the propaganda for a while, my friend. Just because Neil Cavuto trots out a cigarette hag that claims to speak for disgruntled Hillary supporters doesn’t make PUMAs anything more than wishful thinking from Fox.
“Let me add an urban rumor”
Go right ahead; why would your stop the rumor-mongering now?
Just because Neil Cavuto trots out a cigarette hag
That’s the way the Obama! people have been treating and that’s why they’re PUMAs.
Yup, this election has been by far the most entertaining I’ve seen. And I can vaguely remember Nixon running in 72 (I was 9). That was pretty darn entertaining.
But… as a commenter at Ace’s put it, even though I’ve been entertained, I wish the prize were different.
Since these 5 people would have been counted as 5 Obama voters in an NBC poll, why not do an exit poll of early voters? There must be a statistical way to account for those who lie about having voted for Obama out of fear to be seen as racists, no?