As I await the final Presidential Debate tonight, I thought I’d share what happened to me last week at a break the fast party. (Not being a Jew, I didn’t fast, but I am always down for a dinner party.)
It started off as any good night should; mac n’ cheese balls, pigs in blankets and expensive scotch. But, a few “Happy New Years” later, the political talk started. Thankfully, it didn’t go on long before someone said, “let’s not talk politics.” Ah, saved from the drama. For the moment.
The matzo ball soup was enjoyed without incident. But, as soon as we started in on the bagels, lox and cheese blintzes, the talk of babies, marriage, and cardiovascular workouts turned to Obama and McCain.
We were sitting with a brother and sister (Drone 1, Drone 2) and both almost gleefully said they were “Obama haters.” From that point it went something like this:
Drone 2 said she “didn’t want to talk about it,” and left the table. I guess her opinions weren’t strong enough to defend. Or maybe she was just wondering if there were any pigs in blankets left in the other room. (Um, thanks to me, that would be a no.)
When she left the room, Drone 1 started talking about the thing most McCain supporters bring up, taxes. The kid is from a family who has a multi-million dollar diamond business, so at LEAST he’s in the tax bracket that would be affected by a tax hike, unlike most jag-offs who whine about taxes. However, he wasn’t saying anything new or exciting, just the same talking points that can be summed up in one sentence – “Obama will raise taxes on our business.” He actually had nothing good to say about McCain, which was telling.
He kept talking about money, until I finally gave up my silence and said, “I don’t like taxes anymore than the next guy, but if a few extra dollars out of my pocket means someone else has a better chance to succeed, I’ll take the hit.” To that, he had nothing and shut up for a while.
I know I’m not living in the same bracket as Drone 1 and his family, but I know a hefty portion of my salary goes to taxes. It’s all relative. I also know, and this is something that almost no one ever talks about, that my tax dollars help make this country great. I am not “entitled” to things such as paved roads and police protection; I pay for them. Yes, my tax dollars also go to pork projects that infuriate me, but no one ever said things were perfect. Hell, I’m also paying for a war I don’t believe in.
Anyway, after a while, the guy’s father, King Drone, came in from the other room and chimed in with “Liberals have nothing. It’s so easy to be a liberal. You just live off the government.” I was shocked, even though I shouldn’t have been. This is the way people like The Drones think. And at least now I know this kid is just repeating what his father has told him.
Next up is the kid’s mom, Queen Drone. She seemed nice enough, but then she started talking about Lebanon. Somehow the story ends up on Obama and how he is Muslim and how if he is elected, there will be genocide. At this point, I lose it. I dropped my bagel and finally speak up.
“Are you serious? You can’t be serious. You’re really kidding, right? With all due respect (I hated saying this, because she deserved no respect) are you seriously telling me that you think Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist and that there will be Genocide in the U.S.” She replies, “You don’t know. You don’t know.” Since this was a family function, all I could do was reply with “this is crazy, I have to walk away.” I went to the bathroom, where I hung out until I heard that The Drones had left. You can’t talk to people like The Drones. They won’t listen to you. They don’t bother checking sites like factcheck.org or snopes.com before they start repeating what one of their friends told them.
Why, oh why, are so many people like this? At least the Drone 1 was talking about SOMETHING, even if it was flawed. But the mother? She was spouting nonsense and thinly-veiled racism. She was a walking, talking email forward. I only wish I could have hit delete and then emptied my trash.
Filed under: Barack Obama, democrats, john mccain, Life, Politics, republicans, stupid people | Tagged: Barack Obama, break the fast, democrats, john mccain, obama, Politics, republicans, stupid people |
Stale Bread 
What’s even worse is that these people get to vote. There should really be some sort of mandated reading or a quiz to verify that you know the facts.
I’m involved in a similar family feud with my mother-in-law, a longtime Democrat and Hilary Clinton supporter who has decided to vote for McCain.
“She was a walking, talking email forward.” Snaps!
Sigh. Just sigh.
What pisses me off most is that you didn’t leave any pigs in blankets for the rest of us. I was starving.
it’s painful to observe the deliberate ignorance of people. tim wise has the real take on this election, especially if mccain wins:
http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-how-fascism-comes-reflections-cost-silence
Thanks for speaking up. People just go around ignorant until someone calls them on their ignorance. I am proud of ya’…….
Two things:
1) I know a guy who was going to vote for Obama until he found out his middle name was Hussein. He’s not kidding. I don’t really care about people’s political leanings, but it makes me sad to hear some of their reasons.
2) Sarah Palin is speaking at my school tomorrow. Hank Williams Jr. is playing first. I can’t wait.
Look at you writing a whole blog post like a big boy. I thought you’d given up on this, but your venom obviously couldn’t be contained. 🙂
I think you’re showing the liberal media bias in your post, though. You state that you were relieved when someone said “let’s not talk politics” earlier in the evening. But then you practically call Drone 2 a coward when she exits the later discussion.
Anyone can see how you distort the facts, Tony! Just like Johnny Mac said, “Words are important.”
Now let’s talk about Autism, something our friend Sarah P. knows more about than pretty much any other American.
“Let there be light!’ Good for you, dude! Standing up for your fellow American is not socialism, it’s our civic duty. America is nothing without Americans, all of us, who work hard to make this country a little bit better than most. Americans are unique in that we aren’t necessarily related by a common heritage, religion, or even language, but we are no less patriotic, certainly no less Americans!