I was sitting with my grandmother at breakfast this morning, and we were talking politics. She reiterated what my grandfather had said before, namely, that she finds Dick Cheney likeable and would strongly consider voting for him if only her were younger and running. (eh, sigh of relief).
Then she said that she couldn't bring herself to vote for Obama, partly because of his experience and partly because of his name. Because in a time of war, we can't be voting for someone with an Arabic name.
I didn't know how to respond.
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3 comments:
I think she might vote for Obama if he were conservative. Part of me feels like that's a copout excuse. She has conservative leanings and little actual information, so she justifies her decisions as she sees fit, even if it's over something as silly as the way a name sounds.
Though perhaps I am wrong. You know your grandma a lot better than me.
My grandmother is the type of person who likes to vote from her gut. I think she more just has a gut feeling about the name that turns her off. Despite the fact that I think it is silly to change your vote based on someone's name, I think the voting from the gut part really bothers me more. That's how discriminatory legislation gets passed, really, like the kind that says I can't marry the consenting adult of my choice. Meh.
I think a lot of people vote this way. There's not enough time (or inclination) to learn all the issues so they pick one trivial aspect and vote on that.
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