Listening to NPR today, I heard rural voters being interviewed. Apparently, Mr. Romney leads President Obama by substantial margins among polls of rural voters. Mr. Obama won Wisconsin and several other states in 2008 by holding his own among voters in the rural areas. So this is not good news for Mr. Obama.
One man said Mr. Romney was a businessman, so he would be able to get businessmen investing in America again.
Apparently, this man had been listening to Mr. Romney say that once elected, businessmen would be likely to invest again, simply because he is not Mr. Obama, and optimism would reign once more. And that is all that is really needed to get the economy back on track. Paul Krugman, bless him, noted this is exactly the same plan George W. Bush had for the American economy. But the gentleman from Wisconsin does not, apparently, read Mr. Krugman's column in the New York Times.
A woman said she had voted for Mr. Obama in 2008 because she hoped he would help the economy, but now, in 2012, the economy in her town was no better and so she said she could not vote for Mr. Obama again.
Of course, true to the NPR tradition of simply sampling, and not challenging, the man with the microphone did not ask her: Do you blame Mr. Obama for the lackluster economy? Do you remember anything about the last 4 years? Do the words, "Financial meltdown," or "Mortgage backed securities" or "Glass Steagal" or "deregulation" sound familiar? Do you read newspapers? Do you read?
No, that was not the interviewer, that was me snarling at the radio.
Or there is one of the ladies in my office, who had not heard about Mr. Ryan's plans to kill Medicare, or Mr. Guinta's remark that he not only wanted to kill Social Security and "let individual enterprise lead the way," he wanted to erase all memory of Social Security so his children would never even hear that name. My coworker said, "Well, I'm not political"
But she votes.
They walk among us, these people.
Sometimes, I feel like that guy in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, who is walking down the street among all these apparently normal people who are actually only facsimilies of normal people, but inside, are nothing like what you and me. Some may be normal people, but just as likely, they are body snatched, looking normal, but inside, not.
My question is: What, if anything, can be done to snatch our fellow citizens back?
Body snatchers--now that's a scenario I hadn't thought of. Unfortunately I don't have any ideas on how to retrieve folks once they've been snatched, but I've been thinking bribery may be something worth trying on the ill-informed,unsnatched. Why couldn't prizes (Justin Bieber CD's,$20 off coupons at the liquor store or Home Depot, free facials etc.) be given to those citizens demonstrating a rudimentary understanding of the issues.
ReplyDeleteOf course there are some instances where even bribery won't work. The other day I spoke with a woman who told me "Believe it or not I've gone into the voting booth planning to vote one way and gotten in there and voted the other way". I was speechless trying to imagine what could account for this abrupt about face. Divine revelation, amnesia,what? Initially I thought she was just crazy-but in retrospect I'm thinking maybe she's brilliant and can process information at the speed of light. Perhaps a new idea burst into her head like a bolt of lightening just before she marked her ballot..
Did you see Romney and the President interviewed on 60 Minutes? Romney hit a new high on the Goofball meter when he said the " big idea" for his Presidency would be "freedom". I bet Scott Pelley wanted to throw down the BS flag on that one. Aw shucks Mitt you're going to set us free..what a guy!
The President was well spoken I thought but I kept getting distracted by his appearance.On the long shots he looked the same as always but on the close-ups I kept looking at his face and thinking how much he's aged. The office takes it's toll.
Maud
Maud,
ReplyDeleteI have not seen the 60 Minutes. Fortunately, I have you. I do not think I will spoil it by trying to see it now.
That woman of the voting booth is really very disturbing. Back away from her and keep your back to the wall until you are out of the room.
--Mad Dog
As they say in the South: "You can't fix stupid". Unfortunately, this truth applies across the entire country - and likely, the entire world. Folks in the South understand a lot more than you give them credit for Mad Dog.
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