Yeah, I know, I know. I'm going to get slammed in the comments for having the audacity to suggest that there are smart Republicans. Well that stuff is for children and hyper partisan hacks. Smart people happen all over the place and two smart people are fully capable of having different takes on the same issue. Having worked for team Obama in Ohio through the primaries and now through the general I have had the opportunity to talk with smart and stupid people from all stripes of the political spectrum. Today I met a smart one. And he was a Republican. And not the god fearing, border fence building, anti choice, anti education types either. This was a Barry Goldwater/Bill Buckley type intellectual conservative who spoke to me today about how the GOP has ruined this country.
Story below the fold
First of all can I say what an absolutely beautiful day it was today. My wife and I were up fairly early and the kids are at her mom and dads for the weekend. We had a leisurely breakfast out on the back patio enjoying the amazing Indian Summer weather and then decided to go hit the campaign office to see if they wanted any door to door volunteers for the day.
We rolled in around 10 am and were amazed at how busy the place was. Cincinnati isn't the liveliest of places on a Sunday morning but Obama/Biden central was abuzz. Phone banks were already up and running with dozens of energetic volunteers having coffee and doughnuts and talking up their fellow Buckeyes about our ticket and scores of teams were already in the field signing up voters and working to persuade undecideds across the Queen City. There was literally no work for us to do. At least in Cincinnati. On a whim I asked how some of the outlying district offices were staffed for the day.
"Funny you should ask," Mike (not his real name) said. Mike is the door to door campaign coordinator that was assigning neighborhoods to the canvassers. "I was just talking to Diane (not her real name) out in Hillsboro and she said that a few of their folks didn't show up today to meet her." Hillsboro is a GOP bastion in the state about 60 miles east on Highway 50. In a good mood and thinking it would be a terrific day for a drive we agreed to swing out there and to knock on some doors. We stocked up on coffee and headed east.
Our suspicions were confirmed and it was a beautiful drive, the warm and sunny fall day spruced up by the sea of gorgeous colors from the fall leaves along the hillsides. We got into Hillsboro shortly after 11 am and met Diane at a diner. We checked her map and she gave us our route and off we went. I was braced for a lot of negativity as Highland County went almost 2:1 for Bush in 2000 and 2004 but the mood was generally receptive, or at least not outright hostile. I do have to say that I saw a lot more McCain signs than Obama signs but there weren't actually a lot of signs in general. We answered a lot of questions about NAFTA and Health Care and were actually doing fairly well in my opinion. No one in Ohio really expects Highland to go Blue but narrowing the gap in the south end of the state is something the State Co-ordinators are very serious about. Even a 3:2 loss in this part of the state turns Ohio blue.
We drank lots of homemade ice tea and leaned on a lot of porch rails when we finally started walking up the long driveway of a largish bungalow set in a lovely cradle of maple trees and Rose-of-Sharon bushes. As we got close to the house we realized that at least one of it's residents was seated on the front porch with the radio on and a cup of coffee at his side. He waved us up and we made our introductions. The gentleman was in his early 70's but looked to be 20 years younger and his grip was firm and warm when we shook. He introduced himself as Dave (not his real name) and we soon learned he was a retired cardiologist from Columbus who had moved south after leaving his practice to be closer to his kids and grandkids in Cincinnati. The mandatory pictures were brought out and both my wife and I produced our own wallet photos of our kids to share.
Dave lingered over the one of our son Sean and tapped his red hair. "I bet this one is a handful," he said with a wink and a grin and settled back into his chair and took a sip from his "World's Greatest Grampa" mug.
"You don't know the half of it," I replied with a grin of my own and he waved us to two cane chairs. We sat and we began with the basics. Have you registered to vote? Do you have a party affiliation? Are there any other registered voters in the household? Now just about anyone who has done campaign canvassing has learned to dread that question when speaking to a senior citizen who is by themselves. It's a necessary question but there's a very good chance that the reply will be a somber remembrance of someone gone but obviously dearly missed. Dave shook his head and replied that he had been a widower for the past 3 years.
Condolences were passed but Dave shook them off and gave us another charming smile. "Rita (not her real name) was a helluva woman. My dad always said to celebrate the lives of the people you love and not to mourn their passing. We had 40 years and 4 terrific kids. A lot more than many folks get."
My wife Shannon (not her real name) is a sucker for stuff like this and I was already half convinced she'd be inviting him for Thanksgiving before the visit was over. Dave had advised us that he was formerly a registered Republican but had switched his status to Independent prior to the 2004 election. Having developed as good an immediate rapport with him over the past few minutes as I've developed with anyone this cycle I asked him what has brought about the change of affiliation.
Again, most folks who have worked on the campaign are used to the responses to this question: Opposition to the war, opposition to runaway spending and corruption, feeling betrayed by their party ... the list is fairly familiar. What I hadn't expected was what Dave said. He stared out at his yard for a few minutes and then began to speak. I will transcribe what he told me as best I can.
"Back in the 60's, before either of you young folks were born there was a guy named Barry Goldwater. He was the GOP nominee that LBJ beat in '64. He was an intellectual. He was a big believer in rational government and making government smaller. He was of the belief that the American people were the best judges of what was good and not good for them but wanted and fought for them to have the right to choose for themselves. Barry Goldwater was far from perfect though. He had his faults as all men do but he was also a man who was very much about ideas and liberties and not about policies and programs. He liked the idea that America was a place that you could talk about big things and have big ideas that made big achievements. It was really something.
"When Reagan won in 1980 it was almost a vindication of those beliefs. You have to understand that for many of us who voted for Regan it wasn't so much about his policies as it was about his ideas. Back then Conservatives talked about policy and ideas like they were important. They valued intelligence and education. They believed that if they presented their ideas pragmatically and logically that people would respond and we could unite the country. Regan did that. Not perfectly of course but he did it.
Then something happened. Nixon played to it of course but it really came into play in the 1990's and even more this past decade. Republicans turned their backs on smart people. Just like that, being smart was less important than being 'real'. Being qualified was about being ordinary. New ideas and thoughtful discourse was something to be ridiculed and not something to be examined. A good education and vocabulary became something to disdain and not something to celebrate. The Republicans stopped being leaders and started becoming drum bangers. Oh, they'd pull out their tanks and missiles like they were penises and pretend that asking questions was akin to treason. Scary."
He stopped for a moment and took another sip from his mug. "The Republican party is the party of the bowling alley. It's the party of the poker game. It's the party of pseudo patriotism and talking points masquerading as a platform. It's the party of shrillness and fear and I couldn't in good conscience be a part of that smoke and mirrors any longer."
Needless to say, Shannon and I were stunned. It was very quiet for a moment as we allowed what this smart and friendly older gentleman had just said to sink in. Finally we found our voices again and asked him if he had any questions about Senator Obama or his platforms. He gave us a shrewd wink and replied, "I do indeed son, but I don't think they are ones anyone can answer until he's in the job." Taking this as our cue, we both got up and thanked Dave for the chat and he replied with an airy wave of his mug. "What you are doing is important. It's important to stand up for something you believe in." We said our goodbyes and started down the steps when he called out to us again.
"And you can pound one of those signs in the lawn on the way out if you'd like."
One more down. More to go. America is waking up. And it was such a beautiful day.
PS: Shannon didn't invite him to Thanksgiving but did mention in the car on the way home that she wished she had.
Update Rec list? Holy sh*t LOL Thanks so much for all the support folks. We're taking back Ohio this year!