Saturday, October 23, 2004
Supporting Bush in Blue country
Slate's Richard Rushfield conducted "a political and journalistic experiment," hoping "to see how people who live in primarily one-party areas would react when faced with a living, breathing member of the opposition." Rushfield donned "Kerry/Edwards" logo atire in Newport Beach and Bakersfield, both seriously Republican areas, and then switched to Bush/Cheney gear in Blue country. What did he learn? The results aren't pretty:
None of this is surprising to a conservative living in an Ivy League college town (that would be me). To get to my house, I have to pass an endless gauntlet of Kerry/Edwards signs, several of which have revised "A stronger America" to read "A smarter America." We can't just disagree, we have to be stupider than them? [UPDATE: Ironic, in light of this story, n'est-ce pas? - ed.] In the local coffee shop, Mrs. TigerHawk overhears almost endless sneering about Bush ("a monkey," according to one Princetonienne). At a potluck supper for the parents of my daughter's fourth grade class, I was repeatedly asked if I drove a green BMW. The simple "W" sticker next to the yellow ribbon was enough to arouse their curiousity. Who among them might be the Bush supporter other than the corporate executive? Several Kerry supporters said it was "courageous" of me to put that sticker on my car in Princeton. I was tempted to ask who among them was the vandal.
Via Professor Bainbridge.
Reflecting on the sting of being called "asshole" during my travels through Blue America, I wonder: If I were truly a Bush supporter, how long would I be able to endure a life filled with epithets before I gave up on the shirt? Changing into a nonpartisan brown Gap polo, I breathe a sigh of relief that I will never have to find out.
None of this is surprising to a conservative living in an Ivy League college town (that would be me). To get to my house, I have to pass an endless gauntlet of Kerry/Edwards signs, several of which have revised "A stronger America" to read "A smarter America." We can't just disagree, we have to be stupider than them? [UPDATE: Ironic, in light of this story, n'est-ce pas? - ed.] In the local coffee shop, Mrs. TigerHawk overhears almost endless sneering about Bush ("a monkey," according to one Princetonienne). At a potluck supper for the parents of my daughter's fourth grade class, I was repeatedly asked if I drove a green BMW. The simple "W" sticker next to the yellow ribbon was enough to arouse their curiousity. Who among them might be the Bush supporter other than the corporate executive? Several Kerry supporters said it was "courageous" of me to put that sticker on my car in Princeton. I was tempted to ask who among them was the vandal.
Via Professor Bainbridge.
1 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Oct 24, 09:50:00 AM:
As a well-educated, female, corporate attorney, I'm finding it really sets the Kerry supporters on back on their heels to find that someone with my profile could actually support this administration (all the bogeymen get raised - including the tiresome "abortion rights" tirade). Sometimes I'm surprised myself. I detest John Ashcroft. I wish W could speak standard English. And so on. But I just don't trust this Democratic Party with my security, or my money (they clearly want more of it ...). So I'm staying the course with W.
