My long overdue response to

LisB — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:28:53 +0000

My long overdue response to your post, Orlando:

Growing up as I did in a totally Republican family and coming of age at the time of Reagan (my first vote), I had been completely blind to the other side with prejudice. My family considered Jimmy Carter weak and ineffectual as a president, and he was the only Democratic one that I had any familiarity with.

Maybe moving to California and leaving my family behind on the east coast for 11 years helped me form my own opinion…..NOT. I was still a Republican when I moved back to NY in 2000.

I blame it on Plame.

When everything came out about Plame and Wilson and the lack of WMD’s, I got really angry. I felt like my party had cheated us into an empty and meaningless war. I don’t take war lightly. I don’t believe in the death penalty because I don’t think it’s up to men to judge their fellow men to the point where they can play “God” and make life or death decisions, and I don’t believe that killing fellow men for any reason other than self-defense is necessary. So the whole war thing is what got me questioning my totally Republican outlook on life, and then meeting my nephew as he was graduating from boot camp and getting ready to go to Iraq back in 2006 helped me really see it up close and personal: Wars and battles are wrong, but our military is strong. Let’s use that might for what is right, and nothing else.

I’m not even sure I care about us going after Osama bin Laden anymore, to be honest. But I know Obama wants to move us into Afghanistan to fight Al Qaeda, and that at least makes more sense than Iraq.

Still, I’d rather see war done away with altogether, and perhaps a good game of cricket or croquet amongst world leaders instead. Or, better yet: Basketball.

But that ain’t gonna happen.

I’m not a hawk, and I hate that my old party made hawks and abortions and religion and ineffectual oversight and torture and wiretapping their issues of the day. I hate that they have twisted a once grand ole party into something that hurts others and tarnishes our own country’s image.

Luckily for me, Obama happened along just as I went shopping -- for the first time -- for a Democrat.

I think I made a great purchase, and I’m going to help ensure that I get my money’s worth. And so I'm grateful to people like you who worked even harder than I did to make Obama our next President. I'm grateful for every vote he got, and for this chance to see us turn our country around and make it good again.

I dunno, I feel sort of lucky

Orlando — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:32:46 +0000

In reply to Thanks for sharing your

I dunno, I feel sort of lucky that I came to the decision on my own. My mom was really fierce about forcing me to make my own decisions and developing my independence, so maybe she did it on purpose. Sometimes I wonder if she knew she would get sick when I was so young, so she did her best to make me able to take care of myself from the start!

Thanks for sharing your

AM — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:26:07 +0000

In reply to The Moment I Knew

Thanks for sharing your story! I am lucky, my parents were both strong democrats and also talked about politics with us a lot. For me, it was more the moment when I realized that not everybody was a democrat. I don't remember the moment exactly, but I know I was surprised and confused when my mother revealed that she came from... gasp!... a family of republicans.

dagblog - Comments for "The Moment I Knew"

My long overdue response to

I dunno, I feel sort of lucky

Thanks for sharing your