would you date a bush supporter?

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so i met this woman online, and she seemed very nice and smart and she was pretty and all the rest of it. but it eventually came out that she voted for our man there. that stopped me cold, in spite of everything else, and i don't really know why. she wasn't rabidly going on about him or anything (though i've sinced noticed a "blogs for bush" sticker on her blog) but that one detail was able to counter everything else about her. we got into kind of an argument and, barely an hour after we started talking, we were done. i don't think i'll im her now.
true, we were far from 'dating' but i initially contacted her because she seemed like someone i'd like to get to know and possibly date. but now i feel like everything else i find out about her would be tainted, in a way. i feel kind of silly about this, but it's not something i can overlook easily. i wonder, too, if it's not like finding out a potential mate loves a band you can't stand, and if that knowledge would cause you to put on the brakes, if you hated that band enough.
i dunno, man. am i overreacting here?

― grueling pace, Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:35 (twenty years ago)

Nope. I wouldn't either. Ever.

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:37 (twenty years ago)

maybe this is more common in the States what with the system being what it is there. it's hard to imagine myself or anyone I know dating someone who voted Conservative. not that it's really a constant, conscious stance in operation, just that the situation doesn't seem to arise among my circles, class/culture/lifestyle divides being what they are here.

― Sven Basted (blueski), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:44 (twenty years ago)

I guess I should expand on that. I believe that for me personally the basic tenets of being a bush supporter would be diametrically opposed to my personal beliefs and convictions.

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

xpost

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:48 (twenty years ago)

i agree. it's not just the box you checked back in november. that checkmark was the result of a thought process that seems very alien to me. it's not 'just' politics, it would seem to indicate something deeper about his/her personality.

― grueling pace, Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

"I'd fuck her with a Bush mask on!"

― 'haitch' (haitch), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

it depends if they're hott

― ken c (ken c), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

i don't think personally i'd like to date anyone who is over passionate about two party politics, whoever they side with. (unless they're hott)

― ken c (ken c), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:55 (twenty years ago)

nope, i wouldn't. you're not overreacting. that said, i have been told i'm a slightly right wing ... but like ken says; i just don't like people are very passionate about politics (esp bush). so i'd fuck her and then dump her. (that last bit was a joke)

― nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Sunday, 3 April 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

I would attach her to a bomb and attack US troops in Iraq with her, as a sign of defiance.

― Ronan (Ronan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

Call up James Carville and ask him how he manages it.

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 3 April 2005 13:23 (twenty years ago)

where online did you meet her? i need to try internet dating.

― ery, Sunday, 3 April 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

I have a couple of friends who are conservatives, and we manage to get on ok, though we avoid talking abt politics usually. I can see it being more difficult if one were in a relationship w/such a person, but if I liked them enough otherwise, I guess it could be made to work out. Perhaps you could use yr political differences as grist for some interesting bdsm scenes, heh.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Sunday, 3 April 2005 13:58 (twenty years ago)

[/perve]

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Sunday, 3 April 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I'd have a problem with someone that leans towards conservative on certain issues, particularly if that someone was intelligent and open to informed discourse (a large portion of my extended family to thread). But an outright Bush supporter?
Fuck that noise.

― Will(iam), Sunday, 3 April 2005 14:25 (twenty years ago)

What might be likely is that she has little interest in political discourse. There are quite alot of people like this (most people?), and most of them voted for Bush.
So the question might be, "Can I be interested in someone whose interest in public policy is much much lower than mine?"

― peepee (peepee), Sunday, 3 April 2005 14:42 (twenty years ago)

Yes. People are allowed to have a variety of opinions. That's kind of the whole idea.

― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 3 April 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

What might be likely is that she has little interest in political discourse. There are quite alot of people like this (most people?), and most of them voted for Bush.

so true. And to clarify, I meant I wouldn't have a problem dating someone who's politics fall somewhere to the right of my own. But someone who actively supports/ defends Georgie (eg "Blogs for Bush")? Not me, Jack.

― Will(iam), Sunday, 3 April 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

I couldn't. Not ever. I don't support the State in any sense (as all forms of government are corrupt, and become even more so when conservatism increases), so there's no way such a situation could even potentially occur with me.

― What we want? Sex with T.V. stars! What you want? Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Ma, Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

I have a friend who's dating someone who voted for Bush. They get along okay.

I once dated a girl who voted for Bush, but that was in 1993.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

no way, dude! (the band comparison doesn't work. some things are not matters of taste, which is not to say more important.)

― youn, Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:55 (twenty years ago)

My wife voted for Reagan in 1980 as a joke. "There's no way he'll be elected, hahaha." Now she looks at her lever-flipping finger like it's a loaded gun.

― Curious George Finds the Ether Bottle (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 3 April 2005 15:58 (twenty years ago)

Depends - there's "ah yes, Iraq, bothersome business isn't it, please pass the scones" type Bush supporters and then there's people who actually go on about freedom and security and Bush being a good man and what have you. First group I'd totally date, second no way.

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

i guess things don't look good for me then.
but then if anyone took politics this seriously, had this quasi religious approach to it then they're probably an isufferable bore anyhow.

― keith m (keithmcl), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

but then if anyone took politics this seriously, had this quasi religious approach to it then they're probably an isufferable bore anyhow.

unless they're a democrat, obv.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

FUCK no. altho my brother is marrying one at the end of the year. I'll be in the wedding.

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

my brother married a democrat apparently. i always thought he was one too. : (

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

Like others have said, in a two-party system then it hard to draw firm conclusions on where she stands politically. Just because she voted for Bush doesn't mean that her personal politics are equivalent to Bush's (although, she has a "blogs for Bush" icon on her blog, so it doesn't look good).

If you think you like her then you should certainly get to know her a little better, find out exactly where she stands, and whether you can tolerate that sort of thinking.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:48 (twenty years ago)

my brother voted for bush for one, intensely stupid reason: the john-edwards-was-a-trial-lawyer thing (bro's a neurosurgeon). when i argued with him about this, i concluded that on every single other ACTUAL policy point, he agreed with kerry.

wonder what he thinks now, as someone who knows all about patients and their rights, given the terri schiavo debacle. what a dum-dum.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

but he also lives in pdx so his vote didn't count anyway. plus his democrat wife makes fun of his dumb choice every chance she gets.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

i take politics very seriously in choosing significant others and i am not an "insufferable bore." i would never date a bush supporter. usually with this type of question you can say something like, "well, as long as they were otherwise intelligent and open-minded..." but i don't think you can cop out in this case. nobody intelligent and open-minded would consider voting for him. actually, i probably wouldn't date anyone who allied with either of the two parties as i don't believe in that sort of thing and i'm not a democrat either. republicans are boring people anyway. i really only date communists.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:53 (twenty years ago)

no.

― miccio (miccio), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

xpost - oh yeah, ha, communists are always so open-minded.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:54 (twenty years ago)

jorel this is a gross exaggeration!

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

one thing i would really really not do is date a libertarian though. vomit.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:56 (twenty years ago)

i know! i was kidding at your kidding!

http://www.stel.ru/stalin/images/1935-february400.jpg

"WELL I SEE YOUR POINT, COMRADE"

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

"particularly if that someone was intelligent and open to informed discourse"

Assuming discourse does not mean one person complaining, this is important, which actually would rule out many of the liberals I know. I've had bad experiences with them just complaining non-stop for entire hour car rides where everybody else in the car kept on trying to change the subject.

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

if she gives good head, then all will be forgiven.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

Hmm, I just had an idea. People who are pro-choice, pro-birth control or for same-sex marriage will probably have fewer offspring. So, maybe in future generations that part of the population would gradually decrease. But if people mate across the political divisions these issues create, the decrease would be slower. It might be best to stick with your own kind when finding a potential mate and let natural selection run its course. There's got to be some flaws in this theory though.

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

People who are pro-choice, pro-birth control or for same-sex marriage will probably have fewer offspring.

HAHAHAH bit of a conceptual leap and lumping together there, mate. so obvious is it that someone not caring for the gubmint telling gay folks who them could not legally marry would provide a causal effect on the number of time they sucessfully procreate.

....

waitasec, how is "pro-birth control" an actual stance?

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

ask planned parenthood.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

are you saying people with liberal views on these issues are inferior and will select themselves out of the population eventually? i've thought about this, since conservatives are having more children, and i'm quite afraid. abortion/contraception rights and same-sex marriage are important to me. but i'm reassured by the fact that people don't always inherit the political opinions of their parents.

xpost - i'm not sure he means that these people will have fewer children because they are pro-choice or gay or use birth control, i think it's just that they have fewer children anyway.

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

oops. switch "them" with "they" in my post.

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

also i don't mean "will" evolve out of the population because they are inferior, i meant "should," as if this would be a good thing.

xpost

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

"but i'm reassured by the fact that people don't always inherit the political opinions of their parents"

yeah, that's true. Many children actually tend to be opposite their parents.

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

"how is "pro-birth control" an actual stance?"

ask the Catholic church too

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

"are you saying people with liberal views on these issues are inferior and will select themselves out of the population eventually?"

yeah, statistically speaking they are inferior in the amount of offspring they have.

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

yes, but i mean do you want this to happen? you said, "It might be best to stick with your own kind when finding a potential mate and let natural selection run its course." sounds bad. but i don't want to talk about it now. would you date a bush supporter?

― caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

he IS a bush supporter, caitlin!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:47 (twenty years ago)

some folks were observing late last year that this is EXACTLY what's been going on over the last decade plus. like-minded folks tend to live near each other and congregate together. thus you have an effect where wide swaths of culturally homogeneous landscape, which doesn't necessarily have the effect of improving discourse.

however, this is different from the whole "there are red states and there are blue states and never the twain shall meet" thing, which is bullshit when historical voting patters are brought into context and somebody actually takes a look at the by-county election result breakdown.

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

"he IS a bush supporter"

yeah, a little, but I agree with Ken when he said:
"i don't think personally i'd like to date anyone who is over passionate about two party politics, whoever they side with. (unless they're hott)"

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

have we entered the intolerance of intolerance vortex yet?

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

perhaps. how far is it from the intolerance event horizon?

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

this may be a cultural thing. i can't just cut republicans out of my life, nor would i want to, since i would lose a lot of people i love, respect, and depend on.

very good people can make very bad politcal decisions for very stupid reasons. people are irrational: surprise!

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

If I were dating, I doubt that I'd just be seeking out people who agreed with me. I'd get more turned off by a bush supporter who couldn't back up their opinions. Hell, I get turned off by democrats who can't back up their opinions. There's more to it than just who you vote for. I

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

hahaha.Liberals don't have any choice now their end is night, right, they got to make the gays to adopt tons of aidsy foreign babies to compensate...or something....like....that.....

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:11 (twenty years ago)

you know, if every liberal actually went out of their way to date a bush supporter instead of treating them like lepers then the democrats may actually win an election someday!

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

La nation est en péril
On n'entend plus son doux babil...

Repeuplons, repeuplons (...)
Filles et garçons
Allons repeuplons (...)

Donnons-nous la mission
De peupler la nation
Car sinon car sinon
Qui paiera nos pensions?

Repeuplons (...)

L'acte de copuler
N'aura jamais été
D'une telle noblesse
Allons jouer aux fesses

Repeuplons, repeuplons (...)
Filles et garçons
Allons reupeuplons (...)

Bonjour mademoiselle
Êtes-vous PRO-VIE
Détachez vos jarretelles
Moi je suis PRO-LIT

Repeuplons (...)

Dans le débat brûlant
De l'avortement
Nous prenons position
Horizontalement

Repeuplons baby boom...
Baby boum tara boum dié

Nous serons plus nombreux que les chionois demain
Car tous les Québecois sont de véritables lapins

Repeuplons (...)

Adieu fellation... Adieu cunnilingus
Si t'as pas 3 enfants
T'auras pas ton bonus

Repeuplons (...)

Faire des flos, faire des flos (...)
Des p'tits, des moyens, des maigres et pis des gros
Faire des flos, faire des flos
Les hommes au milieu, les femmes ont chaud
Changez d'côté, vous vous êtes trompés

Repeuplons, repeuplons (...)
Filles et garçons
Allons repeuplons (...)

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

But American conservatives have virginity pledges too, that makes extra kids for liberals.

― lupine lupin (lupinelupin), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

Given the evidence that teenagers who take virginity pledges on average lose their virginity at the same age as everyone else, but are less likely to use contraception when they do, that's going to be an *advantage* for the conservatives.

― caitlin (caitlin), Sunday, 3 April 2005 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Plus they don't have non-breeding GAYS (who choose to be GAY) on their side.

― absolutego (ex machina), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

you all sound ready to round them up and put them away somewhere.

― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

them=Bush supporters.

― shookout (shookout), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:45 (twenty years ago)

why? have somewhere in mind?

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 19:51 (twenty years ago)

My housemate/landlord voted for Bush, but he's not your stereotypical red stater for many social issues. He mainly voted for Bush because he supports "the war" and didn't think Kerry was going to be the guy to lead us out of it. Of course I strongly disagree with him, but how can I fight my landlord over Bush?

― Sara Sherr, Sunday, 3 April 2005 20:06 (twenty years ago)

well, in that case, "fighting" isn't really what's called for.

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Sunday, 3 April 2005 20:07 (twenty years ago)

i like my kofi like i like my women...

anti-bush

― Cabaret Voltron (PUNXSUTAWNEY PENIS), Sunday, 3 April 2005 20:09 (twenty years ago)

my brother voted for bush for one, intensely stupid reason: the john-edwards-was-a-trial-lawyer thing (bro's a neurosurgeon)

He might need his own services.

― peepee (peepee), Sunday, 3 April 2005 20:33 (twenty years ago)

well i don't doubt that he'll need an attorney's services someday.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 3 April 2005 20:34 (twenty years ago)

I have in the past. Not since the mid-terms, though not by plan.

I'd find it as difficult to date a DailyKOS-style liberal Democrat as a moderate Bush supporter. Beliefs different from or opposite mine - great, beliefs that are largely irrational and uninterested in facts/evidence - not so much.

Whether Bush supporters would be gunning to date an agnostic pinko might be a tougher question to answer in my case.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:06 (twenty years ago)

'my brother voted for bush for one, intensely stupid reason: the john-edwards-was-a-trial-lawyer thing '

wasn't lincoln a trial lwayer?

― latebloomer: AKA Sir Teddy Ruxpin, Former Scientologist (latebloomer), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:23 (twenty years ago)

but he was also a republican!

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:29 (twenty years ago)

conservatives are anti-sex and pro-war so they'll weed themselves out of the population soon enough.

― j blount (papa la bas), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:34 (twenty years ago)

except they've been that way since, well, forever really.

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

I had a girlfriend about four or five years ago who was gorgeous and witty and sociable and articulate... until our third date when I went to a dinner party at hers early on and found out she was a fullon dyed-in-the-wool Young Tory.

Up to that point, the concept of such a cold-blooded creature actually fancying me had never actually occurred to me. It was terrifying new ground. I kind of liked the idea at first ("Haha! Doing one them just to see what it feels like!" according to one very left-wing friend of mine who might also frequent this particlar parish) but actually the level of disgust I felt rising up in me while watching, say, the fuel crisis on the news was unbelievable.

But I was skint at the time and she was absolutely loaded, so I kept it going for a short while out of pure self-interest but even an invertebrate such as myself eventually found the disgust too difficult to cope with. Like, after a week...

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:35 (twenty years ago)

No. At least I'm pretty sure it's no. Maybe there could be some exceptions I can't imagine. I need someone whose political values aren't that far removed from me. Bush threatens to destroy so much of what I value. I don't want to be sleeping with the enemy.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:42 (twenty years ago)

i just don't like people [who] are very passionate about politics

This is gorgeous. Or would be if it wasn't so chilling.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

only for buttsex.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 3 April 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I don't know how to say it. These ideas have real big practical importance. It's not just like comparing favorite colors or something.

x-post

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:00 (twenty years ago)

conservatives are anti-sex and pro-war so they'll weed themselves out of the population soon enough.

But they're anti YOu having sex and pro YOU fighting a war, so now the tables have turned, and the master becomes the student or something.

RE: question.. Doubt it - but it's possible. maybe she's just not really interested in politics an d voted for Bush out of ignorance. OK strike that, I wouldn't date someone ignorant.. But maybe she has a good reason .. ask her why she voted for the chump .. and really listen. Then either laugh at her or get busy gettin busy.

― dave225 (Dave225), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

buttsex w/ a bushco supporter = GOOD.

BETTER = buttsex w/ a bushco supporter, and shouting out @ orgasm, "you realize that THIS IS WHAT BUSH IS DOING TO THE COUNTRY, RIGHT?!?"

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

Lock thread. Winner.

― Matt Chesnut (Matt Chesnut), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

I mean, I'm probably just a nutter who spends too much time isolated and online, but I seriously think we could see a civil war in this country somewhere down the line.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

Hmmm. We foreigners worry about your internal affairs too.

I guess the low profile (?) of genuinely disinterested media is important, but the concept of US citizens withdrawing from or trivialising political discourse circa 2005 is a little unsettling.

― Nag! Nag! Nag! (Nag! Nag! Nag!), Sunday, 3 April 2005 23:47 (twenty years ago)

Nag's onto something here, though disinterested might be a third of the reason, along with chicken-shit and worried about ratings. But often in your Crossfire-media culture, the right/v/"left", Republican/v/Democrat thang is presented as a game, where the players go out for a drink after, or at least have sex with each other.

― peepee (peepee), Monday, 4 April 2005 00:36 (twenty years ago)

would you date a bush supporter?

No. And if I shagged one by accident I'd be quarantining myself for six months.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 4 April 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

In an actual clinical quarantine centre, with isolated windowless rooms and everything.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 4 April 2005 00:39 (twenty years ago)

Because you know I don't want to become a fuckhead by osmosis.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 4 April 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

There's some...sharp distinctions being made here.

There is someone I've known for some years around here in my neck of the woods who, while not being anywhere near a classic stereotype of a OC Bush voter -- has a brain, uses it, likes to talk and learn about many things, has a spirituality I'd characterize as New Age more than anything else -- is still nonetheless a Bush voter, very open about it, extremely impassioned about him to the point where, though she has voted GOP in general for some times, watching Fahrenheit 9/11 actually made her specifically register as a Republican, such was her annoyance with the film and its conclusions. (Other friends, like my good friend Stripey, who know her interests and her discussion in other areas are often quite surprised to find this out -- she simply doesn't fit the stereotype, as I said.)

We've had our arguments at points -- strong-willed ones but not shouting matches, points of view are heard out and responded to rather than being cut off -- but at the same time we've hung out together or in mixed company, gone on a date a couple of times, admitted an attraction (she is, frankly, quite hot). This feels more like a long-time friendship with a frisson at most, but it's a salutory reminder, I think, that differences even in certain profound ways need not call a halt to things, or shut the door -- after all, she's still talking with me as well as many other close friends who are much more to the left, it's not like she's rejected a lot of *us* out of hand!

To illustrate in my own family history, as I've mentioned elsewhere, my dad was generally speaking very much more GOP as I grew up, my mom Democrat or independent. There were many political discussions at the dinner table where it was clear much disagreement existed between them on the political front -- but it was not done in the spirit of trying to win an argument, to seek a power play, to escalate into slammed doors and anger. Beliefs were strong but the opposite point of view was willing to be heard out -- and, I think unsurprisingly, it was less the difference than the commonalities in their approaches to thinking and discussing, as well as the many other things in common they had (which didn't include religion either, over time), which provided the keystone to their immensely successful marriage, still strong at almost forty years.

So maybe there is no answer here and, quite arguably, perhaps the current stakes are so high as to prevent many from feeling comfortable with the idea of someone being so close and yet so far away. Still, though, I would not be so immediate to prejudge as many here.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 April 2005 03:54 (twenty years ago)

I would date a Bush supporter, people are a lot more complex as individuals than just who they voted for. I have several good friends who voted for Bush, and most of us were friends long before the election, before politics started coming up as a daily topic of conversation. For the most part, it *isn't* some kind of crazy set of evil values that could keep us from seeing each other as good people (it's the people most like me ideologically I get frustrated with when they vote for Bush, actually). Mostly we disagree on economic issues, which I'm less emotional about than social ones because I weigh social issues as matters of principle and economic issues as matters of pragmatism. (In principle, I'm not opposed to Bush's Social Security plan, but I think it's pretty unhelpful and unnecessary practically.) I have a few friends who are conservative on social issues, but that hasn't been enough to end friendships. Dating someone very socially conservative would lead to lots of angry arguments over religion AND politics, though, so I guess it depends on why they voted for Bush.

― Maria (Maria), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:17 (twenty years ago)

But Ned, they voted Bush in! That's where the distinction is as far as I'm concerned.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

Additional note: I definitely tried to avoid conversations about Iraq after a few really depressing and frustrating ones. I realize Bush's presidency screws things up in ways that diverge quite creatively from being just conservative.

― Maria (Maria), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:20 (twenty years ago)

But Ned, they voted Bush in! That's where the distinction is as far as I'm concerned.

I admit perhaps I would feel more annoyed if I did not live in a state that voted for Kerry (and, four years ago, Gore).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:24 (twenty years ago)

Ah. See I live in a state that voted for Bush.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:28 (twenty years ago)

Mind you I'm still in a state that voted Ahnuld in. It's an odd world.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:30 (twenty years ago)

another way to ask this thread's question is "Would you date someone who doesn't share your values?"

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)

Ah. See I live in a state that voted for Bush.

eh?!? i thought that you were an australian?!?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:49 (twenty years ago)

Well, they voted Howard back in, so he's sorta right.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 4 April 2005 04:50 (twenty years ago)

Governor Howard, yeah.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 4 April 2005 05:20 (twenty years ago)

Still, though, I would not be so immediate to prejudge as many here.

It's not necessarily a matter of prejudging, Ned, it's a matter of judging.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:45 (twenty years ago)

It's not a question of guessing about a lot of other things: well, if they voted for Bush, they probably think this or that, or do this or that. It's that I wouldn't want to get that close to someone who supported/supports Bush.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

That's enough of an issue in itself, in other words, a big enough difference right there, regardless of what other baggage might or might not come along with it.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:48 (twenty years ago)

Yeah. If they support Bush, nothing else matters. It's like marrying an axe murderer or a Scientologist.

― Autumn Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty cold about boudaries based on disagreements in world view. To some extent I had to emotionally distance from my family in order to renounce Christianity in the middle of my teens. In fact, sharing belief or un-belief or something like that was a much bigger part of my fantasies about romantic love when I was younger. Just someone to be there as a bullwark against the united front of a family of evangelical Christians. (Not that united really, since there is a Calvinist wing and a Wesleyan wing; the former probably voted for Bush, and the latter definitely voted for Kerry. But both camps still share essential evangelical theological stances.)

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:54 (twenty years ago)

apropos to nothing:

http://www.podster.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/fotos/tv_ruk.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

Mr. Scott: Say, "Neocon, fuck me."
Vi: Oh, but I... I can't... say that.
Mr. Scott: Say, "Neo..."
Vi: Neo...
Mr. Scott: "... con."
Vi: ...con.
Mr. Scott: Say, "Neocon."
Vi: Neocon.
Mr. Scott: "Fuck me hard."
Vi: Fuck... me... hard.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

"another way to ask this thread's question is 'Would you date someone who doesn't share your values?'"

And in the context of internet-people that say "I Love Everything" they generally don't share values with people that support Bush. Or they assume they generally don't.

― A Nairn (moretap), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 23:20 (twenty years ago)

would you date a bush? lauren's fucking kickin

― adolf nixon, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

"would date" % necessarily = "would fuck"

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 23:32 (twenty years ago)

And in the context of internet-people that say "I Love Everything" they generally don't share values with people that support Bush.

except that the title of the board is all ironic n' shit, donchaknow...

― kingfish, Tuesday, 5 April 2005 23:56 (twenty years ago)

????

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 5 April 2005 23:59 (twenty years ago)

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 00:13 (twenty years ago)

I would not ask to see someone's voter registration card before asking them to dance, however.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Wednesday, 6 April 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

What. The. Hell.

Are so many of you so prejudiced that you'd exclude about half of the dating pool (unscientific, I know) because they voted for the wrong cousin last November? Are the parties really so different that you'd exclude people like that and treat them like sub-humans?

#1 If they support Bush, nothing else matters. It's like marrying an axe murderer or a Scientologist.

#2 I don't want to be sleeping with the enemy.

Why don't we just gas them along with those filthy Jews?

― Cunga (Cunga), Thursday, 26 May 2005 07:55 (twenty years ago)

um, hello? politics is genetic now?

― N_RQ, Thursday, 26 May 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

No, but the children of conservatives are likely to have been indoctrinated with conservative views.

― Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenk), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:10 (twenty years ago)

I think gassing's a little extreme, they should just be forced to partake in a little public self-criticism

http://www.bordersstores.com/data/bstores/features/images/rcnsp108.jpg

― Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenk), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:11 (twenty years ago)

In response to the original question: yes, provided the Bush in question is Kate Bush...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:14 (twenty years ago)

Indoctrinated? As if this was solely a conservative thing?

― AdrianB (AdrianB), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

When did I say that? Even if the same applies to lefties, the point still stands.

― Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenk), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:16 (twenty years ago)

i'm sure it does... maybe among jesus freaks, but you, know, you go to college, you smoke drugs, you give up being a conservative... it's when you start worrying about house prices that you become a tru conservative.

― N_RQ, Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:18 (twenty years ago)

The children of conservatives are more likely to have conservative tendencies, so if more conservatives are reproducing, your country will get more conservative, even if not all kids of right wingers are destined to become republican zombies.

― Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenk), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:23 (twenty years ago)

and, I mean, it's not like the mere progress of time makes people more liberal - look at the last couple of decades: Reagan, Bush, Bush, with a short interlude of Clinton, who wasn't even left of centre by any reasonable definition.

We are doomed to live in a world dominated by a superpower controlled by an ever increasing extent by people like this

http://www.townhall.com/acimgs/webimages/annblack.jpg

― Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenk), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

I woudln't care about her political choices if she was wearing THAT kinda dress. It's enough reason not to date someone. ;-)

― nathalie's baby (stevie nixed), Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:40 (twenty years ago)

Are the parties really so different that you'd exclude people like that and treat them like sub-humans? .... Why don't we just gas them along with those filthy Jews?

I think you might be overstating yr case a bit there! I mean not that yr the only one, but still...!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 26 May 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

Being "prejudiced" against people based on their ideology seems a-ok to me.

And refusing to date someone is hardly equivalent to "treating them as sub-humans"

― Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 26 May 2005 10:44 (twenty years ago)

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