(11-11-2016 01:41 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  Oh, sure, there is racism and racists on the right, but they are not THE right.

A statement exactly in line with Hillary's.

(11-11-2016 01:41 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  They both died, each at age 97, having never voted for a Republican in their lives. They were my (former) in-laws. She was a seventh grade drop out and picked cotton as a child, due to the poverty of her family. He was a CB in WWII. Blue collar all the way.

I don't know if they voted or not that year. I divorced their daughter in 1984, and saw them only sporadically after that. If they did, I am sure it would have been STD (Straight Ticket Democrat). They would have seen staying home as the only other possible alternative. He was in really bad health by then, so it could be either. He had previously told me he would stay home rather than vote for a (n-word).


True story: A few days before the Nixon-McGovern election, we were at their house, and there was politics on the news. Out of nowhere, my father-in-law said " I sure hope Nixon wins. He's the best man in this election." Amazed, I said 'Albert, I never thought you would ever vote for a Republican". He replied "Oh, I'm not going to vote for him." Being young and naive, I asked "But why not, if you think he is the best man?' he looked at me like I was the stupidest person in the world, and answered, in a tone of voice like he was talking to a dog, "Well, if I did that I couldn't vote a straight ticket, could I?"

When we visited, he and I could only talk sports. Politics and religion were to be avoided (very devout fundamentalist Baptists, and I was an atheist at that time).

Sorry to hear they passed. My father-in-law and I can talk politics, up to a point. He's a die-hard union electrician (although the union has gone to hell in the decade since he retired, apparently), hunter, and deeply committed Republican who has Fox News on for the entirety of our visits to their house at the holidays. Despite his penchant for pushing the buttons of his feminist, vegetarian daughter, he clearly loves and respects her very much, and that's enough for me.