Undecided Votes and Hope

BeeBee asked a rhetorical question in my comments today, “Are there really any undecided voters?” So I had to add my experiences in the last few days to a Post.

My husband’s partner is a smart man. Yeah, I think he’s a jerkweed and I don’t like him, but he is a very well read, highly educated man. He’s an intellectual and keeps on top of things. He’s the type of guy that last year, went back to the local college and just started to take history classes for the fun of it at night, to see if he missed anything, gather another perspective, as like my husband, he is a scientist and took mainly science and math classes in college other than the few obligatory credits of history. (He is a voracious reader of history, akin to John at Castle Argghhh!)

But, he is undecided. He is a Democrat. He cannot stand John Kerry. He HATES John Kerry… but… here it is… he is watching the debates and he cannot see himself voting for someone who comes across as such an idiot as Bush. Now most of you who read this are Conservatives and so your take on it is not going to be the same, but Bush really can come across as a ‘smirking frat-boy C-student’ as Jack of Random Fate put it. (Don’t go trolling over at Jack’s. I respect Jack and it’s his blog and he brings up good points. He is very middle of the road, slamming both sides when they deserve it.) And because he comes across that way, Democrats who cannot stand Kerry, have become undecideds. That is my opinion. They don’t want to vote for Kerry, but they are appalled at voting for Bush. They think he’s a dim bulb.

On an up note: I was doing Two for Tuesday yesterday in the gym (2 hours on Tuesdays) when I was on the elliptical machine next to a mid 50ish woman I don’t know. I don’t talk politics with strangers. I don’t talk to people in the gym. Period. So I have my angry music blaring in my ears and since I don’t have my glasses on, I’m doing my typical piss poor job of trying to lip read from the news folks on Fox, but I could tell it was about the debate. I looked at this woman, took off my headphone and said, “Are you going to watch the debate?”, to which she replied, “Probably not. I know who I’m voting for already.” For some reason I kept talking and I found out she was voting for Bush. I was shocked as this is Florida. I am worried we are going to Kerry.

Today I went to get my nails done. I splurge on myself every two weeks and have a manicure as I have this thing about hands. I LOVE men’s hands and in turn I think my hands should look womanly. (I could do a whole daggum post on hands.) I have grown close with my manicurist of 2 years. She is from Japan. We NEVER talk politics. For two years, we never have. So I said to her, “Did you watch the debate?” to which she said, “2 minutes of it and I got so mad. That Edwards… he is scum.” (She is a naturalized citizen and will vote.)

Now I’m going to try to remember her rant as best I can, but when you read it, try to do so with a heavy Japanese accent.

“Kerry. Who is this man? He is dang-er-ous. And his wife. If I have to look at her face for four years… what will I do? I cannot stand that woman. She is horrible. And Kerry thinks he can fix Korea? He cannot fix our problems with North Korea. He does not und-er-stand. It is very similar to Iraq… both small countries and they are poor. The people of North Korea are already starving to death. Kerry does not know and he does not und-er-stand. I do not like him. I do not like George Bush, but he is not dang-er-ous like John Kerry. I am very afraid of that dang-er-ous man.”

There you have it. I know, two points does not make a trend, but it was interesting. I have hope.