A Personal Note: Bush Lost!!!

My father is slightly to the right of Pat Buchanan politically. He thinks Singapore is a good way to run a country -- let the little people vote on dog catcher but all the big decisions are made by a strong man in power. He gets all his information from Fox News and right wing talk radio and the New York Times is filled with lies, etc., etc. You get the picture -- if Fox News said 1 plus 1 is 3, then you're a dirty commie for suggesting it might be 2, in my dad's view. I have never heard him say one negative thing about Bush.

For kicks, I called him up and teasingly asked, "What did Fox News tell you to think about the debate?" He paused and said, "I was disappointed." Huh? In the debate in general or Bush?

"Bush just slouched too much. Kerry won the debate on looks. He told 21 lies [I let that slide] but Bush didn't...he was alright at first. But he kept attacking Kerry -- flip flop, flip flop -- and he didn't say anything. He just kept repeating the same things.

"And he kept stopping before time ran out! I couldn't believe it. You can rest your arm on the podium and look folksy at a rally, but this is a debate -- even though it's not a real debate -- and stand up straight! Look presidential! He just didn't seem to have anything to say. He should have said, here's the situation in Iraq and here's my plan. But he just kept attacking Kerry and saying 'hard work' and 'misleading.'"

You could have knocked me over with a feather. Did my father change his mind? Of course not. Will he still vote? Probably. But Kerry just lit a fire under his base and Bush deflated his. That means fewer people rarin' to get to the polls and drag their friends with them.

But don't forget your talking points: Bush is going to do a LOT better at the next debate and learn from his awful performance here and Kerry will be doing well to just hold his own against the President because Bush has never lost a debate so he couldn't possibly lose two in a row. Blah blah blah.

Got any stories of far right family members and friends being disappointed and disillusioned? We'd love to hear them.