Cross posted at Dkos
My sister has been married to this guy for about 20 years. I love my sister. She has 2 amazing son’s..straight A students, really smart kids. Because of her and my Nephews I have put up with her husband, their Father, for way to long. Well, Today was Father’s day. So there I am over at my sisters house with the Family again.
Cut to: Father’s Day maybe about 14 years ago, my rightwingnut Brother in Law used to go on and on about Howard Stern and how funny he was…”You gotta listen to Howard Stern..he is a riot..You will love him”, I think not, I think, I am not a racist or sexist and I appreciate a different kind of humor, I ignor him.
jump with me and my wingnut bro in law.
Diaries :: Chamonix’s diary :: :: Trackback ::
Father’s Day about 7 years ago. The Brother in Law again…”There is this great guy on the radio…You gotta listen to this one…Remember when I told you about Stern…This guy is totally different…he really calls people out. He is gonna help change this country..Give him a listen, he will change your outlook on everything. His name is Rush Lim..” He mentions the Radio channel he is on, I humor him and say “Great…ok..maybe I’ll give him a shot”. Lying through my teeth as I am already well aware of this anti-christ…I have no interest in anything this moron has to say, let alone recommend. The only thing we have in common is my sister and my two nephews.
About 4 years ago. You guessed it…him again… Me “Hey..Happy Father’s day” Him “Ok..Ok…This guy is IT..There is this news channel called Fox News. I know..I know..You watch local and National Network News and maybe sometimes CNN, I know you are a democrat, but this station may change your life…It’s Fair and balanced & Totally patriotic. They love America. You’ll see Bush is gonna be a uniter, not a divider. They are always breaking news and really trying to bring the world together. There is this show called “The O’Rielly Factor”, he is awesome..he really calls people on their shit. His show is a No Spin Zone, He’a an Independent…all truth and facts..You gotta watch him…I swear, if you don’t like this guy..I will never recommend anyone ever again…” Me: ” I heard about Fox News…they are totally one sided and far from Fair and balanc…..” “Just watch this guy, he really stands up for Americans”
Father’s Day 2 years ago…”Hey…I know you don’t like Bush…and you think this war is illegal but you’ll see they are gonna find those WMD’s, Sadam was in bed with Osama they planned the whole thing together, they’re all terrorist, he was involved in those planes that brought down the twin towers and he gassed hundreds of thousands of his own people…Our soldiers are fighting for Freedom..You can’t say anything Bad about our President and country during a Time of War. Anyway..remember that fair and balanced network I told you about..It has really taken off and they have this guy named Sean Hannity…If you just give him a couple of shots, just watch a couple of his shows and I swear you will understand what I have been trying to tell you for years. You are on the wrong side. He really gets to the truth. He makes me proud to be an American.” Me leaving, muttering under my breath…”What an Asshole, He lives in a fucking dreamworld, I can never go back to my sisters house and I must kidnap my Nephews in order for them to have a chance in this life”
Today…..Father’s Day…I am asked to bring dessert..I dread the thought of going. I have decided to just ignore the ass. I will talk to my Dad, Nephews, Sisters and just treat my brother in law like he isn’t even there. Luckily, he BBQ’s the meat so he isn’t around much…it is a harmless evening. Nothing political comes up, we eat, talk about how everyone is doing and it’s over..I say Goodbye, wish them all a Happy Fathers Day.
As I am leaving and going out to my car…Here he comes…The Brother in Law. Oh God!!!! I can’t, I just can’t put up with this ignorant ass, I swear this is it. I don’t even care about my sisters, nephews, or even my dad. I have decided it is time for the dam to break wide open. I don’t care if I am never invited back to my sisters again. If he brings any political shit up I am gonna bust him. I have 20 years building up inside of me. So, he comes over to my car and says….”Hey..I didn’t have a chance to talk to you much tonight..I just wanted to let you know…there is this great radio station here in LA..it’s new..it’s on channel 1150…it’s called Air American…These guys have really made me think…I have totally change my mind….Even though I now think all politicans are crooks….I cannot believe how I have been brainwashed the last 20 years. Once I had a place to go to, to listen to, to hear the other side…I was really able to see things clearly…that President of our needs to be in Fucking Jail, along with the other Republican Crooks in the Senate. If they fucking think I am giving them my Son’s to fight their illegal oil war they have another thing coming. Do you know about the DSM and how Bush lied and fudged the intelligence to force us into war way before he went to the UN with those lies. I will pack up and move to Argentina or Spain before I’ll let my sons die in Bushs war. And do you know about this Bolton guy that they want to place into the UN for the US? What a fucking Idiot. He hates the UN. Do you know what happened this past election in OHIO? Do you know about this Attorney General named Gonzales who supports Torture? Do you know about Dick Cheney and the Halliburton kickbacks, do you know……….”
This pretty much proved it for me. When it hits this close to home it really makes you think….American has had it…It is all down hill for Bush from now on. Trust me..My Brother in Law was Archie Bunker. He has changed. He has turned on them. He was not a swing voter. He was not an undecided voter. He was a Republican. Things have gotten so bad, that they all want a way out. They are done with Bush, his war and the Republicans. They had their chance, they blew it. If you could have heard my Brother in Law go off on the Schiavo thing you wouldn’t have believed it. “Fucking President flies back on our fucking dime, to sign a bullshit bill that doesn’t mean shit, to save a woman, who didn’t even want to exist in this state(PVS) in the first place. Now they are coming into our bedrooms and telling us how and what to do with our lives. And what’s with this fucking religious stuff”
We must not let up. We must continue to fight. We are doing it. Even if we change one person a day, I will keep on going. This is a man who I never thought till his last dying day, would go to his grave believing Bush and the Republicans and their Bullshit and pathetic lies. If he can cross over anyone can. Keep fighting the good fight…They are going down…fast and hard.
of Bush’s legions deserting.
His presidency was going down the toilet on September, 10, 2001 and then the terrorists saved his ass, but now the honeymoon is over. Let the flushing begin again.
I bet your brother-in-law is not the only one.
I’ve always believed that the AM radio talk show appealed more to a basic sense of simmering anger, and is ultimately not truly attached to a right wing political platform.
People are just pissed, and the Rush Limbaugh’s of the world have been capitalizing on it. It’s not his politics so much as his presentation that people like.
Now we’ve got some righteous anger on the left and it’s not so surprising that former Limbaugh listeners would find it satisfying.
The bonus to this is of course that Air America does a much better job at targeting the bastards who are really to blame, so people like your brother-in-law now have a better place to put their angry feelings at the world.
We are winning hearts and minds!
I will not give up on my brother then, he sounds exsctly like your brother-in-law was, so there is hope. I am persona non grata in my brother’s home, because I called GW a War Criminal, starting on the first day of the illegal Iraq war. We were visiting him and my mother down in Mississippi and he brought up Bush and how the Terrorist were getting their asses kicked and we would be out of Iraq in 6 months, with only minimal troop involvement.
My mother warned me to not take the bait. To late, the words came tumbling out of my mouth, Bush is a war criminal and this entire administration is a bunch of lying crooks that should all be in prison for the crimes they have committed against America and the world.
Opps, anyway, my brother went ballistic, told me to leave, but my family could stay, I was not welcome here for the heresey, treasonous and seditious words I had used in describing the greatest President since Raygun. I kissed my mom, grabbed my son and calmly said my goodbyes. That was the last time I spoke to my brother, that was more than 2 years ago. My mom has since moved to my sisters in texas and my brother is still spouting about how great GW is and what a great American he is and isn’t it a shame that all those liberal commie bastards are hurting our troops so badly with their anti war rhetoric. I shall miss my brother, I hope he finds his own path to the truth like your brother-in-law.
Don’t ever give up. Although my Bro-in-Law found Air American on his own..(I guess he had to hear what the other side had to say with all the Negative Bush stuff in the news) there is nothing wrong with a little prodding…let people you know on the other side know about Air America..Tell them just to listen to the other side of things, just give it a chance. Through the years we have had nothing like the right has had, now we do..We need more. Don’t give up on any friend or family member…the time is here now. If my brother in law can change anyone can. I am not kidding..he was the worst of the worst. He know hates BushCo and everything they are doing. We are no longer in the Minority folks. Look at Bush’s numbers. He is going down.
I raised my daughter to be liberal but she turned out to be conservative (just to spite me, I think). That stunted a lot of discussions! She’s since reformed, thankfully, and life is as it should be. 🙂
My cats are liberals too. Just had to throw that in.
and it gives me some glimmer of hope for my sister coming to her senses. Like ghostdancers situation, she and I did not talk for well over three months. Now, we have agreed to disagree and not talk politics. I just can’t, I get too angry. There just are some people that are never going to change their minds. I have learned how to discern the difference.
The wingers have a 20 year head start so it’ll take some time but reports like this give me hope we’ve seen the turn of the tide.
Yes, she did.
I heard her criticize Bush yesterday afternoon.
She asked me to look over a notice from Medicare, and announced her anger about Bush’s trying to “meddle” with Social Security.
Although uneasy about the Iraq war, it was social security so-called reform that turned her against the President. Even right-wing talk radio has not been able to make her accept changes to her Social Security.
Note – none of our relatives are in danger of being sent to Iraq – none in the Armed Forces nor in the National Guard. If it were otherwise, I’m sure she would have been against Bush earlier.
Love it Venice….Congrats on your Mom…Things are really changing..people are waking up…Bush is going down. He is the Worst President the United States has ever Had…EVER. Every thing he touches is a Disaster.
” If they fucking think I am giving them my Son’s to fight their illegal oil war they have another thing coming.”
Is the real key to his change in attitude. When I think of my daughters being drated to fight in that quagmire, I see red.
Yup….Being lied to…feeling like a fool…and remembering Bush during the debates, remember what he said…basically “Read my lips…I am not going to start a Draft” Well, He has lied about everything else he has said..His father lied…so why wouldn’t he lie about this too. I have a feeling a few months ago…(around Schiavo time, about the RightWing religious Nuts taking over the airwaves during Schiavo)…he probably started listening to Air America..he knows I am a smart guy, so there must be some reason I am rabid about my hatred for BushCo. I think this really woke him up..A closet AA radio listener…Probably also got tired of hearing the same shit over and over again on the Rightwing Radio stations…I then think he started hearing rumblings of a Draft (Air America), he then started looking into Social Security, Ohio, Bolton, Iraq, Afganistan, Osama, Sadam, Rice, Filibuster, Gonzales, The 3 judges that were stalled, then appointed by Bush, Gitmo, Abu Grabass. How can anyone deny that this stuff just seems WRONG. Anyway…the bottom line is He will NOT let his 2 boys go fight Bush’s Illegal War…they are 15 and 17 and have there entire life ahead of them. He will not give serve them up for a useless Oil War.
Awesome diary! Tell your bro-in-law that he’s giving us all hope. I’ll be spending a week with the extended family in early July, and hopefully I can get one or two family members to just listen to AAR and let Al & Randi do the rest.
Thanks…yup..if they already are not closet listeners…Just tell them you have listened to their side..for years the Rightwing has owned the Radio airwaves…just have them try and take a listen. If they are Red State people..the afternoon guy might be their cup of tea (Ed Schultz). Randi may be a bit to abrasive for beginners
Those last paragraphs literally gave me chills and goosebumps – in the best possible way, of course.
Though I agree that it’s good news. I think your BIL (and a lot of people like him) are essentially followers. They like to have some strong radio or TV (or blog?) personality wrap up everything in a bow for them, and if they can digest it and it makes them feel good about themselves, they will eat it up and spit it back out to everyone they can. (I see this with some people’s personal spiritual quests as well.)
So it may well be that this is the “flavour of the year”, though if he cycles back to Howard Stern, we’re still okay because Stern has become a major Democrat (or at least, GOP hater) even if, I agree, he is racist and sexist.
What I think might be the most important thing I learned here is that Air America really just might be effective to compete with Hannity and Rush for the allegiance of these follower types. I, like I think a lot of people, tended to think that Air America was more of a “preaching to the choir” type affair that might get people charged up and help them share information (like this blog does) but that it probably wasn’t winning over many converts. If your BIL is at all representative, though, I may have been wrong–and I’m more than happy to be wrong in this instance!
-Alan
————————
Support Hugo Chavez: Fill up your car at CITGO!
————————
Hey Slacker…Just think about it…These wingnuts all who have lived on the Koolaid for years…start having a little bit of doubt, just a little..the war, SS, Stuff that is making it’s way to Network Nightly news…and one day they sneak over to just give Air American a little listen to. They are in Shock…This can’t be…None of this stuff they are hearing can be true…So they go back the next day to see what else the Left is saying..and then the next, while still going back to Hannity, Rush, O’Reilly..then they start thinking ….someone is lying here..this is not adding up…Things become a little more balanced now in their world…They are now feeling and thinking…Fuck…how can so many things be so bad…Have we been lied to? And I think that is the beginning of the interest and possible crossing over to the light. I don’t think it happens over night…Remember… He also has two Sons that are 15 and 17 years old…Bush 1 lied about not raising taxes…with all the other things now in question..would Bush 2 lie about the Draft?
I think what you are saying is true in many or maybe even most cases. And, to me, that’s sort of an ironic way to gain converts. What we’re really talking about here is a bunch of people who would naturally be in the Pat Buchanan camp, but whose jingoism allowed them to jump aboard the war train…for a while. And if they defect to Democrats over that stuff, then I will of course take their votes, but I won’t likely find that I have much if anything in common with them philosophically–and I’d be a little worried about what kind of Democratic primary voters they’d make if they went that far.
-Alan
————————
Support Hugo Chavez: Fill up your car at CITGO!
————————