OK, I’m not THAT good at it. I always want to say, “What are you, NUTS ? How can you continue to support that stupid, hypocritical……” etc., etc.
But while discussing torture in Steven D’s excellent diary, I realized that I have actually had some successes by contrasting the values I know my Republican co-workers hold with the behavior of the current administration:
Those people in the White House aren’t Republicans.
Republicans have moral clarity. They don’t condone torture. Republicans believe in the rule of law. They don’t have one set of rules for us and another for everybody else. Republicans are honorable. They don’t disgrace and shame America. Republicans support the military. They don’t jeopardize our troops by violating the Geneva Convention. Republicans are logical. They know not to trust information obtained through torture. Republican are civilized. They do not stoop to embrace the tactics of our enemies. And Republicans don’t squander tax payers’ money on foreign adventures.
These folks in the White House are NOT Republicans.
These discussions have been focused on torture, but I think there are many areas amenable to this approach.
Please, Tribbers, if you think this can work, (and I HAVE had some people soften and admit that they voted for Bush, but can no longer support what he’s doing now), help me develop this from the narrow torture focus to an issue wide exercise in values clarification for our Republican neighbors.
I know from experience that backing them into a corner and forcing them to defend extreme positions that they don’t really believe is not the answer.
