Friday, 10 October 2014

The Hefty Weight of Democracy

It's one of those odd psychological moments.  You have a forum with some political guy or gal running for office, and some idiots are free to ask stupid questions.  So you have one gal ask you....knowing you ARE a Republican....if you voted for Bush in 2000.  There are basically three answers...."yes", "no", or "I don't remember".

This leads onto a second question....especially if you answered with anything beyond "yes".

The idiot could ask you....if you didn't vote for Bush, then who did you vote for?  The quick answer and better comeback would be you didn't vote for anyone....feeling that none of the candidates were competent.  Nobody would fault you for such an answer.

If you answered "I don't remember"? They will ask about your memory lapses and how often they occur...making you look foolish.

Out of a hundred Republicans or confessed right-leaning guys.....I would imagine that ninety-nine would just simply say "yes, I voted for Bush".  The one guy?  He might freak out and say "no", getting the more difficult questions next.

Over the past thirty years, and various Republican candidates.....I'm guessing most right-leaners would go the same way.

Democrats?  Well....I'm guessing up to 2000.....the numbers would resemble the right-leaning folks.

This week.....the gal running in Kentucky against Senator McConnell.....was after a newspaper endorsement.  They wanted her to appear up against a board, and answer some questions.  These weren't rocket-science questions.....just simple position questions.  Then they asked if she'd voted for Obama, and she went through various gyrations of avoiding an answer.  She couldn't answer "yes" or "no" or "I don't remember".

I wouldn't call this stupidity......but a naive gut feeling that you feel like you screwed up not just once, but twice, and you don't want to admit this in public.

How many of a hundred Democrats would go through this gut feeling answer?  I'd take a guess that three or four.  It's not a lot, but it's enough that draws some puzzling thoughts.

If these four individuals act this way....what happens in the future?  Will they ask some really tough questions of Democrats running for office, and demand some blunt truths?  Will they expect more evidence on the table of past performance?

This Kentucky Democrat?  I suspect that she lost five-percent of her support from this unique answer, and it won't be coming back this late in the election period.

Influencing the 2016 election period?  I'm willing to guess that someone is watching all this stuff, and will make the same question come up on numerous occasions....forcing people to admit who they voted for or against.

Democracy is an odd, you have to remember who you voted for in past elections, and be willing to admit this in public.  We are lucky to remember who the governor is....the past record of the Dallas Cowboys....the ingredients of a good cocktail.....the pin number for the ATM machine....and when we last did an oil change for the pick-up. Now?  Our voting record?