# Père the Rhymer has decided to vote for McCain **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 17, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414 "2008-10-17T18:08:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/21 "2008-10-17T19:02:17Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > My father, you mean. My grandfather was born in 1899 and no longer exercises the franchise, as, being dead, he is only eligible to vote in Illinois. Nicely done. 😃 > [@Miller](#): > > But so, presumably, has every other Democratic candidate he’s voted for in the last 44 years. Must be a hell of a surprise for him to learn he’s been supporting baby killers and fags all that time. Well, for the first ten or so years [of the last 44] he was supporting segregationists and Klan-friendly sheriffs. We only became\* the \*party of baby-killers and fags fairly recently. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/22 "2008-10-17T19:02:41Z")
Try [this argument](http://ncrcafe.org/node/2181) on your Dad. > [@](#): > > While American bishops are usually circumspect about declaring their electoral preferences, at least one African prelate currently attending the Synod of Bishops in Rome feels no such scruples. Archbishop John Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria, said today he would “obviously” vote for Barak Obama if he could cast a ballot on Nov. 4. > > Known as a strong advocate for social justice, Onaiyekan said Obama’s pro-choice record wouldn’t stop him from voting for the Democrat. > > “The fact that you oppose abortion doesn’t necessarily mean that you are pro-life,” Onaiyekan said in an interview with NCR. “You can be anti-abortion and still be killing people by the millions through war, through poverty, and so on.” ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/23 "2008-10-17T19:04:34Z")
My father is also voting for McCain. I have not been able to discuss politics with him rationally ever since he said, in the days of the Gore/Lieberman ticket, that he just couldn’t vote for a ticket that included a Jew. Mind you, he said he agreed with their policies. My head exploded then and there. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/24 "2008-10-17T19:06:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Oh, please. As of this moment, there are 5832 pieces of evidence that I am not an elitist. I am an ASSHOLE! Come on, now! You post more than 5,000 times to this liberal, elitist, Chicago-based board, and you cite that as evidence that you are not elitist? You might as well say, “I’ve eaten hominy grits all my life, so that proves I cannot possibly be from the South.” (But relax – posting here doesn’t make you an asshole.) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/25 "2008-10-17T19:06:23Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Nicely done. 😃 > > Well, for the first ten or so years [of the last 44] he was supporting segregationists and Klan-friendly sheriffs. We only became\* the \*party of baby-killers and fags fairly recently. I doubt my father would have voted for such back in the sixties. I’m talking about national politics; I’m guessing, of course, but I’d bet his first presidential vote would have been cast for LBJ on the basis of the Civil Rights Act. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/26 "2008-10-17T19:07:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m curious: Why are you referring to your “son’s sister” rather than your daughter? I don’t wish to speak for our future Rhyming overlord, but I will point out that a young man’s half-sister could share a mother without sharing a father. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/27 "2008-10-17T19:07:32Z")
Your Dad’s position that the recovery of the economy is in God’s hands is probably closer to being true than what the candidates are proposing, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/28 "2008-10-17T19:11:30Z")
> [@Telperien](#): > > My father is also voting for McCain. I have not been able to discuss politics with him rationally ever since he said, in the days of the Gore/Lieberman ticket, that he just couldn’t vote for a ticket that included a Jew. Mind you, he said he agreed with their policies. My head exploded then and there. The rumor is that McCain wanted to have Lieberman as his running mate, but was talked into a more conservative person. I wonder what your father would have done then. > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I don’t wish to speak for our future Rhyming overlord, but I will point out that a young man’s half-sister could share a mother without sharing a father. You’re probably right. I hadn’t thought of that. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/29 "2008-10-17T19:11:30Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > But I thought that was a nice glimmer of hope for the country when I found out that he was not blindly voting for McCain. > > So rest easy to know that a middle-aged white hillbilly is trading his vote with your older black grandad. Yeah, if people in this country don’t vote along the lines of the racial and socioeconomic stereotypes we’d set out to presuppose how they might, then we’ll all be well and truly screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/30 "2008-10-17T19:12:27Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Come on, now! You post more than 5,000 times to this liberal, elitist, Chicago-based board, and you cite that as evidence that you are not elitist? You might as well say, “I’ve eaten hominy grits all my life, so that proves I cannot possibly be from the South.” > > (But relax – posting here doesn’t make you an asshole.) I hate grits. And I was claiming my assholery proudly, thank you. Now begone I release the monkeys upon you. 😃 [QUOTE=Dewey Finn] I’m curious: Why are you referring to your “son’s sister” rather than your daughter? [/QUOTE] My son’s mother & I never married. She had a daughter by someone else before me. I was never a parent in any real sense to her when she needed a dad, so I don’t feel entitled to call her my stepdaughter; but I love her; she’s not just some kid I know. My father treats her as family, though, because he’s a good man. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/31 "2008-10-17T19:15:25Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > My father, you mean. My grandfather was born in 1899 and no longer exercises the franchise, as, being dead, he is only eligible to vote in Illinois. Then that’s another vote for Obama! It all evens out! (I keed, I keed) ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/32 "2008-10-17T19:17:41Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The rumor is that McCain wanted to have Lieberman as his running mate, but was talked into a more conservative person. I wonder what your father would have done then. Good question. Maybe I should ask. Seeing as he thinks Obama is pure evil, I have no idea. He might have voted Democrat this year for Edwards, he told me, but not for anyone else. Perhaps his head would have simply exploded. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/33 "2008-10-17T19:29:04Z")
I can’t get too upset about stuff like this, because I need to remember that there must be a million or so votes cast in this country every time for reasons that make even less sense than **Skald** ’s dad is exhibiting now. Tightie-righties casting ballots for Trotskyites because they have nice smiles, liberals voting for Palin cuz she’s got cute butt-cheeks, fundies voting for Obama cuz he’ll hasten the Rapture…examine this stuff too closely, you’ll go insane quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/34 "2008-10-17T19:32:35Z")
> [@Telperien](#): > > Good question. Maybe I should ask. Seeing as he thinks Obama is pure evil, I have no idea. He might have voted Democrat this year for Edwards, he told me, but not for anyone else. > > Perhaps his head would have simply exploded. Did he say that before or after Edwards dropped out? ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/35 "2008-10-17T19:34:42Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > Did he say that before or after Edwards dropped out? After that. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/36 "2008-10-17T19:50:34Z")
I’ve talked to quite a few people for whom Obama’s abortion record is a deal-breaker. Even for me – and I consider myself quite moderate, and not a fundamentalist – I will vote for Obama with a bruised conscience because of his stand on abortion. Still, all the other issues in aggragate outweigh this one issue. I just have to tell myself that the President has very little influence over abortion law, the courts do; and Bush (for all his failures) at least left a Court that will lean conservative even with one or two Obama appointments. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/37 "2008-10-17T21:13:02Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The Nazarene’s running things now, and he’s a soft touch. Why, once he comped meals for FIVE THOUSAND GUYS (and their wives and kids!) who didn’t have the sense to pack so much as a granola bar when they knew they were going to be out all day. But he’s still willing to punish the US for not dragging enough gay kids down gravel roads and letting lesbians enter into the same legal contracts you can (I probably can’t, being unAmerican), or so I hear. No soft touch he. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/38 "2008-10-17T21:24:26Z")
I think I’m in a similar position, only the issue for my father is gun control. In a way, it’s even worse, because it’s not like Obama has a super strong stance on gun control; yes, he’s more for it than McCain, but he’s not looking to overturn the second amendment or anything like that. Dad has steadfastly believed the NRA’s propaganda that basically says if Obama becomes president, nobody will be able to own a gun, eva. And it’s sad, because my Dad, too, has been staunchly Democrat for a long time. I suspect there’s an aspect of racism in his decision, but he won’t come out and say it. Either that, or as my brother says, he’s getting soft in the head. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/39 "2008-10-17T21:32:46Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The Nazarene’s running things now, and he’s a soft touch. Why, once he comped meals for FIVE THOUSAND GUYS (and their wives and kids!) who didn’t have the sense to pack so much as a granola bar when they knew they were going to be out all day. Fucking socialist. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414/40 "2008-10-17T21:52:32Z")
The Arch-Nutbag Loan, who I mentioned in reference to you a while back, would attempt to do great works of Black Magic in hopes of causing natural disasters and military failures around the world in order to punish nations and governments for what he didn’t like about them. Then he’d prattle on about how these governments had “better get the message” if they wanted such things to stop. He always became greatly agitated with me when I would point out the obvious; How is any thinking person going to connect an Earth quake, storm or crashed helicopter with some unknown fuckhead’s dislike of policy X? Only a few religious nutbags do such things and they usually attribute such things to God (which you ain’t), and to their Favorite Anal Fixation of Anger. And again, how is any rational person supposed to connect a storm to God’s alleged hatred of issue X? And as I point out to people who think that God is going to punish America for their FAFoA; Have you any clue what the rest of the world is like? Why do you think God would punish the US for something like that when things are so much worse in the rest of the world? (followed by little clue-in session about how bad their FAFoA is in the rest of the world compared to here, plus some other dumbfuckery in other nations). I mean, good Og man, does your father know what the Abortion situation is like in other parts of the world? Does he care what other nations do to their women, their handicapped, their protesters? Does he think that God allows them to flourish while reserving his punishments for his own worshipers? Does he think that natural disasters do not occur unless God is angry about something? I mean, were the ancient ancestors of horses, cheetahs and camels that once inhabited North America all wiped out because they were going gay? Were the Dinosaurs all wiped out because they were practicing birth control and getting funny ideas in their heads? Does he actually think that GOD created the financial crisis? What, God clouded the minds of thousands of financial sector workers to make them immensely stupid for years in order to punish this nation for abortion and homosexuality?? Really? What an incredibly cunning plan! Please, can he tell me how these things are connected to the financial markets and how exactly this punishes us for these things? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pere-the-rhymer-has-decided-to-vote-for-mccain/468414.md?page=3)