From the female perspective

I had a long conversation with my brother's wife tonight and talk turned to politics. [Me talk about politics? Who knew!] I had never really asked her about her political views, but since she has lived in Texas most of her life, and she is a very independent & self-reliant person I thought she would vote for Bush. I was not only right, but the conversation became much more animated. hooah!

She doesn't consider herself to be a political person and if there were a third party candidate with a clue she might consider them. For her, the choice is obvious. Bush is actively fighting for America. Though there may have been mistakes, they get corrected and drive on with the mission. Bush has done a lot for the agriculture industry. Which is important to her as they live on a small ranch and raise horses. As a taxpayer with 3 children living at home, they got a great tax cut. She laughed when I told her that being a taxpayer made her one of the "rich", at least that's how Kerry sees it.

I next asked her why the strong emotion against Kerry. My sweet, innocent (well not too innocent, she has had 3 cute girls after all) sister-in-law, who doesn't consider herself to be political and doesn't follow the news close, nails Kerry. "He's a pompous ass who tries to be the common guy, but usually comes off as a blowhard." "He blames others for failure yet offers no solution." "Wasn't he in the Senate? Didn't he have a chance to do something? What has he done? Nothing!" "Why does he keep bringing up Vietnam? Wasn't that 30 years ago. I heard that things have changed since then." That was my favorite one.

My sister-in-law is the definition of east Texas hick [I hope she doesn't slap me the next time we're down there]. She probably weighs all of 100lbs, manages the horses by herself (usually) with 3 kids (4, 5 and 7) around. She thinks nothing of jumping out of the Gator to get it out of the mud and only afterwards does she realize that she's wearing her good shoes. She could spot Kerry pompousness from half a country away. I'm glad she's a part of the family.

Since my brother and his family live in strongly Republican Texas, the Kerry campaign shouldn't be too threatened by losing their vote. However, there are people in every state that make their living growing things. Many of them think the same way. Kerry doesn't know an assault weapon if it was handed to him. He has already lost the hunters and anyone who grew up hunting. He lost sports fans by flubbing throws [and blaming the catcher who was in military uniform!], missing sports trivia, misnaming Lambeau Field and blaming a Secret Service agent when he fell on the slopes. Kerry thinks the environment is for skiing and wind-surfing. He won't even fess up to owning SUV's.

I wonder which party will pick up the slack after the Dem's fiasco in November?