My fellow modelers:
Vess Irvine has come to r.m.s. with the avowed purpose of changing opinions and votes in the upcoming US Presidential elections toward John Kerry. Every fiber of his body is driven to that goal. Today I attempted to change my wife's vote away from Kerry, and I failed - completely. I write this to declare to you all that Vess was directly responsible.
First though, let me tell you about my particular situation. I live in Pennsylvania, about 15 NW of Pittsburgh. PA is one of those "swing" or "battleground" states with a closely divided electorate and 21 electoral votes. It is also one of the most tightly contested, with polls showing differences in Bush/Kerry support consistently much less than the polls' margin of error. On top of all that, my wife and I are both registered with "No Party Affiliation", making us key targets of both Republican and Democrat electioneering, with almost daily mailings, automated phone calls, and personal visits by local pols and candidates. Here - perhaps more so than just about anywhere else in the country - one vote truly can make a difference.
My wife, despite her strong support for a complete nuclear/chemical cauterization of the Middle East, was not convinced that Bush should be re-elected because of his conduct of the war. Her co-workers are obnoxious right-wingers, which adds an "I'll shut you up" factor to her choice to vote for Kerry. When driving by our polling place recently she even mentioned that she was going to vote for Kerry on November 2.
This morning, Vess posted his latest missives indicating that Republicans are automatons for not dropping their support of Bush every time a ridiculous Internet rumor starts. In the same post, he stated with absolute certainty that there is nothing that the Democrats (Kerry Edwards, or the DNC) could do that would ever cause him to drop his support for Kerry. His message truly disgusted me, and made me realize that I had to try and get my wife to change her vote for Bush.
Now, I read his message just before my wife and I left for our run of Saturday errands. In the car, I tried my best to find an opening, a position that I could use to try and change her mind. I went over her support of the President's war policy, the "Bush Doctrine", and the need to kill more of Them, but she was unyielding in her support of Kerry. I was getting desperate, afraid that my vote would be "cancelled out" by hers, and worried that I had not done enough to save my country from what I'm sure would be a disastrous future. I needed to change her mind, if for no other reason than to prevent the obvious loonies like Vess from winning. I even tried describing the types of people - Vess in particular - who were voting for Kerry. Surely she did not want these monsters running our lives?
Unfortunately, I could not win. Nothing I presented could sway her. Under no circumstances was she going to change her mind.
Just as my despair was rising, she turned and said to me, "Look, there's no way I'm going to vote for Bush. But how about this: I'll just stay home on election day and not vote."
"Fair enough", I replied.
So Vess, I hope you are proud of yourself. As of this morning, my household was planning on casting two critical, swing state, independent votes: one to George W. Bush, and one to John Kerry. Tonight, and on November 2 - as a direct result of your rabid, ridiculous, and vile postings - this household will cast only one vote, and that will be to re-elect our President. If you had just kept your mouth shut, or even shown that you were voting FOR Kerry rather than merely AGAINST Bush, I wouldn't have felt the need to challenge my wife today.
Think about it Vess. Not only did you not convince some r.m.s.'er to add their vote in for Kerry, you actually cost him a vote. This wasn't a vote in New York or Texas where the existing margins are so large that a 20% swing from today's polls STILL wouldn't make a difference. Nor was it a vote in someplace like New Mexico or West Virginia where the margin is small, but so is the number of electoral votes. No Vess, this was Pennsylvania, with a race too close to call and a decisive number of electoral votes at stake. And you blew it because you just could not sit on your hands for once and keep from typing another one of your asinine posts.
Way to go.
KL