A friend just told me that his builder, who considers himself generally conservative, is voting for Obama. The reason? A kid who works with him is a gifted carpenter. The kid was brought here as a baby without documents and so could be sent back at any time to a country he doesn’t even know. Obama passed a variation of the Dream Act and this builder things that was the right thing to do, so he’s voting for Obama.
I’ve heard it a hundred times: I was against food stamps until I met this guy and his family, really nice people, who used food stamps to get them through a rough spot. I didn’t like Mormons until I moved to AZ and worked with a lot of them…. really nice pople. I thought gays were out to convert my son until this guy at work, really nice guy, turns out he’s gay. The French always seemed effete and treacherous to me until my new next door neighbors turned out to be from France… really nice folks.
What is it about conservatives that they have to have a personal experience with someone to be fair. Until then, bigotry and ignorance are just the ticket. Ticket to what?