"We're voting for the..." (political-ish)

[Liar]

So there's this little story bouncing around in the blogosphere right now, as well as on some smaller mainstream news sites. Haven't found any confirming or debunking of it yet, and lots of different claims "it happened to a friend of a friend of theirs", which is the way those things always spread.

But anyway, I found it slightly amusing.

So a canvasser goes to a woman’s door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she’s planning to vote for. She isn’t sure, has to ask her husband who she’s voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, “We’re votin’ for the nigger!”

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: “We’re voting for the nigger.”

Does this mean Obama's got the casuallly racist vote? Or that some smartass found out the best way to get the canvassers to stop bothering them?

And what does it say about me that what irks me most about the story is not the n-word but that the woman asked her husband who "they were voting for"?

 

[matriarch]

Indeed.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

And what does it say about me that what irks me most about the story is not the n-word but that the woman asked her husband who "they were voting for"?

It says that you're a Swede. I reacted to that line too.

 

[Katyusha]

It says that you're a Swede. I reacted to that line too.

So did I.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I'm pretty sure this is more or less out of the old "All In The Family" TV show-- Archie was a bigot with a heart of gold, and Edith was just that little bit dimmer than he was.

For many Americans, it's kinda like comfort food. And by god we need some comfort right now!

 

[starrkers]

Many years ago I was canvassing with an anti-nuclear petition. The area I covered was an interesting mix of some of the oldest and flashest houses in town, and some of the lowest cost public housing.

In one of the toffee-nosed houses, I was invited inside by the wife (it was an incredibly cold day) and left just inside the door for the dog to sniff while she sought her husband's advice. She never came back. He ordered me out of his house, accusing me of all kinds of communism while wearing an expression that suggested I was sullying his foyer. The dog approved of me.
In the next street a man had to "check with the cook" before he was allowed to sign.

It's a funny old world.

 

[Weird Harold]

And what does it say about me that what irks me most about the story is not the n-word but that the woman asked her husband who "they were voting for"?

It says that you're reacting just the people circulating that "redneck story" want you to react -- "Obana supporters are idiots."

I can think of several reasons for one spouse to ask the other who they're voting for.

It often stems from a desire not to waste their votes by slitting the household's votes -- especially if one spouse is passionate about a candidate or cause and the other isn't.

Or, it stems from the reality behind the redneck stereotype of a wife not bright or assertive enough to make up her own mind, and I've known more than one couple where the wife's vote is determined by the husband for a wide variety of reasons including religion, sexism, actual limited mental capacity, submissive wife, etc, etc.