18th October 2008
Ruth wrote: (to my Regional Field Organizer)
Graham, I might have to shoot Bob if he doesn't shut up. Is that OK?
Graham wrote:
Hahahaha, go for it.
Converted Republicans are like Evangelicals. They have been born again. They are still shaking and traumatized from birth, but even weakened and vulnerable, they have seen the light! Obama is our Savior! The rest of us must bow down in gratitude, weep and Spread His Word.
Converted Republicans are more important than the rest of us as they have been saved In This Lifetime, and therefore It Is A Miracle. Converted Republicans never shut the fuck up.
Working with Converted Republicans is very trying.
David used to be a Republican. David did three tours of Iraq. Now David likes to talk loudly about 'those Arab bastards' in Palestine, how he agrees with Amendment 48, the attempt to define a person as an embryo at the moment of fertilization, and how his family has given loads of money to the IRA and hate the Brits, except me, as I appeased him by saying once, when drunk, we should just give Northern Ireland back to the Irish. David has a rotten, rotten bowel problem, and when not proselytizing about Israel or Ireland, David is farting. Foul, obnoxious stenches that crawl into your lungs and destroy the bronchioles with ruthless efficiency.
There are many more. It is a constant source of amazement to me that the office runs as smoothly as it does considering we have all these patently insane characters residing in it inflicted with verbal diarrhea, but it does. We had a guy walk in the office this week, stand by the desk and yell loudly:
"Listen up people.I'm gonna get on my soapbox for a second, and I want y'all to listen and understand exactly what you're doing."
We all looked at each other. I really thought the dude was a crazy Palin supporter and was going to shoot us all, but then he started talking, telling us how he'd lost his job at Enron, he couldn't get another, he got hit with crazy medical bills for his mentally disabled son, he lost his home.... by the end of it we were all weeping, until the dude left, and David snorted derisively. "Fuckin' nutjob.". David farted as if to punctuate the point, and we all trundled outside to wait for the smell to pass, and the moment had gone.
The days are getting longer, we're all getting tireder. How can you get complacent after New Hampshire? We were told to make sure we weren't late to the office today, and at 9am we had our usual conference call with the other field organizers in the Denver area, when a familiar voice chimed in - it was Senator Obama. The entire office just froze, and he talked to us for about 20 minutes, thanking us for our work, and saying that this was the best-organized campaign in American political history, but we couldn't get complacent.... It was pretty awesome, very emotional. That would be my key word for this campaign: emotional. Listening to people's stories all day is heartbreaking. I went to a debate party to recruit volunteers and voters the other day, organized by the local Dems and this large lady called Rose stood up and told us how she used to be the lawyer for that girl in Abu Ghraib, and she supported Obama because she was so disillusioned with civil liberties in the US. I think she's probably one of the only people in the US who actually read the entire Patriot Act.
We're all tired and broken and exhausted. Not winning is not an option, but we keep needing to dredge the very last vestiges of energy to keep going until midnight every night, especially when we're all wallowing in snot and flu. I've started finding new projects to keep my energy up - like organizing a women's night to educate women about issues on the ballot this year that will affect them and Obama's policies towards women. I've been working with NARAL on this loosely - campaign rules mean we can't be seen to condemn or endorse a ballot initiative so our conversations have to be these weird coded things - but they've been pretty awesome. Colorado is a crazy state, make no mistake. Focus on the Family is only a half hour away from here in CO Springs.....
Back to phone-banking
Graham, I might have to shoot Bob if he doesn't shut up. Is that OK?
Graham wrote:
Hahahaha, go for it.
Converted Republicans are like Evangelicals. They have been born again. They are still shaking and traumatized from birth, but even weakened and vulnerable, they have seen the light! Obama is our Savior! The rest of us must bow down in gratitude, weep and Spread His Word.
Converted Republicans are more important than the rest of us as they have been saved In This Lifetime, and therefore It Is A Miracle. Converted Republicans never shut the fuck up.
Working with Converted Republicans is very trying.
David used to be a Republican. David did three tours of Iraq. Now David likes to talk loudly about 'those Arab bastards' in Palestine, how he agrees with Amendment 48, the attempt to define a person as an embryo at the moment of fertilization, and how his family has given loads of money to the IRA and hate the Brits, except me, as I appeased him by saying once, when drunk, we should just give Northern Ireland back to the Irish. David has a rotten, rotten bowel problem, and when not proselytizing about Israel or Ireland, David is farting. Foul, obnoxious stenches that crawl into your lungs and destroy the bronchioles with ruthless efficiency.
There are many more. It is a constant source of amazement to me that the office runs as smoothly as it does considering we have all these patently insane characters residing in it inflicted with verbal diarrhea, but it does. We had a guy walk in the office this week, stand by the desk and yell loudly:
"Listen up people.I'm gonna get on my soapbox for a second, and I want y'all to listen and understand exactly what you're doing."
We all looked at each other. I really thought the dude was a crazy Palin supporter and was going to shoot us all, but then he started talking, telling us how he'd lost his job at Enron, he couldn't get another, he got hit with crazy medical bills for his mentally disabled son, he lost his home.... by the end of it we were all weeping, until the dude left, and David snorted derisively. "Fuckin' nutjob.". David farted as if to punctuate the point, and we all trundled outside to wait for the smell to pass, and the moment had gone.
The days are getting longer, we're all getting tireder. How can you get complacent after New Hampshire? We were told to make sure we weren't late to the office today, and at 9am we had our usual conference call with the other field organizers in the Denver area, when a familiar voice chimed in - it was Senator Obama. The entire office just froze, and he talked to us for about 20 minutes, thanking us for our work, and saying that this was the best-organized campaign in American political history, but we couldn't get complacent.... It was pretty awesome, very emotional. That would be my key word for this campaign: emotional. Listening to people's stories all day is heartbreaking. I went to a debate party to recruit volunteers and voters the other day, organized by the local Dems and this large lady called Rose stood up and told us how she used to be the lawyer for that girl in Abu Ghraib, and she supported Obama because she was so disillusioned with civil liberties in the US. I think she's probably one of the only people in the US who actually read the entire Patriot Act.
We're all tired and broken and exhausted. Not winning is not an option, but we keep needing to dredge the very last vestiges of energy to keep going until midnight every night, especially when we're all wallowing in snot and flu. I've started finding new projects to keep my energy up - like organizing a women's night to educate women about issues on the ballot this year that will affect them and Obama's policies towards women. I've been working with NARAL on this loosely - campaign rules mean we can't be seen to condemn or endorse a ballot initiative so our conversations have to be these weird coded things - but they've been pretty awesome. Colorado is a crazy state, make no mistake. Focus on the Family is only a half hour away from here in CO Springs.....
Back to phone-banking
MIMI IN NY | 10:30 AM |
