My husband has a friend who's a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat—a staunch union advocate, someone who associates the GOP with society's elites. He's had a troubled relationship with his party for years, especially when it was pushing hard for gun control in the 1990s. But on the whole he's been remarkably loyal. He despised Gore for the phony he was, and swore he wouldn't vote for him. But at the last minute he found himself at the polls pulling the level for Albert, Jr., with a heavy heart.

He's voting for Bush this year.

Why? Well, for one thing, he was in an army LRRP unit in Vietnam, and got wounded. When they offered him a purple heart, he refused it: in his mind, purple hearts were reserved for those who got badly wounded—shot up so much they needed surgery to survive. People who suffered, not people who got scratches. And for another thing, as an anti-elitist he despises the fact that officers can recommend themselves to receive decorations for valor—and enlisted men cannot. The fact that Kerry took advantage of this inequity disgusts him.

And Kerry's actions when he returned from the war do not help at all.

But most of all, our friend is convinced that we are locked in a mortal conflict with an enemy who wants to kill us, and we need someone decisive at the helm. Someone who really wants to win this war, rather than hold summits.

Kerry's history, and what it says about his character, doesn't help. But mostly, our friend wants the guy who's willing to do what it takes to protect this country.

So he's holding his nose and voting for Bush.

And he won't be the only one: there are plenty of Democrats who feel the same way. They may not proclaim it loudly right now, but in a week they'll let their ballots do the talking.

Remember the "Reagan Democrats"? They're back.

Posted by: Attila at 04:41 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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