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He was staring at me. I finally realized he was actually staring at the "Christians for Kerry" button I was wearing. He asked how I thought Kerry was doing. I told him I thought the Dems were more organized this time, and that it was going to take work but it looked pretty good.
He confided that he was leaning Kerry. His concerns were numerous: the war in Iraq, the deficit, outsourcing (he'd been hit personally by that one), privatization of Soc. Sec., Income Tax flat rate that would mean the poor would pay when now they get tax credits for school and rent. He didn't like Cheney and Rumsfeld. He also didn't like that the rich were paying less, and didn't balk when I explained what Kerry wanted to do. He nodded in agreement that the rich should lose some breaks, the middle could stay the same, and the poor could get some breaks so that we could beef the middle back up again.
We talked for a while about what a real Republican was and how Bush wasn't it. This guy was more of a Reagan Republican. Though I didn't agree with Reagan either, at least he was an honest-to-God fiscal conservative. And he had charisma the way Clinton does on our side. I had to admit it messed me up a bit seeing Nancy so broken up at the funeral (hell, I admit it, I'm a sap. I couldn't even stand to see Nixon blubbering over Pat's coffin.)
I think it made him feel better to see my button, and also when I told him he was not the only Republican I knew who was voting Kerry. He said he was not looking forward to the next holiday family get together though. He didn't think they'd react well when they found out who he'd voted for.
It was good to talk to a moderate Republican face to face.
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