Primarily Speaking
I had the oddest conversation with my mother last weekend when I visited my parents near Toledo. A Republican all during my childhood and teen years, she’s been more and more vocal the last few years about her support for abortion, her dismay at Rush and his clones’ takeover of AM radio stations whose genial on-air local personalities she used to enjoy, and a burgeoning dislike for George Bush and his crowd. She can’t stand to be in the same room with my dad when he’s watching O’Reilly on Fox.
We were out for a walk on Sunday - her longest by far since her soujourn in the ICU over New Year’s. We passed a lot of yard signs importuning voters in the Ohio Primary coming up last Tuesday, and I asked her if she was leaning towards either of the Democratic candidates. I was taken aback a little when she said she couldn’t vote for them because she’d have to register as a Democrat to do so. I asked her if she was still registered as a Republican, and she said seh was. I told her there was no harm in registering as a Democrat just for this election, but she seemed oddly reluctant to consider it.
I asked her if she could think of any Republicans that she liked, and she answered “no” without any hesitation, but there must be some psychological barrier, some catch in the throat about cutting that final thread. I haven’t had a chance to ask her what she ended up doing on Tuesday.
