Like everyone in my purple state of Virginia, I have friends, acquaintances, and business colleagues of both Democratic and Republican bent, liberal and conservative. Now most but by no means all of my personal friends share my liberal Democratic views, but the majority of my business colleagues are Republicans.
Thursday night at a business function, one of those Republican businessfolk told me his story about election night. I knew he was no Obama fan, and perhaps a drinker of the Fox Juice, so I was interested and ultimately amused at his tale. Follow over the squiggle....
He started telling me this out of the blue, which made it even more delicious. Here's how it went, more or less:
Him: So on election night, a bunch of us went over to my neighbors house, we had a bunch of whiskey, some fireworks, we were ready for a big party.
Me: So you expected Romney to win?
Him: Exactly!
Me: Well, I guess it was a pretty disappointing night for you. And to lose by such a blowout as well.
Him: Yes, and George Allen lost too, we were all surprised.
Now here's where it got good for me, and I was gentle, remember this is a business function:
Me: But Bob (not his real name), how could you have expected Romney to win? All the reputable polling showed him getting beaten decisively.
Him: I just couldn't believe that people would vote for four more years of "that". He (Obama) wants to take over and spend all our money like a drunken sailor. (Note that he did not address the polling question.)
Me: Bob, how do you "know" what Obama wants to do? In any event, the Congress appropriates funds - he can't spend what he doesn't have. It's just like people were saying that Obama was going to take away their guns - and look how that turned out. Don't be too depressed about this - after all, if we could get through 8 years of Bush, you can get through 8 years of Obama.
The conversation went on, but here's why I was so glad to have this conversation with a true believer. I had frankly been skeptical that there were a lot of people who REALLY thought Romney was going to win, in spite of the social media angst on the Wednesday after the election, but now I see that there probably were. Why?
1. All of us feel to one degree or another that "reasonable people will think like me". Since my buddy Bob considers himself a reasonable person, he assumed that most (50% +1) people would see the world the way he does.
2. Most people gravitate towards other people and news sources that reinforce their worldview. In Bob's case, his choices of MSM did not contain the information like we got with 538 and Kos. Trust me, if Romney were ahead in the polling, 538 would have reported it without bias.
3. Obama is still the "other". Bob, the generic Republican, still does not see him as a legitimate President, therefore, he "must" have hidden goals and ultimately be working against Bob's self-interest. In my opinion this is 50% racism, 25% xenophobia, and 25% party bias.
So I had my moment of schadenfreude - realizing that a great number of my friends ACTUALLY BELIEVED what the Fox Mountain was pushing - that they had it in the bag. How crushing could it have been? After all, we had a very good feeling (if not relative certainty) that Obama would be reelected, and if he had lost, it would have been by fraud.
Glad to be a member of the reality based community!!
6:50 AM PT: Whew! First time on the rec list! Thanks, Kossacks! As is common here (because we have common sense?) the comments are really better than the diary itself!