Hippy dippy liberals and their families vote for Democrats. Straight laced, creased and pressed military types and their families vote for Republicans. African Americans vote for Democrats. The very religious vote for Republicans.
We hear about the Republican and Democratic Party "bases" all the time. Those are the voters we assume are sewn up, already cast, not up for grabs. So politicians go after the swing voters: the soccer moms, the security moms, the religious minorities. These voters are fought over with a backstabbing, mud slinging ferocity that can make Mean Girls look like Holly Golightly wannabes. It's almost expected, this battle.
The problem is that "ownership" of the party base is it is a fallacy. Few people fit neatly into one category of voters and if they do, they still manage to have opinions of their own. Wow! Imagine that!
I don't fit a mold, but both parties could claim "ownership" of my vote. I'm a military brat and the spouse of a military reservist. But I'm also a highly educated professional woman. I've never been called Hippy Dippy, but angry feminist firebrand might fit nicely.
Here's the surprise for McCain and the Republican Party: there are others like me.
Even if you muzzle active duty members and scare them enough to prevent them from speaking out about their political views or support for a Democratic candidate, that doesn't mean they're going to vote for a Republican. It doesn't mean that their families will either. I witnessed this first hand this weekend.
On Sunday, I attended a barbecue put on by the Hampton Roads Veterans and Military Families for Obama in Virginia Beach. It was a smashing success, with at least 130 people attending.
The Obama campaign had a voter registration table that was hopping. Delegate Joe Bouchard, Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf (immediately above), and Congressional Candidate Glenn Nye (top of page) all spoke about the need for change and fired up the crowd.
Not to malign the wonderful words spoken by the politicians, but it wasn't hard to motivate this crowd. Change in our current political path is crucial if our military, veterans, and military families are going to receive the care and support they need. Everyone at the BBQ understood that implicitly. (Well, except maybe H&H. They were more concerned with obtaining a continuous supply of cheese puffs and juice boxes.)
Let's take a look at the Obama and McCain records on military issues:*
*Voting records taken from Congressional information compiled on Think Progress and Stand Up for Veterans, an advocacy campaign of the Disabled American Veterans. Hat tip to Stephanie Schiffman Marushia from Hampton Roads Veterans and Military Families for Obama.
For me, and for many military families, its clear that McCain is all talk and no action when it comes to his "support" for the men and women serving in the military.
The Republicans won't own us this November because they don't support us.
If this little guy ends up in the military in 19 years, I want to make damn sure that our government is going to take care of him and his family, no matter what.
Stephanie is a devoted viewer of C-Span, writes about politics at MOMocrats, and also writes about things non-political at her personal blog, Lawyer Mama. Oh, OK. Sometimes she writes about political stuff there too. Can you ever get too much?
You can view more photos from the BBQ on Stephanie's Flickr stream.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=amukRM9SSoo