Victor Bremson's Reflections

I got into a conversation in a hotel bar in Sacramento last night with an alien (just kidding) from a Red State who voted for George Bush. He allowed me to ask him questions about how he thought. We talked for over 15 minutes. I thought about asking him if I could do an autopsy but I think that would have been pushing it to far.

Who is he?

Male, 35 years, wife, 2 children, accounting text salesman, middle income, Protestant but does not attend church. Hunter and gun owner. Describes himself as a libertarian. Voted for Clinton. Gets his news from the internet like the Drudge Report and the NY Times.

What are his basic beliefs?

Pro-life. Believes Abortion is murder.
Outraged at partial birth abortion.
Believes some cases such as rape, incest, life of mother deserves special circumstances.
Anti-taxes. Believes American’s pay too much taxes. Furious at the State of New York because he needed to pay them a $9 tax in order to register his car in Ohio. It had something to do with not being able to get auto insurance in Ohio.
Believes liberals are elitists who just don’t get it.
Hates the State of Israel. Blames our policies towards Israel on most of our problems in the Middle East. Would give the land to the Palestinians. Believes Jews stole the land.
Not anti-Semitic, has Arab friends.
Sort of supports our invasion of Iraq but seemed not totally sure.
Seemed to be tolerant towards homosexuality.
Believes CNN and Fox News sort of cancel each other out.

On Kerry and Bush.

Has what he calls the Memorial Day Picnic rule. Presidents are chosen by whom most people would be comfortable with at a Memorial Day Picnic.
Didn’t like the fact that Kerry was not consistent on his position on the war.
Actually said he could support Dean easier because he knew where Dean stood.
Was not willing to believe that Bush lied on WMD. Bush believed the bad information.
Dan Rather and CBS lied. He was quite sure of that.
Believes that Kerry would have raised his taxes. Don’t trust Democrats on taxes.

Trying to Find the Middle Ground.

I tried to find a middle ground with him on the issue of our children. I said I wish that people who voted for Bush were as concerned about education, healthcare and childcare for all our children as they were for the unborn. He said he was sorry that he needed to go the bathroom and left.

Victor Bremson

April 28, 2005