re: #132 KGxvi

I voted for Dole in 1996 because I didn’t know any better (we were Republicans and we voted for Republicans because that’s what Republicans do), even though I remember asking my mom, “why aren’t we voting for Clinton if he did a good job?” and she was just flabbergasted that I’d even ask.

In 2000, I supported McCain in the primary and then voted Libertarian because I wasn’t impressed by either Gore or Bush. 2004, I was again fairly agnostic and voted third party again, a protest vote. I’d voted for Democrats at the state level by that point, including Fienstien. In 2008, I really liked Obama, but I think I voted third party for the last time at the presidential level (I knew by election day that Obama was going to win, and I liked him, but I still wasn’t sure about the Democratic Party writ large).

Basically for most of that decade I felt like one party deserved for lose and the other didn’t deserve to win. The Dems have gotten better, I think, or maybe the GOP has just gotten that much worse.

I think the Dems have improved whilt the GOP has gotten worse. Granted I’m biased. I really wish I could talk to my Dad’s Dad. I found an old professional biography of his father that said his father (my great grandfather) was a Republican. Dad’s Dad was a dyed in the wool liberal Democrat. So I’m curious how he came to be that way since I heard from a cousin of my Dad’s on his mom’s side that Dad’s other grandfather apparently hated Harry Truman but a lot of people hated Harry Truman in those days and Dad’s cousin didn’t specify if it was for liberal or conservative reasons. I do know that Dad’s mom was from a much more modest background and Irish-Catholic families in those days especially in the cities were more Dem leaning.