Swinging Grandma: Volume One.
So every time there is a debate or a big speech, MSNBC and CNN do this thing. They take some random “undecided” usually white voters, put them in a room on an awkward sofa, strap a sensor to their head, give them some Cool Ranch Doritos, and then ask them questions. It’s always exasperating, watching them parse words and declare, “I really need to know more about their positions on immigration before I make up my mind,” as if BarackObama.com and JohnMcCain.com don’t exist or as if they couldn’t just ask the 15 reporters who are poking them with sticks.
It’s even more exasperating because the conversations lack honesty. Nobody wants to go on MSNBC and say, “I’m not sure because he’s black.” Instead it’s, “I still don’t know from the debate if I can trust him to keep us safe,” etc. They don’t want to sound impolite; after all, MSNBC gave them all those Doritos.
The reality though is that there are truly undecided voters out there, plenty exist. We all have them in our families; we may even have them oh hell no! among our friends. So what do we do?
From now until Election Day I thought it might help to throw out some ideas, i.e., what strategies we’re employing to swing our fence-sitting friends and families away from the dark side. We’ll call it Swinging Grandma. First up: Claire.
THE VOICE OF REASON: Claire Cox, 28, New York, High School Teacher.
THE NON-YET-BELIEVER: Claire’s 94-year old grandmother, retired nurse, San Diego.
THE CHALLENGE: In a tight-lipped, non-confrontational family, how does Claire help swing her uncommitted Grandmother? “She’s 94,” Claire told me, “and this could be one of the last elections she votes in, so I’m not gonna waste it.”
THE APPROACH: Claire decided to write her grandmother a long, awesome letter, like she often does. She writes about her life, what she’s up to, etc. Then midway through, she goes for it, connecting what’s going on in her life to the election, and going after McCain over an issue important to her grandmother: the sad state of the middle class and the price of groceries.
THE LETTER: Here is the election part of Claire’s letter.
“…And I always feel intense when there’s an election. Four years ago was such a disappointment – we went knocking on doors and made tons of phone calls, and we had, I believe, the highest voter turnout our Philadelphia precinct ever recorded – and Kerry lost. Four years later, the situation seems more dire than ever. The country’s in debt up to its eyeballs; the middle class is shrinking, and I feel no closer to entering it than I did when I was on food stamps; people everywhere are losing their homes to foreclosure and can’t afford gas or groceries; our schools are pitifully under-funded. I hope I’m not crossing a line here by talking politics, but honestly? John McCain and Sarah Palin scare me to my core. He’s a mean-spirited, petty double-talker who lies through his teeth, and she can’t name a single newspaper she reads or a single Supreme Court case, other than Roe v. Wade, that she has an opinion on. Her experience is embarrassingly minimal. She did not give one straight answer to Charlie Gibson or Katie Couric in those TV interviews, not one. (The idea of Palin as President is…absolutely chilling.) It’s like she thinks it’s a big joke. They are the opposite of inspiring. I was inspired when I watched Obama’s speech at the convention in August. In tears. I have never, ever, in my life, felt this way about a person running for office. I know they end up disappointing us on some level or another, but no one has ever come close to truly inspiring me about our country and its possibilities.”
PINKO ANALYSIS: Very smart! It’s not quite “do this for me Grandma,” but that’s implied. It’s passionate, personal, respectful, and short. It’s far more reasonable than that time I asked my mom how she would feel if my sister got raped and had to pay for the rape kit. DON’T DO THAT. Claire spoke truth to Grandma.
WILL GRANDMA SWING: Well, fortunately, she’s in San Diego, so it’s a pretty blue state. But still. We think the odds are good! Claire will update us on November 5th.
Suggestions? Would you do anything different?
About The Author - Ben Wyskida is a writer, activist, conscientious hedonist and political communications strategist living in Brooklyn. - Visit Ben's site.
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I would go to grandma’s house and sneak up on her and give her a heart attack so at least there is no chance she MIGHT vote for McCain.
Sorry, Claire. Maybe I’m just projecting my relatives on you.
lol… yikes.
I wouldn’t advocate killing anyone’s grandma over this. Although, if McCain is elected his healthcare plan will kill a whole ton of grandmas…
Seriously though with his health care plan … yikes.
I told my mom (an Ohio Republican) that it would be a betrayal of everything she ever taught me to vote for John McCain. It’s sort of working.
My grandparents live in Vermont, so even though they are crazy and possibly racist and seriously conservative I just tell myself it doesn’t matter because they are outnumbered. Their votes don’t count!
I always find that it pays off big when you stop talking about the personalities of the candidates and actually stick to issues. Where I live attacking Sarah Palin for not knowing anything about Supreme Court rulings or the Bush doctrine doesn’t hold any water. Yes I agree that it really should mean something, but to many it backfires as a personal attack on them and their way of life. Telling them that McCain voted against providing health care for their 3 year old grandson whose mother works 2 jobs and goes to school however can be very effective.
Go, grandkids, go!! I may never know how my grandma votes - she doesn’t usually share that kind of thing - and knowing her, she won’t respond directly to my little missive. But I *think* it’ll matter to her, even if she doesn’t say so. Maybe it’ll even trickle into a conversation with one of the Republican biddies in her old folks’ trailer park. Thanks for posting, Ben!!
Great idea!! I gotta think about how to talk to my Republican brother-in-law. Trouble is, I talk politics with him all the time — for the last 8 years — and I’m not sure it’s been effective. But it’s just that I feel he’s been evolving over the years that this election may be the one where he votes Democratic. I remember how he said in 2005, “George Bush is turning into a worse President than John Kerry would’ve been.”
Wait, my brother in law has two families? My sister is going to be PISSED!
Gawd I love this blog. I quoted exactly how I feel by emailing my Wisconsin kin (I’m originally from WI, and am the only one, including extended family, to live in IL) a link to this blog post.
I’ve always been very vocal in my political feelings when visiting them, and I love “tweaking” them into a lively political discussion. My always-Republican father told me (finally) only a year ago that he “was beginning to not like Bush so much anymore”.
[...] got a lot of thoughtful comments and ideas about Claire’s challenge turning her 94-year old Republican-leaning grandmother blue, politically speaking. Pinko reader and [...]
I nagged my pop by email to do something in Florida (where he lives) or Ohio (where he’s from). I never heard back from him. But, I found out on Sunday that he spent last week tracking down people with rejected voter registrations in South Florida. There were 1800 dems and independents rejected since Jan 1st this year. 500 in the past month. I’m not sure if that’s from all of Dade County, or just his corner of it. But, go pop!
[...] week we started a good discussion with the story of Claire and her campaign to swing her grandmother from an undecided or possible McCain v… into the Obama camp. Her tactic was to send a warm, heartfelt letter and use part of it to talk [...]
I am a grandma who is very liberal and always have been, and one things I say to other grandmas I know who are on the fence is for them to think of their vote as a vote for their grandchildren’s future and vote Democrat because their platform will do more for the environment, healthcare for their grandkids, and education. Talk to them about how the Democrats will address how kids can’t afford to go to college, and now only the wealthy can go to college. Tell them that if they want their grandkids to get a living wage with benefits that it is mandatory to vote for Democrats. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. As a Grandma, my vote is forward thinking to try my best to ensure that the world I leave my grandkids is one where the environment is protected, government serves the people, not the corporate sector and where all young people have a chance at the American Dream, not just the heirs of the wealthy.
YYYYEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH! Just got off the phone with Grandma. Turns out she’s been for Obama the whole time.