Here’s a lesson in civility for the rest of us.
Ben Glickler and Amy Weathers are married. They’re both Democrats. They live under the same roof.
While one supports Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential race, the other supports Republican John McCain. Their story can be found today in the Las Cruces Sun-News, along with a fascinating photo of the two crouching behind their respective candidate’s yard signs in front of their
Weathers told the newspaper the two have “a friendly rivalry.” While Glickler said he’s a “liberal hawk,” Weathers said she “wasn’t necessarily against the war, but against the way it’s played out.”
So they find common ground, according to the newspaper, in social issues, and they remember “that neither candidate is the caricature — good or bad — that sound bites make them out to be.”
“I’m not going to come out and say, ‘Obama’s a terrorist.’ I’m going to look at what he’s saying, where he is politically,” the Sun-News quoted Glickler as saying. “A lot of the time, it takes just a little bit of research. There’s no reason for anybody to believe that Obama’s a Muslim or that McCain’s a fascist.”
The last quote in the article is a gem:
“My parents often say, ‘Why do you guys vote? Because you just cancel each other out!’ But that’s just one race out of a slew of races in November,” the newspaper quoted Weathers as saying. “That’s something that keeps us together, is that we’re involved and that’s what’s important.”
I agree.