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Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Sun Topics
Beyond the Sun
After the bickering among stylists over John McCain and Barack Obama became so heated at a beauty salon, the shop was declared a politics-free zone.
At family gatherings, Jill Jasienki, 51, a mother of three, says, she’s had to put the kibosh on many a discussion between her teenage children (Go Obama!) and their grandparents (Go McCain!).
When a weekly gathering of Catholics in a Henderson home turned to how they would apply their Christian values on election day, backs stiffened and voices were raised when the members realized they were at odds with one another.
Debate over who should be our next president seems to have usurped the conversation in all areas of life: work, church, school, hockey practice, even couples counseling. And with the hot-button issues of race, gender and class warfare injected into the rhetoric, tensions surrounding this election may have eclipsed those of previous campaign seasons.
A New York Times poll this week found that opinions about the presidential candidates had hardened and a good number say it’s “extremely important” that their candidate win. Pollsters don’t measure intensity per se, but they do ask about “enthusiasm” and whether a voter is “paying close attention,” political consultant Dotty Lynch said, and on both of those measures 2008 rates historically high.
The yin to enthusiasm’s yang, though, is often exasperation and tense frustration — particularly when someone doesn’t share your view. It can get ugly.
At the Euphoria beauty salon in Henderson, politics might be off limits for employees, but the waiting area is still ripe for clients to go at it.
Assistant manager Priscilla Noble said a few weeks ago that one conversation about the election between two clients started friendly enough but soon turned hot.
“Luckily, one woman got called back for her appointment,” Noble said.
Some people are so passionate, they are eager to confront total strangers.
Bengy Gardner, 72. is such a dedicated Republican — he wears a worn McCain sticker on his shirt every day — that he campaigns on the 107 bus as it goes down Boulder Highway.
“I have conversations with everybody,” he said, leaning in real close and demonstrating a little of the forceful body language he presumably uses when talking politics.
His entreaties to people he thinks are Obama supporters often begin: “I’m voting for McCain. Who are you voting for?” He then launches into why it’s wrong to vote for anyone other than a Republican. Hostility normally ensues.
It’s one thing to disagree with a stranger on a bus about politics, quite another when you share a bed.
Jessica Cronin and her partner have acknowledged the political gap separating them is too wide to bridge, and have agreed to not talk politics, period. She said she also avoids the topic with her Democratic friends, lest someone throw something at her.
“All my friends are gay, so when I say I’m Republican, they all immediately go: ‘What’s wrong with you?’ ” Cronin said.
Even small church groups centered on sharing in a friendly environment aren’t immune to political bluster. Diane Hutton, 49, said the Catholic gathering she hosts weekly turned unusually edgy when the night’s program introduced politics.
The participants turned aggressive and assertive in taking their positions.
“This was the first time in our history, I believe, you could actually feel the tension,” she said, noting the group has known each other for years.
The session ran an hour longer than normal, and Hutton said people became stiff, their tone of voice changed and she could see in their fidgety body language they were uncomfortable. A couple of them sat back and didn’t say anything at all, with one telling Hutton she was just too intimidated to participate.
“We were only talking about politics because of the election,” she said. “Normally we steer clear of that.”
It’s enough to make one wonder: Is there a pill for this?
Jane Cisneros said she used to hate it when her fiance talked about politics, but now she can’t get enough information about what she calls “the most important election of my lifetime.” She said she practically mainlines conservative AM radio and is consumed with fear about what an Obama administration would mean for the country. Her anxiety sent her to the doctor.
“I’m not easily rattled. And I’m rattled,” she said. “I haven’t slept in three weeks.”
Michael DePriest, a psychiatrist with a private practice, said a good portion of his clients are using their therapy sessions to talk about the election.
“People feel helpless about a lot of issues, and the election is their one chance to have some kind of impact on their worries,” he said.
So people are taking opposing views personally — a vote against their candidate is like a vote against the solution they want for tangible woes, such as a home foreclosure.
He said one couple sought help coping with the friction of volunteering for opposing campaigns.
It’s easy to be sick of the whole thing.
On the comment board on the Sun Web site, one reader wrote about others turning every seemingly innocuous story into vitriolic political argument.
“Enough already,” user lvmachead wrote. “What are you going to do next Wednesday? Maybe get a life?”
One thing people in Las Vegas should think about before voting: Who keeps you employed??? If Obama gets his way and raises taxes for higher income people those people will not spend as much in Las Vegas...............simple math. By the way Obama said taxes will go up for those at 250,000.00 and up, his infomercial said 200,000.00, Joe Biden said 150,000.00 and the governor of mexico in an opening for Obama said 120,000,00. scary to say the least. The bottom line is those who make more money spend more in our restuarants, shops, shops, cleaners, decorating,and casinos Think hard Nevada!
People really have no idea what they are doing, do they? Everyone wants to turn this into a grudge match for their petty little issues. Get over it. We'll all still be here Wednesday.
I work in a small ad agency.
This past week my company has received 10 orders for first quarter ad purchases. Seven of them were slashed from previous orders. It's my job to call our customers and try to get those numbers up. Every one of those customers was not slashing their company's spending because their revenues are decreasing. They are making cutbacks in all of their spending because they have to prepare for the massive new business taxes that Obama is proposing.
My agency will have to lay off people, those 7 companies are all planning either lay offs or they won't be filling slots that become empty. They are cutting holiday bonuses. Some are thinking of simply closing their doors, one said he's just going to retire early, because they just can't afford to do business if the cost of doing business includes being so heavily taxed.
Soaking the rich sounds great, but I have just had a week of listening to those "rich" and let me tell you people, we are all going to get soaked if Barack Obama is elected.
In reading the article this morning, I wondered about one commenter in it. Jane Cisneros seems to believe that if Obama wins, her life as she knows it will come to an end. First, I am an Obama supporter and don't believe that if McCain wins he will do a better job of righting the economy and other issues important to Americans but if he does win I'm going to be disappointed that Obama didn't win but my hope will be that he will do better than I thought pre-election. The point is I don't think if he wins my country will go down the tubes. For any voter whether he be for Obama or McCain, I assume that will be their general response if their candidate isn't elected. To make Obama out to be someone to fear is mystifying to me.
"I work in a small ad agency... blah blah blah..."
The problem isn't any new taxes, Einstein. The problem is recovering from the worst president in our history, who sits on your side of the aisle.
Why don't you go have a cigarette Virginia? For like the next eight freekin' years, at least! Okay?
Um, "joinamerica"? "[T]he rich" don't make phone calls. They pay people to do that.
No one's buying your BS, in case you were wondering.
Oh and just to reiterate what johnevegas said, BUSH is president right now and BUSH is the one who is presiding over one of the WORST ECONOMIES in my 48 years on this planet.
What are you twenty-something? Get back to us when you have a life experience that includes more than answering phones, 'k?
Okay Patricia. I get it! It's Clinton's bad influence they are really afraid of. I think this explains it...
http://www.hulu.com/watch/11740/family-g...
LMAO! That's it!
You know, I've said for a long time that they've blamed everything (including "original sin") on someone named "Clinton".
I just encountered another one on another board ..... they have crawled out of the woodwork. I hope they're at least being paid.
(insert 'rolling eyes' icon here)
LOL.
The funnier thing is if Obama is elected, how long will it take for republicans to start blaming him for problems?
I'm just wondering if problems will only exist in Clinton's presidency and Obama's?
Obama has already started to make excuses for not fulfilling all the promises that he has made.
On Nov 5th, the news media will immediately downplay what he can accomplish.
In 2010 and 2011/2012, the media will go into hyper mode to cover for a failed Obama presidency and will generate a ton of excuses to cover his butt.
Even Nance has stopped drinking the McCain/Palin kool-aid and is assuming an Obama presidency.
Must be sad when you can't even believe in the candidate you support.
Nance "Obama has already started to make excuses for not fulfilling all the promises that he has made."
Hey nance, did you see that guy on the Daily Show explaining how Obama was a Community Organizer and that being a Community Organizer was a stepping stone to being a terrorist or crack dealer? The really funny part was how that rhetoric so insulted a local Community Organizer (who was also Republican) that she decided to vote for Obama instead.
This is what you have done for our side nance. And we want to thank you for it. We want you to know that your incendiary lies about Obama and the monstrous statements you've been making have had the opposite effect from what you intended.
You must have forgotten that most people, regardless of your personal opinion, do in fact think for themselves. Sure, they might be fooled by your goofy statistics about taxes and whose wealthy and whose needy and such, but when you start whining like a little boy and saying really dumb things, people tend to notice that.
As we near judgment day, and I watch you become more and more surly as you realize your impending defeat, I just want you to know how much I appreciate everything you've done to help our side and how much you must be suffering. In fact, the suffering part is freekin' awesome!