<p>Out of curiosity, any bi-partisan marriages out there, especially where both people are passionate about their political views?</p>
<p>TheMom is a hair more liberal than I am but is in easy hailing distance, enough so that it’s rare when we split votes on an issue.</p>
<p>I absolutely couldn’t be married to a smoker and a relationship with a vegetarian probably would be impossible over time. But if I close my eyes and squint real hard…I still can’t imagine being married to a Bush Republican. James Carville and Mary Matalin boggle me to the point of incredulity.</p>
<p>Anyone out there manage such a thing? </p>
<p>I guess it reminds me of the old “A fish may love a bird, but where would they live?” kind of thing.</p>
<p>Duke Carolina here. It’s doable, but 2-3 times a year it’s iffy. My MIL wore a “Go To Hell Duke” button to my Law School graduation. I suppose one day they may meet in the finals – check back with me then. </p>
<p>I have a hard time imagining a marriage between political adversaries, particularly if they are both very passionate. But I’m speaking more in the Conservative-Liberal meaning rather than party affiliation. Moderate Republican and Moderate Democrat? Conservative Democrat (they exist!) and mainstream Republican? Liberal Republican (they also exist!) and mainstream democrat? No problems. Frankly, I can’t imagine why ANYBODY would want to marry either Carville or Matalin!</p>
<p>Me and girlfriend are on par with pretty much everything now. I wouldn’t even DATE a Pittspuke fan or a Michigan fan for that matter. Hell I couldn’t date someone who didn’t have Cleveland teams as there main rooting interest. Sounds extreme, but relationships come and go, but sports is life.</p>
<p>UCLA-USC union here. But together on the same political side. Shoot, Arizona did to UCLA last weekend what SC is gonna do. I’ve always looked to basketball to rescue me. Joev: Never thought I’d come remotely close to a USC guy (TheDad understands…). Learned after college to never say never.</p>
<p>When I met my wife she said her family was Irish Protestant. I told her, “You can be one, but you sure can’t be both!” 25 years later…we still quibble about how many Irelands there really are.</p>
<p>When I married, I was a liberal Democrat, and my husband was a Republican. However, he converted and is now more liberal than I am in some areas, while my views have not changed a lot.</p>
<p>My parents have been married for 45 years. Mom is an ardent Democrat and Dad is a solid Republican. Every year, they basically cancel out each other’s votes. And they never talk politics because neither of them will ever change their party or mind on any of it, so it’s pointless.</p>
<p>H and I are on the same side and agree on just about every issue. I don’t know how my parents have managed it all these years.</p>
<p>My H & I are nearly identical politicaly but I would say there’s a little bit of “cracker” in him, due to his growing up in a backwater in the south, that sometimes pushes my Bay Area liberal buttons.</p>
<p>JoeV, Farmar isn’t ugly. Now if you mentioned Lorenzo Mata, I’d change the subject.</p>
<p>It’s funny, TSDad, but TheMom has gotten feelers about employment from the Dark Side a few times, as she has a good rep over there. They can’t match her overall situation in the Bastion of Goodness and Niceness. Plus the benefits don’t come close and the commute would be much longer, yada yada yada.</p>
<p>My H listens to AirAmerica every day. fervently.
I don’t even listen- I do listen to public radio- but music just as much as talk- I would rather listen to wait wait don’t tell me or cartalk than Randi Rhodes.
I even sent Howard Stern an email today complimenting him on a point he made to Dennis Rodman- ( I dont’ usually listen to Howard but I was flipping through the channels and I listened long enough to figure out who he was talking to- my husband can’t stand him at all)</p>
<p>He has a different daily exposure to income and race than I do- he sees race being more closely tied to income( or the other way around)- being more in the schools- I see education being more of a factor.</p>
<p>I have gotten more conservative over the years- mainly in economic issues, but individual rights have become more important to me as well- or perhaps that has been the administration-
However we both appreciate that we live in an area or a city anyway, where our viewpoints are the majority- and our values generally reflected in daily life. …more or less</p>
<p>My S is Republican, but admits to fitting in different categories for different things. His favorite roommate in college was an articulate Libertarian. They disagreed on many issues, but very much enjoyed the intelligent reasoning and discussions between them. Not sure either changed their minds, but learned where the other was coming from.</p>
<p>H and I are both also Republican, but are not “yellow dog” and very seldom vote straight tickets. I usually feel like I get two votes, because H doesn’t have time to do much research, so tends to follow my judgement.</p>
<p>Sort of off the subject, but since we’re appealing to folks from both sides of the street here, I wonder if anybody has a DVD suggestion for us. D’s English teacher is extremely liberal (as are most Germans) and makes it a point to disparage much about the US. Her favorite movies to show in class are by Michael Moore, then the students are asked to write essays about why the US is so bad. (Imagine how the Germans would feel if the only movies US schools showed were about everything wrong with Germany.) We were wondering if there were any “balanced” movies that we could perhaps give her for Christmas, that might show some more positive sides of the US to at least 29 German students and one teacher. At least show them that if there aren’t two sides, there is at least a middle. Movies that perhaps emphasize the ideas of freedom of speech, land of opportunity, etc. So as to not sidetrack this thread, feel free to PM me. Thanks!</p>
<p>EmeraldK, I’m another who has gotten more conservative on economic matters over the years…it’s probably where my greatest political shift has been, balanced by a slight liberal increase in my social views. </p>
<p>I’ll second/third “Apollo 13.” I’ll try to think of some others. Unfortunately, between Michael Moore on one hand and the jingoistic/nationalistic/romanticized films on the other, there are a lot of movies out there that are very misleading about the U.S. A balanced view of the U.S.–or any society–requires being able to see in many shades of gray, very few things are as black & white as often presented (and, lest anyone call up some of my other posts, I’ll make a pointed exception for our current sock-puppet President.) The U.S. has done many wonderful things in and for the world and has done many despicable things as well…one has to establish the context and set one’s mind on “wide zoom” to embrace it all. And it strikes me funny that a German, of all nationalities, should be so ready to cast stones.</p>
<p>Driver, I’ve watched “The Longest Day”–one of my most favorite war movies, far superior to “Saving Ryan’s Privates”–and tried to do so with a “German eye and ear.” Many of the German characters–Hans Priller, Werner Pluskat, General Marcks, etc.–were no strangers to me by the time I saw the movie. Their treatment in the movie strikes me as accurate–not terribly surprising because some of them worked as consultants on the film–and largely sympathetic in light of the movie focusing on individual human dramas as opposed to the mega-ideological issues. “Even handed” in that sense strikes me as a fitting adjective for the film and because of that I’m not surprised that it engenders a positive response among Germans today. It helps, I suppose, that pieces of work like Sepp Dietrich had no connection with the defense of Normandy. </p>
<p>I’ll leave you with the old joke inspired by the movie when it came out: “Mr. Preminger(???), you’ve engaged 47 stars, 119 co-stars, 11,000 extras, and thousands of support personnel. What’s this new movie you’re making?” </p>
<p>“Movie, schmovie! Vis dis many people, ve invade Poland!”</p>
<p>See also: Q. What’s the national sport of Germany?
A. Invading Poland.</p>