Song Sung Blue

by Paige Bennett
I am a cradle Republican and proud of it.  I was born 62 years ago in Logan, West Virginia. I am a third generation republican. My favorite toy as a child was a stuffed elephant that I named Ellie and loved dearly. Ellie was life size when I was four and I hugged her so tight her head was in danger of falling off. She got lost somehow along the years, but I have never forgotten Ellie or the symbol she has become for me.  I knew from that age that elephants represented the GOP and I needed to hold on for fear of loss.

My grandmother often talked of the “dirty Democrats”. Imagine my surprise when in 1960 during the Kennedy- Nixon election I learned that the name of the party was simply Democrats. But West Virginia was and still is a Democrat state and during that 1960 election Logan County became “famous”, making national headlines . They were selling their vote to Kennedy for a pint of whiskey. So maybe my grandmother was right about the dirty part.

Also in 1960 we moved to Arlington, Virginia. Virginia at that time went to the GOP.

Also at that time Republicans were represented by the color blue and Democrats by the color red. I don’t know who or when it was changed, but I have always suspected Tom Brockow during the 1988 campaign.  But it is okay I look much better in red than I do blue anyway.

Virginia was blending into a blue state when I moved to Maryland in 1978. But I found a  red Maryland at that time. I am still in Montgomery County, Maryland, but it is not a red county any more. Sad to say Montgomery County is very blue and seems to be getting bluer.

Even though I have always been politically aware and concerned I have not been active. I felt that I could rely on the good sense of the American people. Well, in the summer of 2007 I realized that the American people had lost their good sense. I was in fear of Hillary Clinton being the next president and knew I must get moving. I did stop her (ha-ha)

I joined a Republican Women’s Club and started learning what I could do. I jumped behind Fred Thompson and started working for him in a local headquarters. When he dropped out I moved on the McCain. I did some work for McCain and I got hopeful.

When I put a McCain/Palin sign in my front yard things with my neighbors changed.

Some people stopped talking to me or became very cold. A neighbor’s car had been sprayed with tear gas. His car, like everyone else in the county had an Obama sticker on it. He told my husband about this almost accusing me of having down the tear gassing. This is not my style. I strive always to be a good example of the GOP. By the way I love to call it the GOP, because it is grand, isn’t it?

I still have a McCain/Palin bumper sticker on my car. In fact I still have a Bush ’04 sticker.  People in traffic (you know the ones with the Obama stickers) are often rude to me. I get the “finger,” I get yelled at and cut off. I do not let this get to me. Their actions are more about their anger and ignorance than about me. I sometimes want to hold up a sign saying you are the one who should be sorry.

It is tough for us right now, just as it was during and right after the Nixon years. I never lost support for either Richard Nixon or George W. Bush. We came back after Watergate and had our best years yet. We will come back again after all we are the Grand Old Party

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