I'm Just Going to Sit Back and Watch Now

I voted today. This "early" voting is great. I don't have to wait around for Election day and ensure that I have time taken out of the day to stand in line to cast my ballot. I'm surprised more people don't take advantage of this, though. There were half a dozen people there when I arrived at the polling location, and one or two trickled in during the time that I filled out my ballot and left. I also received my Obama/Biden buttons in the mail that I got for donating to the campaign. Can you guess who my vote was for?

I also got cornered into a discussion about the evils of Obama. Now, the difficulty I have in discussing anything that requires facts to back up or refute statements (either my own or the individual I'm talking to) is that my memory is crap. I can't spout facts, quotes, or even names to help make my case or poke holes in another. So, situations like these are problematic for me. My tactic during these talks is to allow the other person to tell me their thoughts and what until they run out of points. I counter their points when I can, but most often it has no effect on their views. I've also seen many occasions where speakers that could recite facts and relevant data walk away with the same results. So how can you persuade an individual that's already made up their mind?

You can't. If a person has taken a side, it's near impossible to dissuade their stance. Only the undecided individuals are worth the time to have these discussions with. Otherwise the talks just go in circles, it makes people dizzy, and then they'd rather listen to which celebrity is getting drunk and vomiting on some other celeb's shoes over learning about candidates and their stances on issues.