Photo by: Kathleen Culliton
William Gensert writes for AmericanThinker.com, and describes himself as being socially liberal but fiscally conservative. He often writes about how he thinks President Barack Obama’s has mishandled the economy.
Bronx resident William L. Gensert goes online and shares his political opinions on a site that reaches more than a million readers a month, but he won’t talk politics with his friends.
“I say my opinion. They say theirs. And then I change the subject,” he said.
That’s because, he says, he lives in a borough that hasn’t supported a Republican president since 1924.
Gensert writes for AmericanThinker.com, and describes himself as being socially liberal but fiscally conservative. He often writes about how he thinks President Barack Obama’s has mishandled the economy.
“I started speaking out against him after the stimulus package,” Gansert said. “I thought it was a reward to political backers and to unions. I didn’t understand how that would create jobs.”
Gensert, 53, lost his job at Lodner Printing Inc. in 2009. He came in one Sunday to do paperwork and found a delivery truck struggling to back into the loading area. Gensert leapt down from the dock to help just as the truck began backing up. The truck crushed his hand against a concrete wall.
Doctors saved his hand, but work became too difficult. “I would go in and do what I needed to do, throw up and go home,” he said. The company asked him to retire.
Gensert reads and writes to pass the time when he cannot sleep. He reads voraciously: mostly The Wall Street Journal, TownHall.com, AmericanThinker.com, TheDrudgeReport.com and the New York daily newspapers. “I think news is OK for getting the information if you’re a savvy reader, and I am.”
American Thinker has been publishing Gensert’s articles for over a year. He is beginning to develop a following. In “It’s Over,” his article on the president’s progress in Ohio, Gensert received over 400 comments.
His Bronx community is not as supportive as his virtual one. Gensert has received more than dozen hate mail letters from locals who have read his articles, and he said he lost a friend of 40 years over an argument about President Obama. “I won’t speak to her because she called me a racist.”
The Bronx will most likely go democratic, but that won’t stop Gensert from voting. For him, it’s not about picking a winner. “It’s your way to say what you feel, whether it counts or not.”
