(Erica's adventures in Campaign land continue -- August 2004)
Just for a bit of background, my local pub is Bush Country. I was
once told, when it became clear which side of the fence I was on,
to "get out of my bar." Another likes to point at me, tell me what
liberals like me believe, and then argue against that stance. Jokes
on him, though. If he'd ever ask, he'd find out I'm a moderate. I
only look liberal in comparison.
Even so, in this conservative suburban town, my local pub is the best
place to go to find people my age with whom I can have relatively
intelligent conversations. It is the proverbial "Cheers" pub, the
place where everyone knows your name. We even have a "Norm," except
his name is Chip.
The hobby of most of the regulars is Trivial Pursuit, and other
trivia games. These are in general not stupid people.
Even so, it was with some trepidation that I started wearing my Kerry
button there. In self-defense, I've been memorizing Bush's flip-flops
so that I might have some ammo ready.
You can only imagine my surprise when, this Tuesday, I found out that
Bush's appeal there wasn't quite as strong as I'd thought.
I never expected to hear "Bush is an idiot" followed by "And Cheney's
worse!" come out of anyone's mouth at my local pub. And yet that's
what happened on Tuesday. Not to mention that for the first time
someone actually listened to me talk about Bush's presidential
shortcomings without interrupting.
Several of the regulars were talking about the troop redeployment,
you see. So I piped in with my concern about a South Korean pullout
at such a critical time. To my surprise, got a few nods of approval.
Several had only heard about the plans for Germany and some vague
mutterings about Asia. The Korean deployment was news to them. I have
noticed since then that alot of the radio commentators are focusing
on mainly the Germany deployment as if that were the most important
part of the plan. It is at the very least the most popular.
And when I mentioned Bush's flip-flop on same sex marriages, the
person who'd only ever labeled me a liberal looked shocked and
said "I did not know that." At the very least, I think he may have
realized he wasn't as informed as he should be.
I'll probably never turn any of them into Kerry fans. One in
particular can't forgive the senator for his testimony and the medal-
throwing ceremony in 1971. And there's probably no talking to someone
who would wear an "If Democrats were smart, they'd be REPUBLICANS" t-
shirt in public. But if I can at least get some people to think
outside their usual model of the world, I'll have done some good.
Little Clarkie, reporting for duty
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And one about an email to my local DJ for dissing Max Cleland
I just sent an email to my local DJ
"This is what I wrote:
I'm upset with you Bob. I have been for a while, ever since you
started singing "B-Double-E-Double-R-U-N" at the mention of Max
Cleland's name as if he were some redneck instead of a veteran who
served our country.
We are supposed to support our troops. That should transend politics.
We support the troop in Iraq. And we should support the people who
fought for us in year's past, Democrat or Republican.
Neither of us know what it's like in Iraq. But neither do we know
what it was like in Vietnam.
I like you, and I like Brian. You've made me laugh through tough
times. But I get so mad when I think of what you said during the
Democratic National Convention when Mr. Cleland's name was mentioned
that I start crying. Please tell me you understand what I'm getting
at. I hope you do. I don't mean to make you feel bad. But that's just
how I see it. I'm the daughter of a vet, so maybe that's why it hurt
so much.
Max Cleland will be in Cutler Park at 321 Wisconsin Avenue in
downtown Waukesha on Saturday August 21st at 2:30 pm. That fact alone
made me feel like writing to you. I wasn't going to, though I had
thought about it. But that reminder brought up the hurt feelings
again.
Please, let's leave the veterans out of the political rhetoric, on
both sides. They served, we didn't. Let's just leave it at that. Okay?
Thanks for listening, if you made it this far.
Erica
What do you think? I kept having to edit the thing to tone it down. I
almost asked him if he'd like to go and sing his song in Max
Cleland's face. But in the end I decided to be more civil than that."
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Sigh. So young. So innocent. Me heart hadn't been ripped out and put in sideways yet.
