Those Conservatives!

Nancy and her mother arrived two hours late for lunch. No matter; it gave me more time to prepare. I was thankful for their self-centeredness, and they had called me on a cell phone to let me know. Everything was really fine, up to a point. The sun popped out and dried everything off and warmed the front porch enough so that we could sit outside. I marinated salmon and grilled it. They drank chardonnay from the vineyard down the road, green beens sauteed in olive oil with garlic and pignolia nuts, and a salad made with fresh corn from the fields atop our laneway, basil and tomatos. Nancy brought the desert, a sort of pound-corn-apple cake, which was delicious. Someone, maybe it was I, brought up the debates of the previous night and that led to politics and that led, in turn, to some short sentences with near harsh words. Sally and I loathe the present, Republican administration. We are Liberals, with Kerry-Edwards stickers on our car bumpers. We think it is important to say we are for the Democratic ticket, that this election will be that close in November. We cannot see how anyone with a brain could say that they will vote for Bush and Cheney. The Dunce and Darth Vader. The Monkey and the Man. The mother commented that she thought Edwards was positively "homosexual." We thought, how mean of you in the first place, and so what if he were in the second. The lady gets her information from Rush Limbaugh. No wonder! We get ours from NPR, PBS and the New York Times, all media that stand accused of having a left-handed bias. Although I am not egotistic enough to say that I am right and she is wrong, I do believe that Mr. Bush has done major, irrevocable harm to the image of the United States abroad. I find his lack of curiousity appalling, and the fact that he speaks English as though it were a second language for him helps make his irresistible charm quite, entirely resistable. Consdervatives seem to mistake consistancy for leadership and strength, and find ideas threatening. I prefer to think that changing one's mind is proof one has one. I think Kerry is articulate and that he embraces ideas. The image of a phoney Texan on a soapbox, sounding smug and ignorant and sure, for four more years is a disgraceful thought. May it not come to pass!