Posted on 01/31/2005 8:41:03 AM PST by Gypssy
(Sorry for this long vanity post, my first)
Something struck me this weekend in the midst of the momentous Iraqi Elections that had never occurred to me before re: Liberal Democrats…..it must really be hard being a Liberal right now.
I love my son and his wife but…they are Liberals or at least are wannabee Liberals. In my heart I do not believe they are but want to be with the elite crowd of cool people, but nevertheless, they say they are Liberals.
First, let me say they are very young…just out of college. Secondly, both are above average intelligence in fact very high IQs. But in the game of life, they would ride the short bus.
My son (James) is very well read and very smart . I’d think this even if I weren’t his Mom. He is definitely someone you would want on the line if you were on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” or “Jeopardy”. He loves reading about any and everything, politics, history, science, football and Nintendo. He also appears to be a deep thinker.
Now, my daughter in law (Allie) is very sweet and appears to be mild mannered from what I can tell. I actually think she is not political but because she is married to my son, she must act like she is to get along with him. She wants to be political because it is cool and her husband and their friends are liberals. She is very much against abortion so it does take some doing for my son to convince that she can be anti abortion and still be liberal. But he pulled it off! He has convinced her that liberals love unborn babies too that is why they abort so many of them. But Allie is the type who really does want to be a Liberal because she really craves to fit in with her friends…and her husband.
Ok, on to the story……
Saturday night, they came to visit and I was happy to see them because they are working a lot lately and we hadn’t seen them in a while. It was a nice visit as usual and my son sighed that nothing exciting was going on in the world lately and he was bored and was looking forward to the Super bowl. Nothing going on in the News????
I was surprised because I was very aware of the Iraqi elections that would start that same night. I asked him if he was serious because something history changing was about to happen and the news was all a buzz all day talking about the elections. He said “oh yeah…….”. Oh yeah???? I couldn’t believe it!!! He really appeared to not see that of any significance. He is a political and history junkie, for God’s sake! I didn’t press the issue but looked at my husband and we did that eye sharing “aren’t they so naïve” look.
Because we argue so much about politics, I didn’t want to get into any discussion of politics. But I was also naïve because I didn’t see the Iraqi elections as political but historical. Brother, was I was wrong. I knew at that moment that it was to him and therefore must be to all liberals. I came to realize that everything is political to liberal democrats.
Another example, we cannot talk about sports unless it is political. My son pulled for the Boston Red Sox because they were from Boston, home of John F. Kerry. St. Louis Cardinals played them in the series and that is our home team and he pulled for the Sox!!!!! He had gone to several Cardinal games that same year and he was pulling for the Sox????
Upcoming Super Bowl: Philadelphia Eagles vs. New England Patriots….there in lies a dilemma for my son. The Eagles Black Quarterback comment resulting in embarrassing Rush Limbaugh and caused him to loose his dream job as a commentator for ESPN and Patriots are from Boston, home of John F. Kerry. He is not sure which he should be for. We can’t discuss McNabb unless he brings up the drug addict Rush Limbaugh. Of course he does think the evil genius behind the New England Patriots, Bill Bellicheck is the Carl Rove of Football…..so you get my drift.
I could go on and on about any and everything that one can discuss in the way of small talk. As a result, it has made it very unpleasant for me to enjoy my son’s company anymore. Mostly, we are left with talking about my sister’s sad life on welfare or which season of the Sopranos is the best or arguing about whether David Carradine’s lisp in Kill Bill 2 distracted attention away from the fact that he was a villain. But even that sometimes results in a political view. Could Tony Soprano be Republican???
It occurred to me that everything is political now…even food. Red state people do not like Thai or Japanese cuisine or do they just like bologna and BBQ. He thinks I am an anomaly because I am red state and love all forms of ethnic food. In fact he thinks I am a Blue State person trying to act Red!
On to the point of my story…….
They came again to visit for a short while on Sunday and we had the news on (Fox News of course) and as it should be, everything was about the Iraqi Elections. Dancing Iraqis, Happy Iraqis….My son sat and watched it and said nothing. I looked at him and he looked sad and very humble which is not something he does well..humble. I looked at his face and it occurred to me that he was sad because he couldn’t be ecstatic about this historical event!
He loves history and he was missing out of the most significant event of his young life. He was sad that he couldn’t talk about it, discuss it and be happy about it or argue about it. It really made me sad for him until my husband started hailing the bravery of the Iraqis and my son spoke up ….. well no Sunni’s voted, so there will be a civil war. It’s no big threat to for them to go vote in Shiite areas. My husband politely told him that Sunni’s did vote even though a small percentage but higher than expected.
That let me know that he had been paying attention to it and even finding problems with it like a good Liberal. I couldn’t help but notice the look on his young, naïve and sad face as he watched the Iraqis celebrating before his eyes…holding up that purple finger. Allie asked him, why are their fingers purple, which immediately let me know that she had no clue or knowledge of anything about the election but she knew that Teresa Kerry could speak 5 languages. I was really sad for him…as I have said because this would normally be something that he would be talking about and debating. But he had to act as though it were not significant. How sad……….
But now, I have a new understanding of the Liberal mind. They know it is historical, they know they should be celebrating something historical, but their bitterness over George W Bush winning his second term cannot allow them to see clearly. I am not as frustrated with them as I once was but actually feel sorry for them now.
But, I am disgusted with their politicians. They are supposed to be leaders and represent the people. It is clear that they do neither.
I agree. But also, even in 1976, the Ford barely lost to Carter, even with the pall of Watergate. Had he won, then been saddled with the recession (which he surely would have, as Ford had no imagination), a more dynamic Dem than Carter would have come out---maybe a Nunn-type or a pre-scandal Gary Hart. It's conceivable that Reagan would never have been elected had (nor would any Republican in 1980) if Ford had won in 1976.
If your son likes to read, you should insist that he read Ann Coulter's "Treason". That'll fix him up good. You may have to take off the slip cover, scratch out her name and say it was written by Mourene Doud. Then he'll swear it's gospel.
First, let me say they are very young…just out of college. Secondly, both are above average intelligence in fact very high IQs. But in the game of life, they would ride the short bus.
Funny what college does to young minds these days. In days past, you were taught to THINK for yourself, and to be able to BACK UP your position with actual FACTS. They don't do that anymore.
I can't wait for the super bowl to be over because I am tired of hearing how great it would be for an African American quarterback to win the super bowl for a second time.
You are so right. I do have all of Ann's books and when he sees them laying around my house, he rolls his eyes. He does think she is hot! He says he wishes she were Liberal! He does admit that Conservative Women are hotter than the Liberal Ones! haha
It's always hard to be a modern liberal - it means thinking you are a free spirit and a lover of liberty, while simultaneously believing that government should have total authority to regulate the most intimate details of one's life in an authoritarian pursuit of "fairness."
Your son sounds like my mom. She is convinced that Bush is going to kill her by taking away her Social Security.
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