October 1, 2004
WHAT DOES JACQUES SAY I SHOULD DO?:
Painting the Town Red and Blue (Steve Lopez, October 1, 2004, LA Times)
Ordinarily I don't knock on the doors of complete strangers asking if I can come in and watch the presidential debate on TV, but this was different.I was in Pasadena, on a leafy street called California Terrace, where loyalties were clearly divided. One house had a Bush-Cheney sign out front, and the next-door neighbor had a Kerry-Edwards sign. Just down the way, I found a Kerry house sandwiched by Bush houses.
Forget the map of blue and red states. The nation's political split can be found right here in Pasadena.
Do any of these people speak to each other? I wondered.
"We would never talk politics" with the neighbors, Dana Dewberry told me on the porch of the Kerry house that splits a pair of Bush neighbors. This particular election is more divisive than any she can recall, Dewberry said, glancing at the Bush signs as if they were weeds.
Why Kerry? I asked.
"We travel," Dana Dewberry said. "I'm tired of getting flak from people around the world about what war-mongerers we are."
Indeed, if you see America through European eyes you're a Democrat. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 1, 2004 1:42 PM
"I'm tired of getting flak from people around the world about what war-mongerers we are."
Oh, grow up already.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at October 1, 2004 1:49 PMAgreed. Here in Kerry country (MA) I hear the DNC talking points in conversations all the time. When it gets around to "France doesn't like us, Germany doesn't like us, etc" it sounds so junior high school.
Posted by: AWW at October 1, 2004 1:59 PMNot until somebody drops a building on her head, and probably not even then.
Posted by: joe shropshire at October 1, 2004 2:00 PMThe humanity, oh, the humanity! The over-ripe fruit bruises so easily.
Posted by: luciferous at October 1, 2004 2:16 PMAs someone who travels abroad sometimes, I have certain rules. First, I always try the local cuisine and booze. Second, I make an effort to speak the local language, even if I completely mangle it, people see it as a sign of respect. Finally, I never, ever, ever, ever take crap for being an American.
If you ever have any doubt that America is the greatest nation in world history, you should pick a country and live there for a while. You'll either learn the error of your ways, or you'll mix in with the locals. Either way, America wins.
Posted by: Bart at October 1, 2004 2:58 PM>Indeed, if you see America through European
>eyes you're a Democrat.
Didn't the ancestors of most Americans come to America from Europe to get away from the way things were done in Europe?
Your fathers got as far away as they could from "seeing through European eyes"; why do you want to betray them and go right back?
Posted by: Ken at October 1, 2004 4:56 PM