Dark Bilious Vapors

I'd been having an online conversation with the proprietor of The Flypaper Theory, and in that conversation he related a story that I wanted to share (and he gave me permission a while ago; I've just had a few other things on my mind the past few days). Remember how President Bush promised to be "a uniter, not a divider"? Look how well he's accomplishing the job:

I went to cover the RNC protests in New York. At one point I met two honest to god crackers from outside of New Orleans with possibly the worst anti-Bush signs I'd ever seen. But they'd come all the way from crackerville to show them off so I couldn't complain. We walked together for a while and eventually ran into a group of YOUNG, gold-toothed self-identified "Motherfuckers from Harlem," who praised the awful signs and told the crackers that they were planning to take "little old ladies in wheelchairs" to the polls on election day, The crackers and the "motherfuckers from Harlem" HUGGED, and kissed each others cheeks, and offered up the kind of affection I've NEVER SEEN between strangers on the street. Not so long ago these groups wouldn't have even made eye contact.

I thought, "huh, maybe Bush is a uniter after all."

There it was: North and South, black and white, well off and dirt poor... strangers hugging in the street because they hate George W. Bush. It gave me a kind of hope I've never had before---EVER.

And let's face it, there are people who've never paid any attention to politics because they thought none of it really mattered. There still are, of course, but a lot of those folks have seen the light. Adversity builds character, and to some degree this may turn out to be good for America since the good guys are standing tall again, and shoulder to shoulder. Strangers are hugging in the street.

Or maybe I'm cockeyed.
(ba-dum-ching!)

Len on 10.29.04 @ 08:26 AM CST