Next thing you know, hippies will be tossing flowers

[veronica_rich]

Gee, how the world can change ... sparrabethers defending Will Turner in the snake pit, Hillary Clinton supporting Barack Obama for president, me winning an argument yesterday morning against a Bush supporter, and now Pat Buchanan fully denounces the Iraq invasion on "The Colbert Report?" (To be fair to Pat, he has been building to criticism of Bush for a long time.)

But I think the scariest tilt to my world by far is probably that my parents actually mostly now agree with my politics.

Consider me the opposite of my avatar in this case ...

Comments

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean me yesterday? It's a story (as everything I tend to overtell IS).

I was at a truck stop with Mom and my aunt yesterday eating breakfast, when at the next table sits down this middle-aged guy, what looked like his brother (or at least a well-resembling relative), a couple of older women and a little girl. Well, the guy is one of those loud, bossy types, dominating the table's conversation (hard not to notice just one table over).

At one point, Mom made some point about Obama and Hillary and as she made the mistake of saying it above a whisper, the guy at the next table figured he could invite himself to our conversation and start commenting away (which ... I'm pushy online, but in RL I don't butt into conversations with people I don't know). Now Mom isn't a dumb person, but she's not good at confrontation, and won't get into a screaming argument with someone - especially since she's always pretty much voted Republican and it's just the last few years she's gotten disgusted with them, so she's still on sort-of-shaky ground argument-wise for the other side. Well, she made some comment about not wanting to vote for another oilman for the White House, since it's bad for the country, and the guy says something like "prove how Bush is making money off this." As a few more comments were exchanged, it was clear Mom was trying not to argue and that the guy was equally, smugly adamant that she "prove" it.

I couldn't handle it. "I can prove it," I said, proceeding to remind him how Cheney has benefited through Halliburton and its companies from no-bid government contracts for BILLIONS, how the Bush family has had relationships with Middle East oil tycoons for decades, etc.

We then went back and forth through several other things. Eventually he comes back to the "Obama is friends with Muslim terrorists" argument - at which point I asked, "Can you prove it?"

"It's been in the news." (I shudder to think which "news" channel HE listens to.)

"Can you prove it?" I continued.

Finally, he asked me how I knew so much, at which point I informed him I've been a reporter for a long time and I tend to be able to pull proof to back up my assertions. (The funniest part was when his brother, quiet up to this point, started laughing his ass off - as we saw a little later on, apparently he and the two women didn't agree so much with the loud guy - who turned out to be a trucker - but didn't say much against him.)

Why I say I "won" the argument is that eventually, the trucker says, half-jokingly, "If you're not careful, I'm going to get on the radio and get a bunch of truckers in here to back me up." :-)

(As a footnote: Immediately after he said that, my aunt turned to him and said, "Oh, I wouldn't if I were you. It wouldn't be a fair fight, those poor guys.")

/ROFLing ....

[mamazano.livejournal.com]

Applauding wildly! Taking on a trucker in a truck stop and having references to back you up... priceless!

Having lived my whole life in the South, I know from experience what it's like trying to argue politics with the locals.

(I love your aunt, already).

Good show!

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Having lived my whole life in the Midwest and the South, I agree wholeheartedly. Being able to argue with Bill O'Reilly is all well and good, but that isn't where you're going to get pounded the hardest, LOL.

My aunt knows from past experience. She used to be one of these "you must have children" types and I am so NOT, and we used to get into discussions all the time about how me not having kids would not lessen my value as a person or a woman. :-D

[mamazano.livejournal.com]

Ha! Swore all my life I'd never have kids, never wanted them, didn't even LIKE them. And wham-o. I have three.

Course I was almost 30 by that time. Still not fond of kids, but now that they are college age, I find them pretty neat to know. And much more political savvy than their mom.

Never thought of child bearing as something defining, just a hazard to be avoided if possible. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids, but would have been content and complete without them as well.

An interesting side. Being a resident of a college town for most of my adult life, I found moving here, to the backwoods so to speak, to be a real eye opener. Teens having babies, no education beyond high school, it's shocking. I guess I lived in a liberal, intelligent cocoon for too long.

[a-silver-rose.livejournal.com]

ROFLMAO! You go!

[rzrxtion.livejournal.com]

i came to this from your response to angry_biscuit's post and i must say (and this is a compliment, trust me):

DAYUM!!! you GO miss bitch!!!!

*big smile*

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Always glad to entertain. :-)