My friend Carl is the quintessential Alabama redneck.
Or that's how he would appear to you.
Big burly guy with a respectable gut and shock of white hair.
Outdoor kinda guy. Loves to fish for red snapper out in the gulf and hunt deer on his timber acreage near Montgomery.
Does a hell of a crawfish boil, turkey fry, and smoked Boston butt (last night, yum).
Drinks Crown and water. Not much water.
Not much 'book larnin', but a smart guy.
One of the most generous and kind men I've ever met.
Made his considerable fortune in running his own disaster cleanup business for over 30 years.
Think FEMA contractor, but one of the really good ones who knows what the hell he's doing.
He is highly respected in our neighborhood.
A few couples are over for drinks and dinner recently.
Mostly repug.
Our area is heavily repug and I usually don't talk politics with my repug friends.
But it came up that night.
Two or three immediately started hating on the Clintons.
Carl listened for a minute and then said "Well, I don't know...but I gotta say I had my best 8 years in bidness an' just about everthang else while Bill Clinton was in. He knew what the hell he was doing.
I lak ol' Hillary too. She is one SMART lady. I clould vote for her."
Blow. Me. Down.
I'd never discussed politics with Carl.
Just figured he was repug.
Ya never know.