Reaction from the vanpool (Woodbridge, VA)

[demnan]

We were driving home tonight with the usual cadre of folks on my van poll. Military wives, secretaries for military, blah, blah, blah. Because there were tornato warnings our driver turned on the CBS news station (1500 AM WTOP). Well, after we were properly frightened by our tornato warning, good old Dan Rather came on with a preview of the upcoming monkey red ass he was about to perform.

Oh you should have heard the protests!!! "Oh why do we need to go into this again."

Me: "It's payback for how they slandered the honor of someone who is a veteran".

Her: "But Clinton was a draft dodger!"

Me: "But the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth called a war hero with shrapnel in his body a coward".

No response.

Kick ass, Kerry!

[MountainLaurel]

1. Good on you

Calmly point out the hypocrisy.

BUT -- a Woodbridge to DC commute? Urgh. You've got my sympathies.

[DancingBear]

4. Mine too!

(live in NoVA - hopefully only until my house gets sold)

[Bunny]

2. How the fuck is Clinton relevant anymore?

HE"S NOT RUNNING, PEOPLE!!! Try to wrap that around your shriveled brains for fuck sake!

PS - good answer, demnan!

[faithnotgreed]

3. good on ya. next time kindly point out that clinton is NOT part

of the discussion they had 8 years to go after him - which they did - and now they must stick to the current people who are running for president!

[rustydog]

5. Bill Clinton isn't facing Gutless, Kerry is.

Kerry served, Bush swerved!

[demnan]

6. Hey!

My commute isn't that bad. We're in the express lanes - it's a cool 30 minutes from stop to stop. No sweat.

I have an entire litany of things I can discuss with them if they so dare to broach the subject - -

My dear sweet oldest brother going off to war at the age of 18 (he came back, than God)

How a family reacts to the thought of a loved one far away serving in a pointless war - I know this first hand.

My late grandfather's Silver Star and how rare a thing it is to win one.

My late father's occasional attacks of malaria from service in WWII and blindness in one eye, a veteran of Guatal Canal.

As we are traveling on the van we pass by Arlington Cemetery. The sacred grounds where my family is buried.

[Bertha Venation]

7. Well done, Demnan.

:bounce:

[lanlady]

8. hello fellow resident of Woodbridge--

--and thanks for shutting up the freeperette in your van!

I'm encouraged though at how many pro-Kerry signs and bumper stickers I'm seeing on the roads in our area. Good to know we're not alone.

[phylny]

9. I lived in

Northern Virginia until two months ago. I miss it terribly.

Today I was at the docs with one of my daughters waiting for an x-ray and I struck up a conversation with an older Black man sitting there. The TV was on FAUX News Channel and they were talking about the upcoming 60 Minutes program about President George aWol Bush. He and I exchanged glances, and he said, good naturedly, "Hey, YOU voted for him, right?" I said, "No way, I didn't vote for him." He responded, "You musta voted for him in Texas, hmm?" I laughed and said, "I didn't even vote for him when I lived in Virginia, and I'm not voting for him in November."

He continued by saying, "Well, I don't know if Mr. Kerry is the answer, either. But when you get sick (and he held up his papers waiting for his procedure and his pills) it gets pretty tough."

I shared with him that my father, who is 77 years old, quit AARP because he felt they lobbied hard for the Medicaid changes, and they were in a position to pocket a whole bundle as a provider of prescription drugs - that my dad felt hoodwinked. We talked briefly about how drugs in Canada are so much cheaper, and how the drug companies get so much federal aid for research, that it's a myth that they "need to recover" their costs by charging us more. I finished by saying, "Now the price for prescription drugs for older Americans is rising, and who do we have to thank for that? I'll take my chances on Kerry."

He had to go in for his procedure then, and we said goodbye. I noticed an elderly woman not too far from us, looking annoyed. Too damned bad.