Have you ever shook hands with a US president?

[PartyPooper]

Once I shook hands with Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964.

What about you?

:D

:hi:

[LSdemocrat]

1. Al Gore

[Webster Green]

11. Me too!

On his book tour. I addressed him as "Mr. President".

Al and Tipper both got a kick out of the button I was wearing: "Impeach Cheney First".

[bobthedrummer]

2. I shook JFK's hand before he was elected, he was campaigning near

our school.

[LiberalVoice]

4. amazing nt

[maveric]

9. My parents tell me I shook JFK's hand in 1960 in Boston.

I have no recollection of though. I was only 4 at the time.

[bobthedrummer]

13. I was in 5th or 6th grade, he was in a convertible greeting kids

getting out of school in Milwaukee.

[PartyPooper]

12. That's so cool.

I was 12 when he was campaigning. I loved JFK. But, my best friend was a Nixon fanatic! :-(

The 1960 election really got me personally interested in politics. Big time! And, I've never been the same since.

:dem:

[candy]

21. JFK here too----Boston-1960 (more of a touch than a hand shake)

[WilliamPitt]

3. Clinton

but in '92 in Nashua. He wasn't President yet.

Shook Kerry's hand a bunch of times. Alas...

[maveric]

5. Before he was prez. Poppy Bu$h, Dec 79, Salem NH,campaigning for the NH

primary. His handshake was weak, limp and clammy. Very creepy!

[RagingInMiami]

6. I once flicked GWB off as his limo sped past me in coconut grove

before the last election. I saw Laura's smile fade through the glass.
Does that count?

[alittlelark]

7. No, just Sen Kerry.

[lonestarnot]

33. You mean the REAL President? n/t

[alittlelark]

40. Yes, if he had wanted to fight for it.

:( ;(

[MrSlayer]

8. Yes, President Clinton.

He was at an AFL-CIO function at City Hall and my apprentice class got to go down and meet him. Also shook with Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

[xxqqqzme]

10. Jimmy Carter in 1978

in Charleston, WVA at a strip mining protest. He stopped 2 talk 2 my daughter, who was 6 at the time. She remembers it. Jimmy Carter is a saint in our family.

[tcfrogs]

14. Yes, the current pRESIDENT

Well before 2000. Does that count, or is that just a partial yes? :shrug:

[lonestarnot]

34. yeee gadsfree...you shook puke? n/t

[Corgigal]

15. YES

Big Dog. At the nightline TV show for the medical plan they were trying to plan. Not in the front with the peeps. We were cleared to meet him at the party in the back.

Big hands. Hillary is right about that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. My son did

with Clinton. 1998. He was 15 (my son, not Clinton) and he said he would never wash his hand again.

[ironflange]

17. No, but I shook Soupy Sales' hand once

I figure that puts me ahead of anyone who shook with Dumbya or Poppy.

[Corgigal]

20. I saw Soupy in NYC

I was in a taxi in NYC with my Mom. He was hanging out of a window and waving. Flashback without the drugs.

[ironflange]

26. Did you mail him. . .

the green pieces of paper from Daddy's wallet?

[PartyPooper]

22. LOL

:thumbsup:

:D

[Kat45]

18. No, but perhaps I shook hands with a future president: Wes Clark.

[alittlelark]

24. That's way cool!

[Zuni]

37. Well, he's the coolest guy here

so your lucky you met hopefully the next Pres.

[lonestarnot]

19. Yes! John Kerry when he was in Tempe... I saluted him and he returned

my salute right before he entered stage at Tempe Beach Park awesome that he shook my son's hand, the whole family, Teresa and daughter, and Janet Napalitano.

[peekaloo]

23. Out of office Jimmy Carter

and all I could think of was Dan Aykroyd as Carter on SNL talking that guy down from his acid trip.

:dunce:

[WindRavenX]

25. Al Gore, Kerry

Kerry saw my BC shirt and said "aw hey man, how about those Eagles?"

Too think we almost had a fellow Eagle..:cry:

[JohnKleeb]

30. He would have made a great president in other levels too

Cool he noticed your shirt.

[deadparrot]

27. Al Gore...does that count? nt

[Lone Pawn]

43. Any man that gets the most votes for President

is President in my mind.

[wovenpaint]

28. I shook hands and spoke with George McGovern

Does that count?

[elperromagico]

29. Bill Clinton. 1997.

[stopbush]

31. John Kerry...in Vegas last year.

[Tom Kitten]

32. Gerald Ford

He came to town the same weekend as my monthly ANG drill while campaigning for election...Our commander let us go down to the tarmack and watch him arrive... the plane landed, he came out, walked down the stairs to a little podium and gave a little speech (there were about 50 people there since it was at the ANG end of the airport and not open to the public, just reporters and ANG)...After his speech he shook hands with people, saying things like "Hi! Nice to meet you! I'm Gerald Ford"...I got to shake his hand, too...

I still voted for Carter, though...that was my first presidential vote!

[Historic NY]

35. JFK in May of 63 and Bill Clinton several times during his 8 yrs....

once he was teeing off on his putting green at the WH when I was there as a guest.

[Zuni]

36. Ronald Reagan

in DC whem I was a kid.

[vpigrad]

38. Never with a sitting President, but...

I shook hands with Bush at work while he was campaigning in 2000. The owner of the company was standing behind me so I had to do it. I didn't know how bad of a person Bush was at that time, or I would have done things differently.

I also shook hands with Nixon in 1960 in Madison, Wisconsin while he was running for President. I knew how bad Nixon was at that time, but I didn't have the guts to not shake his hand in front of a crowd. I was ashamed of myself for that.

I also shook hands with Strom Thurmond, a 1948 Presidential candidate, after sitting next to him at a dinner. He was very polite to my wife and family. I wanted to say something rude to that racist, but after he was so charming, I didn't have the heart to.

I have never had the honor of shaking the hand of a Democratic President or candidate. That's sad, and it's something I need to fix.

[Lone Pawn]

39. Yes--both GWB's and JK's

GEORGE W BUSH

This was back before all events were secret-credential-crowd only. It was a relatively terrible speech on education, in which he was blaming our educational difficulties on the fact that our 'teacher schools' sucked...thus implicitly blaming the teachers for the fact that schools are underfunded.

:eyes:

It was at the school my mother teaches at--I was also in high school at the time, so I took the day off to see him. Right before he went up, one of my mother's friends and fellow teachers gave a damn good speech about the impact of 9.11 that day, and what it meant that day. So good, in fact, that he was politely asked to become a part-time speechwriter by the White House. He accepted, damn him. Anyway, I was part of a little Q-and-A group off in another room. We submitted questions--I dashed off something about why he chose to concentrate on teacher qualifications in a district with excellent teachers, but it was of course ignored. And at the end he shook our hands.

I was surprised how little he was in real life. They claim he's 5'11". I really don't believe that. I'm 6'0, and he seemed a good two or three inches shorter than me, and 30-40 IQ points dumber.


Sen. Mark Dayton(D-MN)--I went to high school with his son. Not a particularly interesting guy.

Sen. Norm Coleman(R-MN)--Doesn't count as an encounter, but I was tutoring the son of one of his business associates. When dad came to pick his son up, he was on the cell phone with Coleman. Doesn't count at all, but interesting enough.

Al Franken--I was volunteering at the DFL booth at the MN State Fair, and Al came to speak. But the morons in charge put the speakers on the ground, and the crowd was up 2 feet from them, acting as soundblocks--nobody could hear Al talk. So another young strong-backed volunteer and myself stood on stage next to him and held the speakers on our heads. After the speech, he asked me to go off and purchase a bottle of water for him. Unfortunately, he left before I had a chance to have more than a several-sentence exchange--but then again, there were several dozens of people trying to get him to sign things at the time.

John Kerry--Same DFL booth. JK passed through, corn dog in hand, on a campaign stop. Shook his hand, and he was off.

Barack Obama--once again, barely counts. Volunteered for JK here at U Chicago, where Obama is a professor. We managed to snare him for a rally once, but I didn't get to shake his hand. Almost did. Oh, well. Maybe later. Snif. Snif.

Not a bad assortment of encounters, considering my youth, but I certainly should be doing better if I want to have people excited to shake my hand ;)

[madison2000]

41. I missed John Kerry's hand by about 3 feet on Oct 28 2004

and he missed the presidency by.... oh well :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[Melynn]

42. Jimmy Carter in 1976

Cool dude. Shorter than I thought he was.

[johnnie]

44. Bill Clinton in 92

While he was running.

[Speck Tater]

45. Reagan when he was running for Calif. Gov.