"You don't look like a Liberal"

[Bluzmann57]

Last night I decided to go to a local brewpub and enjoy a brew or two, as well as some live music. In between sets, I was talking to some young people and the talk shifted to politics. I was espousing about how fucked up bush and co. are and how they have screwed up this country. Then a young man said, "You're pretty cool, but you don't look like a Liberal." I chuckled a bit and asked him, "What do you mean?". He replied, "I mean, you are older and, um, bald, and you're a big guy. You are wearing sports stuff." I asked him what a Liberal was supposed to look like. He said, "All my friends have long hair and a lot of them have beards. Most of the women I know are Liberal too and they have the hippie look like my mom did once." I just laughed and said, "I'm probably as old as your mom. Does your dad look like me?" He said "Yeah man." I told him that it doesn't matter how one looks, at least in Liberal world, it matters how one thinks and believes. Then I bought him and his girlfriend a beer. They offered to set me up with a friend but I declined sayiing, "I'm afraid I do have a few morals and principles. She's probably a nice young lady, but I'm just too old. Thanks anyway." All in all, an interesting conversation as we talked at great length about getting out the vote and bringing the repubs down in November. There is hope for humanity with young people like these out there.

[dorktv]

1. Interesting.

[smaug]

2. I also get that comment made to me frequently

I've got a beard and beer gut, and look (as my wife tells me) like Joe Redneck. My family's been Democratic since around 1828, even through the civil rights imbroglio of the 1960s (doesn't hurt that my grandfathers were in unions, unusual in the South). I'm also a veteran, and tend to be pretty nasty to yellow elephants (of which my town is now full of, to my and many other veterans dismay). I always work the Friday night Democratic booth in the county fair every year, and I'm always getting people coming up to me, and wondering, "Why are you a Democrat?"

I always ask 'em, 'how much time do you have?' and begin telling them, starting with the 1890s and so forth. BTW, I have a magna cum laude degree in philosophy/religious studies and a masters degree in technology, so I'm definitely not typical in my appearance and attitudes. I am very negative towards right wingers and evangelicals (since I can beat 'em to death with their own contradictions, they tend to whisper in my presence - why, yes, I am a fairly large fellow with a VERY loud voice ).

The local chair of the Repuglican party here spent a short (got much shorter after this story got around) period being a substitute teacher in one of the middle schools. I got this directly from one of the students in the class: she informed the class, as part of their geography lesson, that Cuban women (yes, Cuba!) wore burkhas, since we all know that Cuban communists oppressed their women and took their cues from the Taliban. I've been going around ever since asking her (she's on the county election commission) repeatedly about the Cuban burkhas. She's tired of hearing it - and I ridicule her publically whenever I can.

Yes, it's childish, but the ReTHUGs are stuck in junior high school in mentality. I attack them pretty viciously. I'm actually relatively conservative for a Democrat, but I'd rather be a conservative Democrat than any sort of ReTHUGlican, or libertarian (a dope-smoking ReTHUGlican).

[don954]

4. Cuban burkhas?!!

ROFL!
I wouldnt let that one die in a million years, too good!

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Thank you for being a liberal!

[Ksec]

5. Yea, its that rush Limbaugh produced look, they have in their heads

Hippys and such. The right has done a good job at demonising us and the people who watch Fox and listen to AM radio have this stereotyped impression that we look like evil personofied. Im a pretty big guy who works out regularly. I dont fit their stereotype, at all. I could squash most of them like bugs........I know I know.

[yorgatron]

6. are we supposed to be in uniforms?

[Ksec]

7. Possibly, with big peace signs on our backs

sittin around smoking dope, drawing up protest signs and planning our next "Foley" move against the Republican leadership..