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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Andrew N. Cothran who wrote (95382)	1/15/2005 8:53:20 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 793914

Hadn't seen that Andrew. Thanks for the post. Last night, we went to an quiet, lovely and exclusive Seattle hotel to have a drink before dinner. The lobby bar was closed for a private party, so we sat in the regular bar at the bar, as the tables were taken. The man sitting beside me turns out is a regular there. He is from England, has lived here in the States for 30 years, lives in Seattle, and had just returned from Yemman. He works for an oil company he said. He said something about the Governor's election, and certainly favored Gregoire. I mentioned that I had stayed "up" on the situation, and that if nothing else, the Democratic Party Nationally had to be having fits, as King County Democrats were giving the whole party a VERY bad reputation. Well, that certainly caused his eyebrows to raise. Appears as if it isn't often in Seattle, and certainly not leftist Seattle, that one ever hears a counter-argument to their preconceived notions. He ranted about Americans who don't know much, watch TV pap, and that Bush was a knownothing. I was pretty calm, and didn't slap him silly, even if the temptation was there. <g> He continued ranting about the US in Iraq, no WMD's found, and the tsunami victims (he mentioned 150,000 killed...I corrected him and said it may be over 260,000 if Indonesia's figures are correct...he hadn't heard that...) There was so much bilge that I hardly knew where to begin. Certainly fed him facts as we know them to be and sources, which of course, he couldn't do. His was a leftist rant, and one given with the elitist "Julia Child" delivery --(talking with one's mouth full of marbles, and from above.....) My husband listened for awhile, but when this guy said the US had "only" given $350 million, while the EU in total had given $480 million (or about)...I replied that OF COURSE, he knew that NONE of the military costs were included in our numbers. And that it cost between $2M and $6M PER day just for the USS Abraham Lincoln to operate there...etc. He retorted that Denmark gave more percapita than we did. Then he said he couldn't figure out why Americans had to keep count of the dollars. ETC. Hubby listened, and finally couldn't stand it any longer. Gave him a history lesson, complete with facts and figures from the Rev War to WWI and WWI, and just some of the things the US had done for countries in Europe, as well as several of the things we have done for many Muslim countries in recent years. I injected that we had done all of it in less than 225 years.... He acknowledged that, and then muttered he didn't know how we had managed all of that in such a short time. I retorted "The US Constitution" was the reason. Hubby prepared to give a small lesson on that as well. The man sputtered, and all of sudden, realized that he had to go to church. (???? about 9:30 on Friday PM....) After he left, the classy lady tending the bar with twinkling eyes, said that was the first time she had ever seen the "man" get bested....He seems to be a dyed-in-the-wool lefty, who isn't used to talking with anyone of another view, much less an intelligent and well thought out viewpoint. I'm not used to sitting at any bar, but somehow, after that episode last night, it makes me not so opposed to it...who knows...maybe we can open his eyes to some other ideas, or at the very least, give him a headache.....LOLOL! One at a time....