ELECTION FREE ZONE RULE OFF
Ok, interesting anecdote from today that I had to share. The husband
and I went to lunch at a nice little place here in the neighborhood. As
it happens, they have outdoor seating so we sat and ate our lunches in
the shade, and watched a few Cake Eaters who don't have
weekender-flee-the-city-cabins walk by. Nothing really too exciting for
the most part. Until a guy in a red t-shirt shows up and sets up shop
about thirty-feet away. He's probably about as tall as I am and is what
Rose Chasseur would not-so-charitably call "husky." He's dressed in
navy shorts, which set off his red t-shirt nicely, sneakers, and is
wearing what I thought was a really stupid-looking, navy sun visor. The
guy shows up with a friend, similarly dressed, who then disappears.
Paying no notice of these people, the husband points them out to me.
"Oh, the DNC guys are back."
"Huh?"
"Yeah. They're registering people to vote. I ran into them a couple of
days ago on the way to the store."
"Hmmph," I reply, more interested in my lunch than party flacks. I'd
just read the Strib, after all. I really didn't need more politics on
my Sunday afternoon. We finish our lunch, and our sole errand of the
afternoon was to go and purchase milk and other tasty comestibles at
the local grocery store. The path to the grocery store takes us right
by this guy. Of course, with there not being anyone else around, when
we approach him, he makes his pitch. "Are you interested in finding out how to remove George W. Bush from the White House?"
The dude doesn't even bother smiling or saying "hello." Up close, he
reeks of all the righteous fervor of someone who just got back from an
Amway convention and is just dying to sell me floor cleaner because
it's simply the best product for the money!.
It's all about the product, in other words, not about how you sell it.
This is no-frills pitch-making, after all. It ups the righteousness
factor. "Absolutely not." I reply---loudly---as we keep on walking. He
yelled something out at us, but honestly neither the husband nor I can
remember what it was. I just remember something about it being the
usual "Bush is bad" crap. We laughed and commented and continued on our
merry way. A block later we ran into his missing compadre, who looked
like he needed to wash his hair, standing outside the local Starbucks
and was saying the same thing to departing customers. "Are you interested in finding out how to remove George W. Bush from the White House?"
People ignorned him for the most part, although he had a few takers,
and the people sitting at the tables looked annoyed with this
proselytizer.
On the way back, however, is when it got interesting. For a brief
second or two. An older gentleman, around fifty or so, looking like he
was straight out of church, was leaving Starbucks, the guy gives his
line, and the older gentleman says "No, I'm not." Then he decides to go
further as he walks toward a parking lot loaded with Beemers, Benzs,
Lexus' and Volvos: "You know, I don't care who people are, salespeople,
religious, whatever. I don't appreciate being approached on the street
for things I have no need for." I applaud. Loudly. As we keep on
walking. "Oh," the greasy guy replies from the distance, "So you don't
think I should be exercising my First Amendment Rights?" The husband
says with a chuckle: "Oops. Tactical mistake." We laugh and keep on
walking. They keep on talking. The conversation fades into the
background. Kinda funny, eh? And interesting, too. Their pitch wasn't
"Vote For Kerry and we'll show you how to get registered." Their pitch
was a continuation of the all pervasive theme of the DNC Convention:
"Anyone but Bush. And here's our guy. He's not Bush."
Even at the local level this is where they choose to focus their
efforts. If this is their grand strategy, their master plan for world
domination, well, then they're going to get creamed come November. It's
Wellstone's memorial service all over again. ELECTION FREE ZONE RULE FIRMLY BACK IN PLACE NOW THAT ALL OF THIS CONVENTION NONSENSE IS OVER WITH.