Well, this is a first.

I drive a dark blue Saturn station wagon.  I happen to have three Obama bumper stickers proudly displayed on the tail gate.  I'd have put them on the bumper, but Saturn bumpers have the Saturn name embossed across almost the entire bumper, making stickers appear wrinkled and uneven.  So I just stuck them right up there under my back window, on the tail gate.  Now, some may lecture me that it ruins the paint, blah blah blah, but, shit, c'mon....we're talking about a car made out of plastic.  I swear, 99% of my car is plastic.  I once tried to put a magnetic bumper sticker on the back of it, you know, one of those pink cancer awareness ribbons....it wouldn't stick.  ANYWHERE.  I even tried it on my engine.  Same thing in there.  Can you imagine? 

Anyway, I've been tootling around New York and Pennsylvania and New Jersey and Connecticut with these three Obama stickers on my car for over a year now.  And never, not once during the primary did anyone ever give me any kind of feedback other than a honk and a wave and a smile from a fellow supporter who cruised past me one day.  I could see her Obama stickers on the back of her car as she rode away.  It made my day.

Well, today, I'm driving home from work, getting on the Parkway, totally psyched because I'm on vacation until Tuesday and I'm going to Chicago for the long weekend and my favorite Pearl Jam song is on the radio and I'm singing along and smiling and bopping my head to the beat and --

HONK!!  HONK!!

This gold car that had let me merge in as I got on the Parkway just a moment ago is suddenly passing me, honking at me, so I turn to look at the driver, some dude maybe in his 50's or so, with a mustache, and he's giving me the thumbs down sign.  Then he points to the back of my car and gives me the thumbs down sign again, then swipes his hand through the air as if to say, "Get outa here" and he takes off in the left lane.

So I speed up, merge in behind him and get pretty close to his ass and give him a big smile and a wave. 

Then I continue to sing the rest of the Pearl Jam song as I follow him, not really tail gating, but definitely keeping up with him.  We drive along past an exit or two and then he suddenly moves over to the right lane and slows down.  I'm thinking maybe he's getting off the Parkway, so I speed past him, give him a mock salute with my left hand (two fingers touching my brow as I pass him)  and then as I see him retreating in my rear view mirror I pretty much forget about him. 

So I get back in the right lane once I'm starting to near my exit, when lo an behold, Mr. Thumbs Down in the gold car is speeding along in the left lane, getting closer and closer to me, and then as he overtakes me he gives me the finger and then speeds away, shaking his head.

WTF???

Tea bagging.  It's not just for rallies and town halls anymore. 

Kinda gives road rage a whole new meaning.

I'm curious.  Has anyone else had this happen?  Either during the primaries, or lately?   Do I have to worry that someone's gonna key my car or deface my stickers next? 

Sheez.


 

I rant and I rave about the rich and the Right.  I'm told I'm reactionary, clique-ish, and uninformed.

Okay.  I'll buy that.  Whatever floats your boat, folks.

I don't really hate the Right, nor the rich.  I'm more familiar with the Right than the rich, after all.

My sisters, many of them, are Republican.  I don't hate them.  They have their point of view, and I have mine, but we still love one another and manage to get along despite our political differences.

My sisters, cousins, and nephews are not crazy Right-Wingers.  They are political, attend rallies, vote, and are active in their party, yes.   

But they don't bring guns.  They don't make jokes about wanting to kill Nancy Pelosi with poison, nor Obama with a gun.  This is how I'm able to sit down over holiday meals with them, now and then.

My republican family is warm and loving and crazy, just like any other family is.  We have our jokes about past foibles, we have our arguments now and then.

But I can leave the house after a good meal knowing that I won't need the Secret Service to accompany me home, and I won't have a swastika spray-painted on my front door when I get there.

I can go to sleep at night knowing that my younger Republican sister is not sitting at home painting a Hitler mustache on a poster of Obama. 

My republican family is a normal republican family, and for that, I am truly grateful.  I'm sure there are millions out there just like them. 

Sure, they read and spread emails that are flagrantly wrong, but I snope.com them right back.

They're cool.  They're chilling.  They respect the President of the United States no matter who the President of the United States may be at the time.  Sure, they diss Obama, but I dissed Bush.  It's all good.

I'm very fortunate, in that I can talk politics with my family and still be loved. 

I'm into embracing the right. 

What I'm not into is people who remain ignorant enough that they won't sit back and realize the Civil Rights movement was won when I was born 40 some odd years ago.  What I'm not into is people who think it's okay to bring a gun to a town hall meeting with their senator or rep present, and -- most especially -- their President present.

But, hey....other than that, all is cool with America.  I love the Right.  So long as they love us in return.

I mean...they, do, right?

Republicans Hate America....so they are blocking Health Care Reform

Republicans Hate America....so they are attacking the President

Republicans Hate America....so they want your job to go to China

Republicans Hate America....so they bring guns to Town Hall meetings and health care rallies

Republicans Hate America....so they want YOU to pay more taxes so the wealthy can pay less

Why not add your own to the list, in comments? And why not spread this around, bring it up to your family and friends. Because it truly does seem to me that Republicans Hate America. And that point should be driven home.

Republicans have their soundbites that they use against us all the time. "Death Panels". "Obamacare". "Socialism".

So why not fight back and ask, why do Republicans Hate America??