I regularly play poker with a group of conservative gentlemen here, and there is almost always a brief topical discussion of things that just bug the crap out of Republicans.  The meat of the discussion isn't always what is said, but rather how it is said.  There is one guy in particular who gets really angry in a little bit scary way when he talks about the president..

One of the topics this week was about the first lady's staff.  The media is reporting 22 people in the household staff, which eclipses Laura Bush's 17.  Of course there was no mention of Mrs. Bush at the poker game, only how awful it was for the current first family to be so wasteful.  Personally, I figure they need a few extra for protection.   Anyway..

The next thing on the minds of my associates was something they evidently heard from Glen Beck about the White House trying to keep tabs on media misinformation on health care.  I'm not sure why this would push any buttons, but the guys were comparing it to Stalin and Hitler.  Literally. 

You may wonder why I would play in such a game with such hateful people, and the only defense I have is that I enjoy playing poker, and I've been able to donate some winnings from the game to worthy democratic candidates over the last couple of years.  I have to add that this only lasts about 20 seconds a night, and then it's gone.  They are all fairly pleasant the rest of the time, even though I know there is anger just below the surface. 

I confess I can't really be confrontational with them.  The most I ever do is ask pointed questions.  For example, when one guy decries socialism,  I might ask him, "weren't you a career military guy?  Right, I thought so." or "You use medicare, don't you?"

I gave up trying to be rational with this group and other's like them a long time ago.  My father was such a person, and I could literally show him the encyclopedic proof for my fact based argument to which he would reply, "that's just wrong" or something like that.  There is just no convincing the conservative mind, and it is terribly frustrating to spend any energy on an argument when it never works.

I've decided to post this weekly report here on TPM to let folks know what's on the minds of the typical old white guys that make up this group.  This is also an invitation to any readers out there to suggest how you would approach this situation.