Overheard at the grocery store yesterday (a great put down)....

[LiberalHeart]

Two young ladies (late teens, early twenties) were working the checkout line -- one as cashier, the other as a bagger. They were talking about their support for the war in Iraq and bad-mouthing the nasty liberals who just don't realize how important it is that we be there "fighting for freedom."

A man who'd been waiting quietly in line finally had enough. He said, "I am guessing you ladies are Republicans."

They told him they were.

He said, "I have a question, then. Why aren't you in uniform?"

They sputtered something back at him but they were speaking at the same time and I couldn't make out what they were saying. Then the guy said, "I'm just asking because you seem to be healthy and able and I was wondering why, if you support the war, you aren't there."

Again, they sputtered in unison so I don't know what they said, but he said, "As I said, I'm just asking."

I left the store then, so I don't know how the little drama ended.

[Juche]

1. Hahahahaha

I love it. Reminds me of part of 'slacker uprising' when Moore has enlistment papers that he shows the pro-Bush protestors, asking them why they aren't actually fighting the war rather than just supporting it.

[FLAprogressive]

2. k+r

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. KICK!

}(

[gopbuster]

4. He had a good head on his shoulders. The worst one for me was...

I was working for a father and son team, religious fundamentalist. The son was about 19 and getting ready for in his first year of school at Oral Roberts. Everyday I would come to work I would make it a point to mention that I was going to print out his enlistment papers off of the internet and bring them for him to sign up. His course of study was to become a youth pastor. Finally one day after confronting him he says to me "I believe God calls certain people to fight in his wars and it is not my calling"

I swear, I thought my jaw was going to drop off of my face. All I could do is say...Ohhhhh, Ahhhhhh. I see, shake my head and walk away.

I didn't work too much longer for them as work started slowing down, but it was tough listening to their BS.

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Ha! He gotcha! He's oh, so wrong, of course, but...

when we liberals gloat over our unassailable logic we tend to forget the other side has unassailable logic, too. In slightly different form, that logic even fits into good ol' pacifist Quaker teachings.

It's not logic that's the problem, it's fundamental beliefs and starting points on both sides that are incompatable.

(btw, I always have a supply of enlistment forms, too-- sometimes it shuts them up)

[gopbuster]

6. What I should have said was......

"Who's THAT? The poor?" Might have made him think but who knows...he was too far gone

[LiberalHeart]

7. I wonder if we're mostly a product of our upbringing.. Sarah was listening to Biden in 2nd grade....

...but I was arguing with another kid about Adlai Stevenson when I was in second grade. I remember that argument like it was yesterday, but it was a lifetime ago. There's no way I would have been following any news re the election when I was that young (I didn't start watching news until Kennedy was shot), so I'm thinking I was brought up in a home where politics were a frequent topic. No other way I would have known Stevenson's name. My mom was a flaming liberal until she discovered Glenn Beck. Now I barely recognize her. My dad always struck me as a conservative in everything but social issues. I remember his spending hours redialing the phone just so he could phone in his vote for a poll our newspaper was running re abortion (he was for it). He kept getting a busy signal but he kept at it for hours.

[Jane Austin]

8. I could only have been three years old based on where this happened,

but I distinctly remember declaiming to my little pals - as we walked down the dirt road that intersected our little street in small town East Texas - "Oh, I like Eisenhower, but he's too old."

I must always have been a self-editor, because I remember cringing slightly at my worldly tone of voice - that self-congratulatory and smug voice of certainty one hears so often in small-town America

That was in 1948, so he didn't run then, but I had heard enough from my booster seat at the dinner table to know that much.

Now I wonder how old Eisenhower was in 1948 compared to McLiar this year.

[Pastiche423]

12. In 1948 Ike was 58 years old

He was 63 when he entered the Oval Office.

[Jane Austin]

13. Wow. that seems young

to me now!

Thanks for looking that up.

[Pastiche423]

15. It seems young to me too!

[LisaL]

9. Do you seriously think she actually listened to his speeches

while she was in second grade?

[LiberalHeart]

11. Nooo, of course not.

[immoderate]

20. It would have been hard.

There was no C-SPAN, and a junior senator from Delaware doesn't get a lot of news coverage.

Surprise, Palin is full of ... ah what's that substance?

--IMM

[roguevalley]

10. God don't need people with yellow stripes up their backsides,

the fuckers. I think I would have punched him in the face.

[IDemo]

14. Sputtering in unison? They could also be Bush/McCain/Palin speech writers n/t

[bertman]

16. You really don't need enlistment papers to put the WarMongers in the hot seat.

Just ask them why they haven't signed up, just like the young man in the supermarket did.

There's always the usual dodge: "I have a family (sick mom, wife, old feeble dog) to take care of." To which you reply: "Well, many of our troops have left their families and friends at home so they can fight in Iraq (Afghanistan). If you are so worried about Muslim extremists taking over the world, shouldn't you be there fighting them too--so we don't have to fight them here?"

I'm still trying to come up with a good response to the alternate dodge: "I can't enlist because I have a bad back (ingrown toenail, halitosis, brain damage, flat feet)."

Maybe someone could help me with this.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. The military does not care

(and at this point they really don't)

[bertman]

21. Good point, nadin.

[felinetta]

17. Thanks for the story.

This is always my comment to these people! They never have a good answer or they'll say why don't you go. And I have to say I never supported this phony war. They always want to put it upon someone else!

[lpbk2713]

19. I'm sure the store must have a policy on employees discussing political issues.

If they were talking in support of Dems or Obama and a wingnut overheard
them they would have been reported to management in the blink of an eye.