Political Tuesdays - We Have Met the Enemy, and He is Us

It was a frustrating night, knitting at Starbucks.  First off, I discovered I had left the directions for the shawl I was knitting at home.  I suffer from Monday Night Brain anyway, so I decided to start a pair of socks with yarn and pattern I did have in my knitting bag.  I made it through Judy's Magic Cast-on and was trying to knit the first 2 rows, when the conversation around the table turned to politics.  Not real politics, though.  Things like, "Vote-by-mail is awesome" and telling Ron Wyden so on Twitter and how many new followers she got as a result (seems like a lot of interest in Oregon voting for a Washington resident, but I said nothing).  And how someone's husband donated to the Obama campaign last time around and now they keep sending stuff (surprise!) like autographed pictures of Joe Biden.  I may have said something just mildly snarky at this point, but the general sentiment seemed to be that Biden embodies silliness.  He was right up there with the Ron Paulites in their minds... which is pretty close to the way I feel actually.  I did observe at one point (I had long since abandoned hope of getting any knitting done) that the Republican convention had the edge because they were the only one with balloons.  And what fun is a convention where only confetti drops from the ceiling, no balloons?!

Then an older woman piped up, "It's no one's *%$ business how you vote.  It should be secret!"  A sentiment I somewhat agree with, especially when with knitters.  Nobody should really bring up politics in knitting groups, it never ends well.  We'll just admire each others' yarn and patterns and stick to trivialities, and all will be well.  But then the same woman went on to say, "All politicians are the same, they just want power for themselves. They're all liars, every single one of them!"  It does make me wonder, why anyone who really believed that would bother to vote at all, secret or not.  That much cynicism surely cannot be healthy.  As for me, I'm planning on cheerfully voting for people that I believe are telling me the truth, and I agree with the vast majority of their stated policies.  But I surely miss living in a state where my vote actually matters.

I heard that President Obama sided with the Green Bay Packers and against the Seattle Seahawks in their disputed game.  I wonder if he's so sure of Washington State that he doesn't care if he ticks off the Seahawks fans, just so he can become more competitive in Wisconsin?  Probably so.  It's nice to know that he's keeping his full attention on the political situation, and avoiding petty distractions like a nuclear Iran or the jobless rate.  Oh, and he's keeping his interview skills sharp with the ladies on the View, while keeping those tiresome world leaders in their place by not meeting with them.