I have a friend who describes himself as being to the right of Alaric the Visigoth. We get along well on other subjects, such as the supernal beauty of the Mikoyan Design Bureau's products, the comfort of a tumbler full of good brandy on a cold winter night, and the essentiality of a hickory-grilled steak on a sunny weekend.
But we never got along on politics. This guy can quote chapter and verse from Ann Coulter, whose books (in hardcover, no less) line his shelves. He figures William Buckley is OK - for a crypto pinko, that is - so he's a long-time subscriber to the National Review. He even wrote a message to our mailing list after the early 2005 Iraqi elections, with the phrase "
Squirm, you lefty bastards!". Nevertheless we still got along pretty well, in no small part because we have equally sick senses of humor (trust me, you don't want to know. an ex-girlfriend said we were diseased).
I left a message on his machine a couple of days ago, saying I was calling to gloat... about FedEx changing their order from Airbus to Boeing. He phoned up a little while later and we chatted some. I studiously avoided any trace of a smirk:
"You might like this new crop of Dems. This Jim Webb character fought in 'Nam, worked with Reagan, but said the party had left him so he ran as a Democrat. Tester over in Montana's a farmer, an organic guy y'understand, but he's not some little weedy sumbitch. He looks like he works with his hands. McNerney over in CA-11 is a successful businessman selling wind turbines - that means we import less oil from Abdul bin HatesOurAss. And we have a rear Admiral over in Pennsylvania."
He answered:
"Hey, I'm willing to give them a chance. I went to the Republicans because the party left me, but I'll look at these guys."
"Cool, that's all I ask. I'm looking for one of Webb's books, maybe pass it on after I read the sumbitch."
Then we got into global warming, but that's a whole 'nuther can of worms.