November 04, 2005

Carter's Coming

Wendy at Boots & Sabers is tempted to have her kids play hooky next week when President Jimmy Carter comes to West Bend, one of the most Republican* cities in the entire United States.

Ah, childhood memories. My first chance to see a President up close was when President George H. W. Bush rode a train through Wisconsin in 1992. My family and I walked the whole two blocks to the railroad tracks hoping he'd stop to say a few words. Other people in town came out with hand-made signs. The train came from the south. We hoped it would slow down. Still it came closer. Closer. It's speed didn't change a bit. The train barreled through town with the President waving from the back. At least it kind of looked like him. It was such a blur they could have put an older staffer out there and we wouldn't have known the difference.

As for a childhood memory about Jimmy Carter: my mother never lets me forget that when Ronald Reagan beat him in 1980 I cried. Yes, I was a Democrat at six-years old. Over the years I've seemed to have grown up. The Democrats haven't.

"Jimmy Carter, Wal Mart, and West Bend"

*Note I didn't say "most conservative." I won't when Washington County's board voted to subsidize a gigantic hunting and fishing shop cum tourist attraction.