"The worst thing about this country is that nobody ever asked me how to run it" --My Grandma

It's late at night. I haven't been up this late in......well, a little over a week when I was taking the Greyhound from Vegas. So, really not too long, but it feels like longer. I'm reading Bill Clinton's book (as you can see from my book list). He's a marvelous story teller. I'm only, like, 20ish pages into it but I really like what I've read so far. He has a way of writing that just makes me want to curl up and keep reading until the book is done. Unfortunately the book is many many many pages long and weighs a ton, so this is kind of hard to do. As a liberal (at the moment a very leftist liberal), I adore Bill Clinton. In an age where having at least one mistress is practically a pre-requisite for running for public office, I wish we could have had him for a third term instead of getting stuck with Colonel Thieving Blankface (see the end of Farenheit 9/11 for reference). I know Clinton committed perjury and that sucks, but really--he did amazing things for this country, most of which have almost been completely undone by the current Undo-astration. That being said.... As a bookseller..... I am almost resentful of this book. Everyday people come in and ask me how this book is selling and I have to take a pause to size them up before I answer them. Unfortunately "Ultra Right Wing Conservative Bush Supporter" isn't nearly as easy to sniff out as "My parents were siblings." What I try to do is stay as close to neutral as I can (good training for a career in politics--too bad I believe in clean living and monnogamy) but even that usually ruffles feathers and the asker ends up trying to provoke a debate, which I am not allowed to enter on the grounds that I am a representative of my company. Just once I would like to say "Not nearly enough for such a great man" and see what happens, but I think if I did my boss would pass out. So many people seem friendly enough and then turn around and start spewing Anti-Clintonisms untill their words run together and form one big long Elephant Call. (What do you call that noise they make?) I can't help but wonder if these people feel a bit run over by all of the loud angry liberalism that is starting to take center stage and just want to have their say with whoever will listen; or are they worried that not only should they start paying attention to the goings on of their country but that they will discover things that do not paint their beloved administration in a very good light. In fact, learning about what has been happening might cause them to leave their cherished President in the dark to mold. This book is not going to single pagedly bring down the House of Bush. I don't even know if that is what it is trying to do because I haven't read the whole book yet. What I want to know is, why are people so up in arms about Bill Clinton's book and angry about it's publication, but when Sean Hannity came out with his book "Deliver Us from Evil" (guess what the Evil is) nobody said a darn thing? Even I tried to read the thing. I couldn't make it past the dust jacket but I still tried to read it. Why is it that people who hate liberals/democrats/are pro-Bush are so quick to denounce those who don't agree with them, and the people who are liberals/democrats/are anti-Bush are so quick to learn the other side of things and go on their merry way? Is this how it really is or do I just see things this way because I am a liberal so other liberals agree with me which makes them less abrasive? Why is it that each side sees the other as deluded and blind, yet instead of trying to help each other understand they just beat each other with why they think the other side is wrong? I do it myself--check out my name calling earlier in this post. I don't really want to be compassionate of the guy who, I believe, is running my country into the ground and undoing everything that My beloved President (hounddoggy though he may be) accomplished. The only thing that makes me different from those fascist Oilmongers is.....well........I'm right. And off of my soapbox I go.