What politicians would you like to have a few drinks with? It doesn't matter if the politician drinks or not, or if you agree with their policies, just if you can picture yourself enjoying a beer (or soft drink) with the person. Some of my random ones from past & present; YES George W. Bush George H.W. Bush Ronald Reagan Ted Kennedy Bill Clinton Joe Lieberman Bob Dole Dan Quayle Zell Miller Gerald Ford John McCain Arnold Schwarzenegger Jimmy Carter Paul Tsongas Mitt Romney Jim Traficant Newt Gingrich NO John Kerry John Edwards Al Gore Dick Gephardt Al Sharpton Richard Nixon Spiro Agnew Mike Dukakis Nelson Rockefeller Henry Hyde Ralph Nader Walter Mondale
What a clever thread. Here's what my list might look like: DEFINITE YES: Howard Dean Rush Limbaugh Al Franken Teresa Heinz-Kerry John Paul Stevens Antonin Scalia Ruth Bader Ginsburg David Souter Anthony Kennedy Sandra Day O'Connor Colin Powell Donald Rumsfeld Dick Cheney Condoleezza Rice Bill Clinton Gerald Ford Paul Wellstone Barbara Jordan Joe Lieberman Ronald Reagan Tip O'Neill John McCain Bob Dole Newt Gingrich Jim Breaux Shimon Peres Yitzhak Rabin Tony Blair Junichiro Koizumi YES: Arnold Schwarzenegger George W. Bush George H.W. Bush Bob Graham Jack Kemp Al Sharpton Jimmy Carter Paul Tsongas Dick Gephardt Hillary Rodham Clinton Haley Barbour Thad Cochran Bennie Thompson Wesley Clark Jerry Falwell Walter Mondale Pat Buchanan Mikhail Gorbachev Silvio Berlusconi NOT PARTICULARLY: Ted Kennedy Al Gore Tom Daschle Richard Nixon Dan Quayle HECK NO: John Ashcroft Ralph Nader Jim Traficant Ann Coulter Vladimir Putin ...and Kerry and Edwards seem to just fall into the category of "no clue" in my book. So hard to gauge folks' personalities when they're the nominated challengers in the heat of an election year. But something tells me that, from the interviews I've seen, I'd get along much better with Kerry than I would with Edwards. Cheers,
For me it would be, Mr. Alan Keys, the man seems to really know his U.S. history and of course, the Bible!! Rich Hartel A.A. in Theological Studies, Trinity College of the Bible (Present)
Definite yes--RFK Definite no--Gus Hall Yes among the living--President G.W. Bush No among the living--Nancy Pelosi
I don't understand the lists people are posting, because there seems nothing distinguishing the 'yes's' and 'no's'. Personally, I'd like to have a drink or ten with any of them. They all sound like they would make an interesting evening. But I guess that my favorites might be Nixon or LBJ. They would have some political war stories that would curl your hair. You would learn where all the bodies were buried (figuratively, or maybe not). CIA directors! Pour some drinks down those guys and get them talking about foreign leaders and loose nukes. Condoleeza Rice. She would be brilliant on any subject. She could explain precisely what's up with Chirac, and then play the piano. She could even talk about higher education and DL! And you know, I'd really like the opportunity to pour some drinks down Adolph Hitler. Get him loosened up and talking freely about his vision of the world. He wouldn't be the ideal drinking-buddy type, but I'd really like to hear the rationale. I mean, how can a guy who probably thought that he was doing the best thing get that twisted around?
Re: Re: The six-pack test Bruce is asking us about our subjective impressions of politicians; it's a good question. I agree that, in the final analysis, I'd probably hang out with any of them. Cheers,
The only nationally-known politician that I had a drink with was Alan Cranston. He was a weekend guest of a family from whom I rented a room when I first came to the U.S. (over 22 years ago). He seemed like a good guy - rambled on about nuclear disarmament.
Tommy Thompson Back when I worked in state government in Wisconsin, good old (then) governor Tommy Thompson was always up for a drink with his "senior management team" (which was pretty much everyone who supervised anyone from high to low in state government). I'll never forget his inspirational Y2K speech, where he urged all of us "senior" managers to make good preparations so we could all get rip roaring drunk on New Year's Eve like Wisconsin people are supposed to do....
Nobody could drink Ted Kennedy under the table in his day. My favorite, though, would be Scalia: sharp wit, acerbic tongue, ability to see through nonsense and expose it to ridicule, good Catholic, so used to a little imbibing (no offense intended, Catholics, you know it's true, and besides, it's no sin in moderation)--I'll bet his rhetoric would soar to the heights after two drinks had loosened his tongue! Overall, the person with whom I'd most like to share a beer is Jesus the Christ. Distant second: Mark Twain.
