Henry

So, I was listening to a radio talk show this afternoon and someone phones in who I'll call "Henry"... He tells the talk show host, "I'm a white Republican and I will be voting for John McCain. I'm not a racist. I work and socialize with a lot of black people. We debate the issues all the time and we have just agreed to disagree."

The talk show host asked him... "Okay Henry, why are you voting for John McCain? What policies of his do you think make him the viable candidate?" Henry said... "Well, I don't actually know about any of his policies. I haven't really heard him talk about any policies but, he is a Republican, I'm a Republican, my father was a Republican, and my grandfather was a Republican. More or less, that's what it comes down to for me."

The talk show host was exasperated (I was too) and he then attempted to connect with Henry from another angle. He said... "So, you haven't read anything about John McCain's views? No newspaper articles, no Magazines, or anything?" Henry replied... "No, I don't read all that serious stuff. I just read the sports and the comics the few times I do read the paper."

The talk show host then asked him about Barack Obama and he replied... "I just think he's a little too liberal, that's all. Me not voting for him has nothing to do with him being African-American."

The talk show host asked him was there anything specific about Barack Obama that he found objectionable and Henry answered..."Well, he's for universal health care." Then, the host said... "And, you're not?" Henry answered... "No, I'm not for any health care at all." Then, there was complete silence. (I'm scratching my head at this point.) Henry then back tracked and said, "I'm for going to the doctor but, the government shouldn't tell me when to go." (Okay, now I'm ready to turn the radio off at this point.)

The talk show host then ran down the educational backgrounds of all the candidates... Barack Obama graduated from Columbia with a BA in Political Science, minor in International Affairs, and got his J.D. from Harvard; Joe Biden got his BA in Political Science from Delaware State College and his J.D. from Syracuse University; John McCain finished 894th out of 899 students at the Naval Academy in Annapolis; while Sarah Palin attended five different colleges before she got her BA in Journalism.

The talk show host then asked Henry if he thought that the future leader of the free world should be "smarter" than the average citizen to which Henry said... "No, it doesn't matter if you're smart or not, as long as you care about this country."

The talk show host, still exasperated (so was I), said..."Come on, Henry. I know you are not that naive. Come on, Henry." Henry said, "Who says you have to be smart? George Bush was an average student and he is doing a pretty good job." (My head was hurting at this point and I turned to another radion station.)

Now, I know that Henry does not represent the average John McCain supporter. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and I'm sure that, in all fairness, there is probably an Obama supporter out there who may be equally as stupid but, at least, I didn't hear them on the radio today. There's an old quote that I've heard many times throughout my life and I know that it applies here...

Quote: "It is better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."