So I wore this Dean T-shirt to a Yankees game...

[opstachuck]

one guy complained about me trying to "sell my opinions". two or three other guys gave me a "Howard Dean sucks" and I got a few "f_ck Howard Dean"'s as well supplemented with their middle fingers. someone jokingly called me a communist, which I took as a complement. Nothing positive. And I actually didn't mind the whole dean bashing because i got some pleasure out of possibly getting under a repub's skin, unless maybe they were feisty supporters of another dem candidate. The thing that bothered me was that someone was pissed off that i was "selling my opinions". maybe if i were wearing a shirt from some major corporation that gets most of their profits using labor from sweatshops i would've been received more congenially. anyway, it just reminded me that alot of americans are fat lazy bastards and would like to be left alone. We're way too apolitical in this country, and today reaffirmed that - another disappointment from our big fat lazy country. actually, i hope they were rabid kerry or kucinich fans, but somehow i doubt that.

btw, i think kucinich is ahead of his time. i think he should be frozen and then thawed in 50 years or so, then we might be ready for him. anyway, just me venting

[Voltaire99]

1. Did you wear the Howard Dean "No Iraq Pull-Out" t-shirt?

Or just the one that pledges your uncritical support of his views?

Just teasing. :-) Actually, the response you got probably says more about baseball fans than anything else. Less fat and less lazy people are to be found outside of the bleachers.

As for putting Kucinich on ice, no need. The Democratic Party would love to ice him for reminding it of how shallow it's become, but it's more than happy to keep him marginalized while letting the appeasers hog the limelight.

[opstachuck]

3. it said "Howard Dean is God and you're all going to hell!!"...

maybe that was the wrong message? actually it was just the standard shirt. i think the democratic party is shallow because alot of americans are shallow and their treatment of kucinich might just reflect that. all i know is that as soon as i start having faith in the promise of american democracy, it gets blindsided by the reality of our saturated idiocy.

[proud patriot]

2. I just wore my DEAN shirt to a CHER concert

No comments either positive or negative . We were to busy
Dancing :bounce:

[pmbryant]

4. Wore my Dean T-shirt to a Mars viewing last week

Got no comments one way or the other. Everyone was too busy looking at the sky, I guess. But I was pleased to see at least one other Dean T-shirt in the crowd as well.

This was the day after Dean's rally here in San Antonio, after all.

:bounce:

On a side note, I just bought Al Franken's book (and Joe Conason's 'Big Lies' as well) at a local Barnes&Noble here in San Antonio. Pleased to find both books prominently displayed in the front of the store. Even more pleased when the clerk looked at Franken's book and said 'That's one I'd like to purchase myself'.

:bounce:

--Peter

[lcordero]

5. If Kucinich is ahead of his time then what does that say about FDR?

REAL Democrats need apply:)

[opstachuck]

6. FDR was an alien wizard from the year 5094...

i think the great depression made people care about their government and their leaders a great deal more than they do today. people are starting to care more now, but that's a reaction to the political climate rather than out of a desire to create a progressive society, imo.

[JohnKleeb]

14. yep cordero

FDR was one of the best if not the best ever. He and the Kennedies are why I dont use wealth as a test although I do admire men like Dennis who were poor kids who became great.

[Doomsayer13]

21. FDR did not run on a New Deal campaign

in fact, he was pretty vauge about what he was going to do in office and promised to balance the budget. It goes to show that even FDR kept politiking in mind when running for President. Only after the New Deal gave confidence in the people did he use it to his advatage for re-election.

[George_Bonanza]

7. Politics seems like a spectator sport

With various teams and leagues, and their fans with their t-shirts. Where is the message/meaning in all this? Sometimes I fear that I'm only in this thing because I want the thrill of winning. But of course, I listen to John Kerry and that is put down.

[opstachuck]

11. It's advertising I guess...

if i could, i'd rollerblade around town in my karate outfit with a boombox blaring a dean speech - that'd be more productive but i'm really not that courageous. it's just sad that people don't really care enough to inform themselves, especially when you spend so much time yourself caring about something that affects those people who don't give a shit.

[specimenfred1984]

8. That was brave, good for you!

It was a baseball game after all, a place where many fans' heads are still stuck in the 1890's, or worse. Plus, it's an environment where the people are predisposed to cheering or booing. It would've been well received if it said "Dean Loves the Yankees, Go America" and you wore a little American flag beanie hat and dressed up like Uncle Sam on stilts!

Ah, the brainwashing continues. How are we (the US) ever going to shrug off the last 100+ years of propaganda?

[Lexingtonian]

9. To us Red Sox fans

the revelation that Yankee fans would generally be Republicans doesn't exactly come as a surprise.

:D

[opstachuck]

10. I think they were pissed they were losing 8-0 in the third n/t

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. well they lost 11-0 today (Ha ha)

so they'd really be in a bitchy mood today.

[JohnKleeb]

15. lol

I am a Orioles fan btw, I am currently a member of ABY for the division, and go Sox.

[TreasonousBastard]

12. The Dean shirt would have been ok...

if you weren't wearing the Mets hat.

[david_vincent]

13. Troubling aspects

If I'd been in your shoes/Tshirt, I'd have been pissed as hell. You must be more even tempered than I am.
What I find disturbing about this is the evident eagerness of people on the right to basically tell their fellow citizens to drop dead. We're all Americans, no matter whether we're Democrats, Republicans, or anything else. But so many Republicans seem to just leap to these positions of, "you had better just shut up and let us run things, or f*** you." They can't stand any dissent at all, which makes them basically weaklings. But my point is that the eagerness with which rightwingers condemn, dismiss, and seek to silence those who disagree with them is not something to be underestimated. Even worse, many of them seem to be completely ready to jettison anyone who's not one of them. And I mean "jettison" literally; they are perfectly willing to be done with their opponents permanently and by any possible means. Does this sound implausible? Think it through... do you really think there aren't neocons in this country who would literally let dissidents starve to death, or have them eliminated, and welcome the prospect with delight? This impulse, one of the mechanisms exploited by the Nazis to gain power, is present in America today.

[burr]

16. It was this spirit that sent Jews to their death...

put the Nazis in power, led former friends and neighbors to betray this trust during the holocaust, and caused moderates and long-time social liberals to look the other way with the belief that this would all eventially just pass over with time.

[DrFunkenstein]

23. You Win The Hyperbole Award!!!

I'm always amazed at how politically useful people find the Jewish holocaust. There are many moments that can be said to embody the spirit of the holocaust. A couple of drunk Republicans at a Yankees game complaining about a Democrat hardly seems to qualify in my book.

I think it is a disservice to those that survived the holocaust (those that did not) to make such banal comparisons. Especially when you are trying to make a cheap rhetorical point about "moderates and long-time social liberals."

[burr]

26. those screaming insults or looking the other way are doing a disservice.

I have yet to see this happen to a "patriotic" white baseball fan with the Bush/Cheney shirt on. But I suppose the neocons don't deserve this treatment.

<http://www.stjohnsprep.org/teachers/d_smith/holocaust/13.htm>

But as you just said, intolerance isn't an issue. Many were accused of overstating the case during the holocaust, but intolerance must not be ignored in whatever form it first appears. Some view ignorance as a mistake, I view it as a direction or a choice.

My point about the liberals and moderates, this was addressing those political elements in Gemany that once supported the Social Democrats and most Catholic voters in Germany who voted for the moderate political parties. Once the Nazis took power, these groups did little to fight the insanity and tyranny of the holocaust or of Joseph Goebbels. It was the Communists who organized the resistance, but they were unsucessful because of the perception or stigma which the mainsteam began attaching to speaking out.

[deutsey]

18. Wore my shirt to DC today

Got lots of compliments and a few threatening looks from people who were usually obese and looked as if they sucked lemons regularly.

[RevolutionStartsNow]

19. Wore my new Dean shirt today

I have a new one that looks like the standard DemStore one but says "Dean for President" on the front and "Want Your Country Back? www.deanforamerica.com" on the back.

At the dry cleaner, a nice older woman asked me where I got it, said she went to the campaign site and couldn't find a place to buy shirts. I told her about DemStore (though there is actually a link on the home page, she must have missed it).

It also gave me the opportunity to tell her about our local website. She said "We just have to do something to get rid of Bush." Heh. :)

[valphoosier]

20. Positive reactions...

I wore my Dean shirt to a Gary (IN) Railcats game a few weeks ago (a democratic part of a Repub state) and I got several positive comments and no negative ones. When I wear my Clinton/Gore shirt (sigh... the good ole days), I frequently get good comments, though, since this is Indiana, I definitely get my share of critical looks.
But, it really doesn't bug me because I know I'm not the ignorant one. :D

[UnapologeticLiberal]

22. Next time, tell them he grew up supporting the Yankees

Just don't say it around my grandfather...when I told him that he threatened to switch candidates!

[JohnKleeb]

25. I wont support Dean because he was a yankees fan

;) lol I am just kidding. BTW who does your grandfather root for the BoSox? Well Dennis K's Cleveland Indians took a potential ACLS from us but they did legitly. You know that Kucinich was a catcher? I didnt know Dean was a fan either. See Dubya youre not the only fan even that ;) nerdy looking Kucinich played sports. LOL and DK was a third string QB at one time.

[Zhade]

24. If it helps...

I wore a Bush-Enron shirt from our very own DU store to work the other day, and about seven or eight people recognized the large "E" logo instantly, and all comments were the same: "That shirt rules!" Even a couple of people who had been more *-leaning in the past warmed up to it. They're starting to come around, and I like to think, in some small way, that my shirts and bumper stickers and ability to share facts with people have all helped.

But I'm vain. ;)