I was working as a reporter in GA in 1989, and interviewed Sam Nunn about the Panama invasion. It’s one of the reasons I left journalism. To be lied to so baldly, and filibustered so thoroughly, was a real eye-opener.

According to Nunn, there was nothing the matter with the U.S. completely abrogating the Panama Canal Treaty, because it was a dumbass treaty to begin with, and after all, what kind of superpower are we if we can’t knock off our own thoroughly compromised despot? I was nauseated and furious when I got off the phone with Nunn - and realized then and there I was not cut out for reporting.

South Carolina sounds like Louisiana. Lived there for 3 months in Metairie many years ago. It wasn’t a good place for a NYC/NJ boy married to a woman at the time who was born in Havana. But it taught me that people are very different in different parts of the country, contrary to what some say.

My wife insisted on packing my lunch every day before I hit the road for work. We both love to cook, so I went to work with a well built sandwich, a hot side of some sort, little containers with olives, or some cranberry sauce, a nice hunk of cake and some cookies…good solid food that made for a hearty lunch while I read the editorial section of the Charlotte Observer…

The looks I got! The rest of the crew was bringing in things like a dinnerplate full of Mac & Cheese, covered with saranwrap…or what they referrred to as “Hamburger-steak” which was nothing more than a pan-fried hamburger patty, ready to reheat in the microwave, along with all of the expired ketchup packets you wanted to squeeze…

Slim probably knows what scrapple is, if you don’t, Google it… Imagine a thick slice of scrapple between two slices of wonderbread smeared with as much Kraft Miracle Whip as the bread could absorb….mmmmmmmmmmmmmm….Good cracker!!

Now THAT is a South Carolina power lunch!!

I had a welder walk into the lunchroom one day, took a look at my spread, and said:

“I kin tell by the way yoo eet, you ain’t frum ’round here…Yoo onea them Yankee Boys, aintcha?”

I swear to you, it doesn’t matter if you live in South Carolina for 50 years, if you were not born there, you are an outsider, and always will be.

In case you folks are curious, my idea of a good Democrat is former Senator Sam Nunn. I’ve met him personally, he’s one hell of a good man, and I really do think there would be a Cabinet position for him in a future Administration, as long as it isn’t a Clinton…

I have seen Kucinich speak twice in person. The first time was here in Vancouver in a church shortly after the 2004 election. I came away thinking church leadership was quite possibly a much better place for him than Congress.

The second time was in Portland a couple of months ago. Again I was not impressed with the man.

It is frustrating because he is so correct on the issues and I want to support him. Ergo why I went to see him speak.

But there is something intuitive that strikes me wrong about him. My spouse was big on him also until she saw him speak for the first time with me a couple of months ago. She said afterward that she would not vote for him.

It is funny that very often it is not the words that matter (he has all the right words), it’s something else unsaid. Kind of like music is as much about the silence between the notes.

Re: NC, my sisters are in Mecklenberg County, too (Davidson & Charlotte), and they love Edwards. When he was a senator he was integral to getting some National Institutes of Health funding passed on brain injury research, which is my brother-in-law’s area of expertise; J. spoke with Edwards repeatedly on the legislation and came away very impressed with his grasp of the subject matter.

But NC is almost as deeply partisan as SC, so it doesn’t surprise me that Edwards would generate diverse opinions there.

Now, tell the truth: do you think that “Breck Girl” would be the slur of choice if Edwards was a Republican?

I disagree with you about Dennis the Menace. I hail from Northeast Ohio, stil know a lot of people from up in that area, and I have direct experience that Kucinich is bad news, (to be a lot more polite about it than my faimily and friends are….

When he was the Boy Mayor of Cleveland, the City announced one winter that there were over one million unfilled potholes just inside of the city limits, and not counting any of the suburbs, the City had no money to pay to repair them, so stop bitching about it…

Dennis Kucinich is a Moonbat of the First Degree, and I cannot imagine any Cabinet position he would be suitable for unless we can ensure he goes on the first flight back to Mars; in which case I’d park him at NASA to prepare for the mission…

Seriously, I think Dennis would benefit greatly from a good, hearty steak dinner followed by a good dump, or maybe some lambchops, extra rare…

And the rest of my family hails from Union County North Carolina (that’s right…Brother Jesse Helms Country, God Bless us all!!) so don’t even get me started about what my Brother in Charlotte thinks about the Breck Girl…