My Encounter with the typical voting public today:

[Coexist]

I walk into my son's Middle School to sign him out early. I am waiting for my turn at the "Sign-Out Book". The woman holding the pen is saying, "well, where I grew up in New York, we ALWAYS spelled it with an E."

Lady behind desk: "Me too. I'm from Buffalo That is how I have always spelled it. Is it Ask.Com where I look?"

(please keep in mind, I am in a SCHOOL)

Other lady behind desk: "Yes. So you're saying it was Kerry?"

Book lady: "No - it was GORE. Al GORE."

I perk up: "Where in Buffalo are you from?"

Desk: "Grand Island.

Me: "Really, I'm from Lackawanna."

Desk lady 1 can't find what she needs to prove her point, so Book Lady takes her child and leaves. I am now at the book.

Me: "What do we spell differently up there?"

Desk Lady: "Spell 'potato'."

Me: "What?"

Desk Lady: "You add an 'E' to the end, right?"

Me: "No"

(are you still remembering that this is my son's SCHOOL?)

Dawn breaks...

Me: "Are you talking about Dan Quayle?!"

Desk Lady: "Is that who it was?"

Me: "Yeah, you had the wrong party and election."

*sigh*

[redqueen]

1. *weeps*

*weeps some more*

[Coexist]

2. I don't know if I should cry because of their

obvious ignorance of recent history (and eagerness to blame idiocy on Democrats), or their insistence that potato is spelled with an E, and that tuber spelling laws are regional.

[mrcheerful]

4. Well lets just chalk this up to another leave it to beaver episode

and acknowledge that people in this country haven't a clue about life unless it was on one of their sit coms on prime time TV. Yes most are this stupid, leave it to beaver wasn't a sit com it was a documentary on family life of the 50's and 60's.:hurts:

[MindPilot]

7. Is it just me or do you also find it a bit disturbing

that the TV show most widely held up as an example of the perfection and purity that was the good wholesome family values of the fifties has as its main character a boy named "Beaver Cleaver"?

Or maybe I'm just a perv.

giggidy-giggidy...

[mrcheerful]

11. Nope its plenty disturbing for the main fact of the reason behind the main

actors screen name is Beaver, a name given to kids of that time period who had buck teeth. It was a put down to be called beaver, oh look at Johnny he has huge buck teeth just like a beaver. Yeah, things have changed since then like the term beaver, but some of us remember how hateful people could be to those they deemed less human then they.

[Avalux]

3. Ack! You're kidding right??

Because if you're not, and people really are this clueless, we have a hell of a lot of work to do. How depressing - why did they think Kerry or Gore did the potato thing? Why?? :banghead:

[MindPilot]

5. tubr has an 'e'?!

A few weeks ago I got one of those chain mails that list stupid quotes and there were several of Quayle's gems attributed to Bill Clinton or Al Gore, including the story that Al couldn't spell potato.

Neohistory is double plus goodspeak. :D

[Coexist]

9. LOL!

Tubr has an 'e'. You made me giggle loudly.

[NJ_Lib]

6. Oh I am not surprised... I find some of the dumbest people...

... at my daughter's school... Nasty too... I look really young so many times they'll scream and yell like lunatics when they see us together anywhere in the school, until I point out I'm her mother, then their whole attitude is changed. I have a bag-full of teacher horror stories that's just too painful to rehash. God help our kids...

[Coexist]

8. I was actually a sub at this school - I like most teachers there

I am not bashing them - this was admin. staff. The local lady was looking at her like she was insane for spelling it that way. My hometown grew these lovelies (see, not all oddities are from Florida, Mr. Olbermann!)

But the combination of ignorance on such a WIDE variety of topics by these people that I so randomly happened upon had me a bit loopy. Teachers work hard and I don't want to sound like I am ranting on them. Some are great, some are terrible - and I don't want any of their jobs!

Anyhow - It was a strange encounter and I wanted to share.

[neoblues]

14. I think the average citizen...

is significantly dumber than we give them credit for (a pile of rocks is often quite a bit more intelligent).

[MindPilot]

10. They yell and scream at you? The kids think you and daughter are siblings?

I certainly hope it's not the teachers. What sort of things do they say?

[LSK]

12. very sad but not very surprising

But they can tell you all about the OJ Case or missing white girls in Aruba.

[neoblues]

13. We Need to Potatoe Proof the Presidency

and the Vice Presidency (since they might become President at some point)(in many cases, it should probably be known as the Presiduncy).

One cannot help but notice the intellectual giants the Republican Party has managed to elect to high office. George W. Bush's pencil is scarcely a hair sharper than poor Dan Quayle--though he's infinitely more malignant. Dubya's (Shrubya's?) daddy wasn't the brightest bulb in the box either.

Just for fun... (since it's been awhile since we've felt lighthearted enough to bother with Bush's (and similarly handicapped Republicans) humorous propensity to mangle the language)

What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful...
-- Vice President Dan Quayle

To those of you who received honors, awards and distinctions, I say, well done. And to the C students, I say to you: you, too, can be president of the United States.
-- George W. Bush