See? You just did it.

Because they are always going to vote for the guy who isn’t there any more.

OK, guys, enough is enough. I just choked Diet Mountain Dew all over my keyboard at the “Rage like W” t-shirt—and that wasn’t even the funniest part of it, which would be the “ ‘Think’ like Ronald Reagan” (inner quotes mine).

Years ago, I had taken my nephew to see Beauty and the Beast right before Christmas. We were at Midnight Mass and he said to me: I liked the one in New York better.

Speaking as one big sister to another: Brava, Venus. Brava.

We go to a town in Maine every summer that has the loveliest library. They have a reader dog program and, at the end of the summer, the dogs and the kids are all invited to the Reader Dog Tea. It is the sweetest event I have ever attended, hands down.

Hey, watch it. I’m from Hoboken!

Oh, Rich, I am so sorry. It’s incredible to me how quickly pets get wrapped into our lives. I have had many dogs over the years and my nieces and nephews can remember the most detailed stuff about them. They are family.

OMG, fangirl noises! I was in an English PhD program in the 1970s—I spoke to Gubar because I was thinking of going to Indiana, where she taught. I am guessing you are (considerably) younger than I am so glad to see that feminist freak flag still waving!

I have to ask—is your name a reference to the Gilbert/Gubar book from the late 70s?

Look further down thread. There is a posting of a Shirley Chisolm button. I am SO OLD that I had that button in my locker in high school.

Believe me, nothing would make me happier than to stop having this stupid conversation. The odds, though, are not in our favor.

Oh, I see where you’re going. So, why do you think it is that there has never been a woman as the Democratic or Republican candidate? Bad luck?

Oh, were they the party’s nominees for President? I thought they couldn’t be because, you know, uterii.

oh, no. I didn’t have to worry because they ALL had penises.

Correct. And it was, in fact, an issue in his re-election—but not because he HAD one. Because he USED it.

Actually, we never checked because, up until then, they were all penis-havers. If we suspected he had a uterus, we would have checked.

And what about Chester Arthur?

Well, up until now, we have voting for people because they had penises.

This sounds A LOT like Rom.