Canceled Checks

I was watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County" the other day to kill some time before picking up a gigantic order of buffalo wings downtown. I hate that show, but I watch it both because I am easily entertained and because I like observing rich people so I have more fodder for my middle-class cannon. I wasn't disappointed.

One of the blond women (I realize that doesn't narrow it down much) was going to a fancy fund-raiser for the Republican party. She looked straight into the camera, her leather skin well-tanned and her wrinkly cleavage showing and said, "I am a Republican. I don't really know what that means, but both of my parents are Republicans, so I've checked off 'Republican' on the ballot every year since I was 18." And then she laughed, like what she just said was so totally hilarious.

Let that sink in for a moment.

I remember a Rock the Vote-type television PSA from a few years ago, with all of these young people standing up and saying things like, "I vote because I deserve to be counted" and "I vote because I want to be heard." One kid said, "I vote to cancel out my dad's vote" (or something like that).

With that in mind, mark my words: In 2008, among many other reasons, I am voting to cancel out that particular blond housewife's vote.