Roger L. Simon Comes Out Of The Closet

Roger comes clean:

But sometimes I come out of the closet. Last night I was at a dinner party... yes, it was in Hollywood where I live, but it wasn't particularly glamorous, just normal big city folks getting together. Not all the people worked in the Industry and those that did were more on the workaday side. The people had come together through our children - we were all parents from the same school - and the kids played in the next room while we ate, drank and talked. Naturally, the subject of the election came up and I decided - maybe it was the vodka - to let it rip and say I was voting for Bush. One woman shrieked at the top of her lungs. The others just looked at me in incredulity.
I don't think it's bragging to say I knew more than these people about politics. (I have to - I am the one putting out opinions in public.) But that didn't stop me from shrieking back at the woman. Others joined in and it became for a few moments a battle of who could yell the loudest. But after a bit it quieted down and they stared at me curiously. These people did not know me well, but they knew I was a writer and they wondered how such a person could be voting for this man they reviled. We began to discuss. You will not be surprised to learn that most (not all) of them were not very well informed. Their view of the world was heavily influenced by the Six O'Clock News, a Dan Rather vision of reality. The UN Oil-for-Food Scandal was some kind of dim reference that some of them (sort of) recognized. What it implies, of course, they had never thought about.
I can't say I changed anyone's mind. How that happens is mysterious anyway. But a couple of them at least listened to my views. One woman I think pretty much got them, though she didn't fully agree. To the woman who shrieked, it remained "But there were no WMDs!" I am, however, glad I opened my mouth - and not just because it was therapeutic.

I am strongly into the daily news cycles and can debate with the best of them, however I don't talk politics with people who don't pay attention to what's going on in the world or I don't know that well. It's not worth it to explain UNSCAM or Rathergate to people who really don't give a damn. These are the people who shouldn't waste their time voting since they are just plain uninformed. I tend to find the most informed people on the right side of the spectrum however.