Things Overheard in a Restaurant

I never intend to eavesdrop, but sometimes I can't help it. Maybe I'm standing next to a pop icon or maybe I'm in France and hear people speaking in English. In those cases, I can't help but overhear. And it's nice to hear Americans -- I seem to be running into them more often these days than in the spring, when the dollar was weaker.

Tonight, I went out for my weekly nice French meal. Seated in the American sector of the restaurant, there was a 50-something couple nearby. They were apparently art dealers, he from Texas and she from France. I heard him discussing politics, saying, "McCain would be better at foreign affairs. He was a soldier -- he knows war. He will get us out of war." I was floored. After all, McCain is the candidate who sang "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" to the tune of "Barbara Ann" at one of his town hall meetings, seems to be itching for a new cold war with Russia, and made that poorly-worded 100 years comment.

Maybe it was the wine I was drinking, but I was about to abandon my mild-mannered persona and introduce myself, when I heard him continue. He expressed a sincere concern for Sen. Obama's safety should he be elected, and then said that McCain could also be a target. "We've got some crazy women and they would do anything to see a woman become president." This was even more of a surprising comment than the first. Granted, he lived through the days of Squeaky Fromme and I did not, but this was a very novel motive for assassination. After Gov. Palin's recent comment on a "Palin-McCain administration," I think the only woman with a gun Sen. McCain has to fear is ... well, I won't say it.

Anyway, after hearing this comment, I returned to my dinner and paid them no further attention.