Close Encounters with Palin Phreaks

Its FREEZING outside today! Well, not quite freezing, as in less than 32 degrees, but really, truly cold! Truth be told it was pretty chilly yesterday, too, and there was rain. The weather caused a funny moment at the museum yesterday. The very small city park located one block behind the museum was the site of a rally for John McCain, starring everyone's favorite Tina Fey impersonator - Sarah Palin!! My assumption is that the McCain/Palin camp knew they wouldn't be able to fill a huge stadium or any of the larger municipal parks in this town, so they chose a small patch of grass that would make the crowd that did show up look a bit bigger than it was. So all morning, we were subjected to blaring music (if I hear Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 one more time I might scream) being blasted from house-sized speakers, and a whole swarm of red-clothed rally-goers who wanted to use our bathroom. Then at almost the precise moment that Palin took the stage, the heavens opened up, and rain poured down, accompanied by gusting wind and those frigid temperatures. It was great! It felt like divine retribution. A few minutes later, the front door of the museum swung open and in walked a middle-aged woman wearing a red cowboy hat, red leather boots, and a T-shirt loudly proclaiming that she was a "Palin Phreak". Myself and the rest of my staff were all standing in the hallway chatting, as we had no other visitors. Our newly arrived Palin Phreak looked at us and said, "Well can I get a tour or what?" to which one of my more liberal tour guides immediately replied, "Absolutely ma'am, come right this way." Now, I knew right away this was a bad combination, but I let it go - maybe I was feeling a little devilish. Half an hour later, the visitor and my guide were heard arguing rather heatedly in one of the back exhibit galleries, and a minute later the cowboy hat came marching back into the hallway, its owner practically shouting about her pasionate devotion to McCain and Palin and all things Republican. My tour guide was close on her heels, and she asked the woman, "Then what are you doing in here - the rally's across the street!" The woman gave the guide a look like she had antenna growing out of her head or something and responded, "To hell with that - its raining out there!". So much for the dedication of Republicans to their candidate.

Thank God there are only 7 days left...