oh dear god ...

... now i've heard it all! i'm up here visiting my parents in what is most politely described as a conservative stronghold. rush limbaugh for breakfast on at least two radio stations, frequent ads for the nra, and more mccain yard signs than i'm willing to count - gives you an idea of what i'm dealing with. well that's all "liberal" banter compared to what i heard tonight. tonight, i was informed that barack obama may, in fact, be an operative placed in the united states by some nefarious source. and this wasn't just a fleeting thought. this man was actually able to articulate a well-developed theory beginning with - who had even heard of barack obama before 2006. i tried to tell him that he was well known to the people of chicago and had even established a state-wide presence in the illinois senate. he would have none of it. he told me that the pictures from that time were probably doctored. to that i countered - "well, using that logic i could easily argue that john mccain was never really a prisoner of war." he told me that was nonsense because we have all seen the pictures. you now see why i disengaged and didn't even attempt to sway his thinking. oh the "315!"