Political Figure Sightings anyone?

[seigus]

Ran into former Texas governor Ann Richards at Austin City Limits once. I was surprised that she was by herself.

[notalwaysright]

No sighting, just a little story. A while ago the president was in Seattle, and I was living an hour south of there. My mom and I were outside admiring her garden, and we hear a loud boom! You could feel it in your chest, it was so strong and scary. Then another boom! So we go inside (like that would save us if it was a nuke, lol) and try to see what it was.

Turns out a small plane entered the restricted airspace around the president and fighters were dispatched to intercept. Article. So they were sonic booms.

[mjr]

Anybody else have any sightings of political figures, either US ones or otherwise?

I have, actually. A few times.

Congressman Joe Barton.

Never talked to him, though.

[Victory Sabre]

Tons, but I used to be involved in politics, so it's no big deal to me.

[Racket_Man]

If you want to call it a sighting (maybe ).

I used to live in a more rural area of Cheeseheadland Central just past the airport. THe US President was (wonder of wonders) visiting our little corner of the country. I got to watch Air Force One take off from my backyard

[wolfie]

I got to watch Air Force One take off from my backyard

You'd think they'd use the airport rather than some random person's backyard.

[Racket_Man]

You'd think they'd use the airport rather than some random person's backyard.

FUNNY (NOT)

[Lovecats]

We had a friend who was the crew chief on Air Force One at Andrews AFB. We were stationed at Mcquire and when we went down to visit we actually got a tour. That's the closest I've ever gotten to a political figure.

[catcul]

My grandfather was on the city council of Carolina Beach at one time. He never pursued a higher office.

[Gilhelmi]

Back in the early 90's, my father meet a Democrat who was running for the State Senate. My dad, a proud lifelong Democrat, thought this man was bat-shit crazy. He ended up losing (thank God). This man would go on to found the Westboure Baptist Church, and be a major pain-in-my-ass 20 years later. (I still refuse to type his name, you know who I mean, you are on the internet)

Gov. Kathleen Sibilious (sp? former Health and Human Services director), was raised in our area. She lost a lot of support when she went to Washington after promising to stay and lead Kansas through a rough economic period. But, she also convinced my Great Aunt that women can lead as Governor. After the Greensboro tornado, she insisted on more aid (because the Guard was stretched thin with Iraq and Afghanistan) from President Bush, who then activated the Army Reserve to help in Kansas. Something unheard of at the time.

[Nashida]

My best friend works on Martha's Vineyard through the summer with her boyfriend so she spent quite a bit of time in Obama's presence. She sent me a few choice shots of him playing golf.

The worst was when she was trying to drive to work and got stuck in his motorcade, she got a police escort after that.

[Cia]

Saw Jimmy Carter when he came through my hometown when he was running for POTUS. He was meeting people at a park near my house.

[Ben_Who]

This state's pretty small, so it's actually quite easy for a politician to get his face out there. The result is that most people in Maine have met a prominent political figure. First one I remember was Governor Brennan, back in the 1980s; my Mum pointed him out to me. I said, "Well, let me just go tell HIM a few things," and she grabbed my arm. I wasn't serious, and I don't think she thought I was, but better safe than sorry.

When I went to the National Scout Jamboree in 1985, they always begin with a big open-air concert. The headliner was the Beach Boys, who already sounded kind of rough thirty years ago, and - this was a thrill-a-minute choice - Up with People. Who, for some reason, FOLLOWED the Beach Boys. The programming directior should have been slapped. Usually, the President of the United States gives a brief address to the crowd, but that was the year that Reagan was in the hospital, so the White House sent along Nancy instead. They could have just sent along a cardboard cutout and a recording of her "Just say no" speech, which the nation was already lavishly sick of.

I met Senator William Cohen on the Capitol Steps in 1983. When I was dabbling in journalism (I was young and needed the money), I met most of the candidates during the election cycle, including finagling a pass to a meet-and-greet with then-President Clinton. I was also at one of Ralph Nader's book signings, and I was seen on television getting a hug from 94-year-old "Granny D" after casting my ballot in 2004.

In 2008, I was waiting in line to vote in the primaries, which was a mob scene because of the profile of the candidates. The lines were literally around the block. A commotion broke out behind us - it was Congressman Tom Allen, trying to get to the front of the crowd. I couldn't resist: I said, "Hey, no cutting in line!"

My Dad was a printmaker, and a hell of a lot of local candidates used his services - someone's got to provide the infestation of lawn signs that litters every public space starting around April. My mother, who managed the company, had strong opinions on candidates from BOTH parties, since they knew them all personally - what they were like, how demanding they were, how ignorant they were of the printmaking process, and - this would fill a tell-all - which ones paid their bills on time, and which ones needed to be sued,

[wolfie]

My Dad was a printmaker, and a hell of a lot of local candidates used his services - someone's got to provide the infestation of lawn signs that litters every public space starting around April. My mother, who managed the company, had strong opinions on candidates from BOTH parties, which ones paid their bills on time, and which ones needed to be sued

From your description here, it sounds like there were a lot more candidates than there were places to get signs made. In a situation like this, it's stupid for a candidate to not pay his bills on time, unless he doesn't plan to run in future elections. Would be a simple matter for your father to refuse service to anybody he'd needed to chase down in a previous election. After all, what candidate wants to go without lawn signs? They wouldn't be able to take action against him for refusing to print their signs (at least, not without making themselves look bad BEFORE the election). After all, "doesn't pay bills on time" isn't a protected class, and if his criteria for deciding whose order to accept and whose to reject were "Paid their previous bills on time" vs. "Had to sue them to get the money for their previous jobs", rather than whether their name were followed with "R", "D", or "I", it's not discrimination on the basis of political affiliation.

[paxillated]

Secretary of Transportation Frederico Pena, at the opening of Denver's new airport. He gave a speech to us FAA pukes.

I went to school in Washington DC with a lot of politicians' kids. Joseph Kennedy Jr. was in my grade.

A much sadder one. My mother, sister, and I stood on Connecticut Avenue to see (and mourn) as JFK's funeral went by. That was a quiet day in Washington.