"I Hope She Would Lose by About 100 Percent"

Talking to my dad about politics at lunch at the local Denny's.

My dad doesn't get out much anymore because he can't drive. So, I take him to Denny's, his favorite restaurant, about three or four times a week for lunch or dinner. He likes Denny's because it's one place he always remembers, he knows exactly what he wants off the menu, and he can flirt with the waitresses.

And sometimes we talk about politics.

In the old days, Dad and I clashed whenever anything political came up in conversation. I was a liberal as a teenager and young adult, and some of our arguments became quite heated. Over the years, my politics evolved and I became much more conservative. Now, we can have a political discussion that tends to be quite amiable. It's one of the things that I think my mother would have been happy about, had she lived long enough to see Dad and I at these frequent Denny's lunches.

Even though Dad has Alzheimer's, I still like talking to him about politics and whatnot. He's still a fairly good barometer of political weather. This year, he told me he wasn't going to vote. I asked him why.

"What for?" he responded. "I don't see much difference between Republicans and Democrats. What difference would it make who I voted for?"

It was then that I knew the Republicans were in trouble.

But today, the subject was women in politics.

"They've come a long way, really they have," said Dad. "I guess since the 1970s, they've started making a pretty good climb up the ladder politically."

"Yeah, Pop. We could have a woman president in 2008," I answered.

He laughed a real hearty laugh at that. "Oh, I hope she would lose by about 100%," he said. "If Hillary is the one you're talking about."

Dad doesn't pay too much attention to politics or news anymore, although he does try to keep up with the war in Iraq since one of his granddaughters is married to a soldier stationed there. But I thought it was interesting that, for all that my father isn't easy to excite these days, the topic of Hillary Clinton will still get him going.

"Her and that husband of hers, well, they just about run this country in the ground," he said. "I'd be mighty sad to hear she was in charge."

I smiled and drank my tea, thinking to myself that there will be a lot of people who are mighty sad if she wins.