It's shiny, happy Dems everywhere
By Beth Teitell
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Beam me up, Scotty: I've entered a parallel universe.
The streets and buildings are the same - Mass. Ave. is still here and so's the Old North Church - but the people, they're just so . . . nice.
Over the weekend, the DNC pulled a native/delegate swap, and now the few remaining locals can't safely walk through the city without encountering a cheerful Hanging ID Tag person.
Frisk me on the T. Deny me entrance to a hotel bathroom. Shut down my highways. Tell me to shove it. I can deal with that. But unprovoked pleasantness? Eye contact? The ``you go firsts''?
We are not prepared for this. Where's Tom Ridge when you really need him? Why wasn't the Midwestern Alert Level raised to red, white and blue?
On Monday, feeling put out by the onslaught of optimism, but fearful that I might be overreacting, I headed to hotel row to conduct a test. Within moments, a New York delegate approached while talking on her cellphone.
``Do you have the time?'' I asked.
I expected a brush-off, since she was a New Yorker, but she ended her call. ``Five to eleven.'' She noticed me eyeing her granola. ``Want some?''
Next, I accosted two Virginia delegates near the Alan Bilzerian boutique on Newbury Street. ``Where's Boylston Street?'' I demanded.
They looked sad. ``We don't know,'' one said, ``but we have a map!''
He started to search for it, but I'd gotten my data. ``That's OK,'' I said. ``Nice to talk to you,'' they called out.
``What are you complaining about?'' a friend asked. ``Just enjoy it.''
Yeah, right. Like fat squeezed by a girdle, the aggression floating around the Boston ether will pop out somewhere.
In fact, it's already blown, first at Fenway on Saturday, when Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek smashed Yankee Alex Rodriguez, and then on Sunday, at the State House, when Teresa Heinz Kerry, obviously irked by all the pleasantness, told a reporter to ``shove it.''
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe this will come to some good, at least for Heinz Kerry.
Her outburst could spark the beginning of a beautiful political partnership, unorthodox, but in keeping with these abrasive times: Cheney/Heinz in '08.
