In the spirit of reaching across ideological lines yesterday, I spent a part of my early afternoon having a cup of coffee with a "right wing" blogger from my own hometown, at my wife's place of business. Well, I drank coffee while she drank her Diet Coke, but it is important to note that neither one of us was drinking "kool-aid". I was looking forward to meeting her. Although, she normally blogs "right" while I blog more to the "left" (unless we are talking about Iraq, or "Gitmo" of course), we share some things in common. Most of you have noticed I don't play the "DNC Talking Points Memo" game. Well she doesn't look to see what the right-wingers are blogging about before she selects her topics either. When she's frustrated with the liberals, she often, respectfully makes the distinction between the classical Liberal and the "far-leftists" who've infested the DNC. My kinda people, even if we don't always agree on an issue-to-issue basis. In fact, as a long-time fan of her blog, it was these traits that made me often wonder if she might be somewhat of a "closet liberal" and just didn't know it yet. She, on the other hand, like many of my other "blogger buds", had wondered if I were a "closet conservative". I cannot speak for her, but I can tell you that after meeting her in "real life", I am thoroughly CONVINCED that Ms. Beth Cleaver, of "My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy", is exactly as advertised. She is a SPIRITED conservative with a heart of gold. More than that, she is a dedicated, "died in the wool" Republican Party loyalist who wants to make a difference in her Party. Believe you me; NOBODY is going to change Ms. Beth, and believe you ME; she is DEFINITELY NOT a "closet liberal" to all you right-wingers out there who think that maybe she IS one deep down. I realize it may not be your policy to trust a Liberal, but trust me on THIS one. I have all the information I need now to go on the record to predict she will live, and die a Republican. We talked about blogging; lots of talk about blogging. Trackbacks (she explained to me what they were), click-through ads, blog makeovers (something MY blog desperately needs, of course), and blog traffic. We talked politics; first the handful of common issues we both blog passionately for. Then, issues we disagreed on. It was THESE issues where my respect grew even stronger for Beth. Not ONCE did she tell me I was "wrong". She listened to my opinions, asked me to elaborate a few times, then would offer her points of view as I listened, in turn. I enjoyed listening to her differing points of view (mostly on social issues, as you can imagine), and why she believed that way. To ME, it just felt like a couple of neighbors "shooting the breeze" together, with no underlying agendas of any kind poisoning the air. In fact, I felt like she was SINCERELY HOPING the three of us (including my right-leaning wife from time to time as business allowed her to participate) could find the solutions to those issues somewhere in the "middle", arrived at by and between all of us; tossing the differing ideologies aside. Let me tell you something else about Ms. Beth. She is a HERO to anybody who's been dealt a bad hand in life, but don't try to tell HER that. After meeting her in "real life", it is no wonder to me why she has so passionately embraced the conservative ideology. Despite being handed a lemon in life, she has managed to take America's many opportunities and has made delicious lemon-aid with them. MY words and observations, NOT hers. While she agrees some people may need help from time to time, she is NOT interested in any type of handouts for herself, and she makes it very CLEAR with no "gray". She is also a brave, young Veteran of the United States Air Force. As we chatted and chain-smoked together, our meeting came to a close when it was time for her to leave for her appointment with her doctor. I could have easily sat and chatted with her for a few more hours; she was THAT personable. In fact, in the spirit of being the true "right-winger" she is (i.e., "stealing from the poor and giving to the rich" - just KIDDIN', Beth!),when she turned to leave, she nonchalantly grabbed my cigarettes and lighter and just stuffed them into her purse. Nice try, Beth ;-) If you've never read her blog, you really SHOULD. What you see is exactly what you get with Ms. Beth, and her "MY Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" blog. I've often wondered how many people express their TRUE personalities within their blog archives, but I'm here to tell you that Ms. Beth does exactly THAT. It took about 10 seconds for me to feel as if I've known her for months because she IS who she is in "real life", as she is on her blog. So anyway, that is how I spent my early afternoon yesterday. I hope to have another cup of coffee with her soon. I also hope to meet the rest of y'all someday in the not-so-far off future. If this was any indicator, I'm sure we would all have a blast together, regardless of our political leanings. Nice to meet you, Beth! Question: have any of y'all met a fellow blogger in "real life" yet? How did it go? Other bloggers who are linking to this post