AxeMan recently had a dinner guest from the Euro Zone. Deeply concerned about the state of the economy in her own country (not France) and the possibility of Americans electing Mitt Romney (inconceivable to her) she told a story about a conflict she had while driving in the mid-west with an American academic colleague during the Reagan-Carter election. She was supportive of Jimmy Carter, though she

could not vote. The colleague was less so. On and on he went about Carter’s ineptness. Finally, totally frustrated and angry,

she yelled, “Okay. You have on the table a plate of lentils and a plate of shit. Maybe the lentils are over or undercooked. Maybe they need salt, maybe they need some pepper, but they are lentils. Lentils! You have a plate of lentils and a plate of shit. And you are starving. Which do you eat?AxeMan thought this could be good to keep in mind during the next several months.  He recalled a time when a venerable old labor leader he’d had a great deal of respect for said,  “There’s no difference between the Democrats and the Republicans.” He also said, “Not voting is a vote. Nader is saying the right things. If he fucks it up for Gore, then tough shit.” Friends of the labor leader had actually asked him to try to talk Nader (whom he knew well), into dropping out of the race. “I’m not getting involved,” he said, “and Ralph doesn’t listen.” So AxeMan is thinking; in 2000 Gore lost Ohio because he was afraid of the environmentalists (How weird is that?). He didn’t carry Tennessee, his home state. And he lost Florida to the butterfly ballots and the Supreme Court. Ohio alone could have won him the election. There’s shit, there’s tough shit, and there’s lentils. AxeMan likes the President, as does the guest from the Euro Zone. And though he is a little fussy about his lentils; Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose?