Political views aired over cups of java
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By Bill Wundram | Friday, September 19, 2008 |
Voices rise and fall, like steam off their white coffee cups … 7:30 a.m. and the Political Roundtable is in session on the shady side of 17th Street in downtown Rock Island.
Out front, a man is sweeping the sidewalk. I ask him what he thinks about the election. He points a thumb inside Theo’s Java Club and says, “Ask them.”
Roundtable members begin their day, daily, at Theo’s. I sit with them to get the drift of the presidential race. That is a mistake. At 9 a.m. I leave. There is no objective reality that I can discern.
It is really quite subdued, and predictably, these guys have only one thing on their minds — politics. Anything else is unimportant. They must have been born while their mothers were standing in voting booths.
As kids, they were not weaned on the funny papers. They must have been taught to read from the Washington Post.
Dr. Ted Grevas, a physician, is the most vocal in the group. He shoves a copy of the day’s Investor’s Business Daily under my nose.
“Read this,” he insists. It is a headline that says, “What does Obama have to offer aside from smooth talk and adoring crowds?”
There are nods around the table.
There is much adoration for McCain. John Meenan, a retiree, is disturbed when even Obama’s name is mentioned. He pours his third cup of coffee. So much coffee is downed at this Political Roundtable that they have their own big jug of java.
“My coffee house has no affiliation,” says the owner, Theo Grevas, son of the vocal Dr. Ted. “We have GOP doughnuts and Democrat muffins. Customers have a choice.”
At the end at the roundtable — round in name only because it is oblong — sits the major domo, Stewart Winstein. He is an attorney, a wise man of 94, born when Woodrow Wilson was president. Wilson was a Republican. Winstein wears an Obama cap.
“I’m a Democrat,” he says, “and I sit here trying to educate these Republicans.”
His only ally at the morning coffee table is Richard Leibovitz, Rock Island County clerk. Leibovitz has little to say, but acts proud to be a Democrat. It’s odd that this roundtable would be so Republican. Rock Island County is a Democrat bastion; 24 of the 25 members of the county board are Democrats.
At the morning roundtable, the eight guys (no women) are sometimes talking all at once. I can’t keep track of what they’re saying, but it is only politics. There is even a rumor in the room that Biden is going to drop out of the race and will be replaced on the ticket by Hillary Clinton.
I innocently interrupt that she is a smart woman. That is an insult. The Republicans at the table believe that Palin is a wiser woman, a practical candidate. A voice says that she is “as rich as cream” for the Republican party.
“McCain is the one,” says Jim Patten, an entrepreneur businessman. “The country needs someone like McCain.” Grevas confesses that he once was a Democrat, but pulled out of the party when Harry Truman wanted to socialize medicine.
GETTING MY BELLY full of all this political talk, I ask if there isn’t something else in life except politics. The only agreement is that the Cubs are going to win the World Series.
Wanting a decision, I raise the question: Who’s going to win the White House?”
It’s not a close call. It’s 6-2 for McCain. Meenan sounds reluctant to admit, “But it might be close.”
Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.
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