Happy Father's Day

This is my first Father's Day without my dad. He died in March.

He was a rabid Republican. We had knock down drag out fights because he couldn't understand why I wasn't. Through this campaign and my switch from D to I I've thought a lot about him and how he would be pleased, indeed.

The funny thing is that even though my dad professed to be so conservative he was the guy who belonged to country club but knew the staff better than the other members. The guy who cleans the clubs and one of the groundskeepers came to his wake. He would yell at my cousin for having garage sales because he believed you should give things away to people who needed them.

He was a Kennedy from Massachusetts who listened to Rush. The saving grace is that my dad would only listen to about five minutes because then "he would just repeat himself over and over and ran too many ads." He told me in '92 that I was voting against myself because under a Clinton presidency interest rates would raise and I would never be able to afford a house. I never said I told him so when I bought my house with a 15 year mortgage with a 6% interest rate. Needless to say he didn't bring it up, either. He was awfully proud, though, and he let me know that.

So I want to say Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. And if your dad is till around let him know you love him.