Does the bumper sticker make the man?

Now that the fires have died down here in San Diego, it is largely business as usual in our great town and county. I wanted to convey a story about an experience I had with a liberal while driving. I posted this story on KLSD, but I doubt they will play it or mention it over the airwaves.

People who read this blog locally may have heard of AM 1360 KLSD's attempt at right wing bashing with their "sticker wars", which began over an alleged firing of a woman due to her sporting a bumper sticker for the radio station. Assuming the story is true, she has a right to sue her employer and I hope she did. I could not find any updates to the story, but will keep looking.

Anyway, on occasion, I would hear someone call regarding something horrible being done to them, for nothing more than sporting a KLSD bumper sticker on their car. Morning host Stacy Taylor and his band of jovial clowns would eat the story up like it was cake! While I believe some of the stories may have some merit, I have no doubt that many were completely bogus and many were largely over exaggerated. This area has plenty of independent publications which would love to pick up on stories just like this, yet I have not really heard of any others.

About a week ago, around 5pm, I was driving home from a class I am taking. As I merged on the 15 freeway, I began to get ready to cross over the few lanes that are added from the 8 West to 15 North merge about 1/2 a mile after my merge. The first exit is Friars road, and you have to move over to at least one "merge" lane to get off. I have been close to being hit a few times by drivers who merge and do not pay attention to those of us already on the 15, so I am always careful here.

Today was no exception. A van had just moved onto the 15 from the 8 and as he passed me on the right, he began to move into my lane. Now mind you, he saw me as he passed me and when he started to move over, the front of my car was about parallel with the driver side door, so he was not even close to being in front of me. As he rolled into my lane, I had to swerve into the next lane and I honked my horn. He then moved back into his lane and as I pulled next to him, he began shouting inside his card and flipped me the middle finger. I responded by smiling and giving him a hearty wave. Nothing more than a friendly wave.

I then proceeded to pull ahead of him and merged over. Mind you, I did not cut him off, slam on my brakes, nothing of the kind. I then proceeded to exit. So, imagine my surprise, when he exited as well. He was trying to move on to the 15 no more than 30 seconds earlier, so why get off? He followed me as Friars becomes Mission Gorge road and followed me up the hill. When I would switch lanes, he would do so as well, always staying behind me.

I finally elected to pull into a parking lot and confront him if he followed me. Sure enough, he exited and parked near me. I waited a second for the man to get out. I then unfolded my rather "large-6'4"-built-and-overweight" frame from my compact-to-mid-size sedan and walked towards him. The man looked at me and then turned back to the van. He got in and closed the door but before he could roll up the window, I reached the van. I told him that he was lucky because I was letting him go. However, he needs to be careful because the next time he acts like an ass then has the nerve to follow someone to confront them after he made the driving error, he may be messing with the wrong person and could get his ass kicked. He then pulled away.

And wouldn't you know it? The man sported three bumper stickers! An "A.M. 1360 KLSD" sticker, an "Obama 2008" sticker, and a "Republicans Suck" bumper sticker. I was able to find that exact sticker and a whole host of other "anti-Republican" stickers here.

Which makes me wonder . . . . Liberals love to point to idiots like Ted Haggard or other conservatives or Christians who do not practice what they preach and pigeon hole all conservatives. Do I now get to do the same? Are all liberals:

a) Bad drivers
b) Profane speaking idiots who like to use inappropriate symbols
c) Angry jerks who love to pick fights only to,
d) Run away like cowards when they pick on the wrong person
e) Inconsiderate jerks who are non-contributors to society
f) All of the above

I don't believe all liberals are all of these, or even some of the things listed above. However, my experiences on a few sites on the web would cause me to conclude that some are all of these and many more things. Yet, I don't choose to place all people of various political views into one category, or make generalizations. I hope most liberals don't either.