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Good lord, I just got back from Tampa, where I had a heated argument about the war in Iraq with my father, in the presence of my 95-year-old aunt (my aunt finally told both of us to cut it out). This article really hits home. I'm more than happy to refrain from discussing politics with my dad (despite the fact that this cuts him out of a significant part of my life), although I tried to do so a year ago and continued to get cc'd on very offensive e-mails from him throughout the year, to which I felt compelled to reply. This time around, I only ventured an opinion on something because my aunt asked me what I thought of Condoleezza Rice and the war in Iraq. *She* then referred to the war as "a farce" and said she despised Bush, despite being a lifelong Republican. Maybe I should have taken a pass at this point and changed the subject since my dad was sitting at the table, but my aunt was sort of egging me on, and frankly, I was flattered that she would ask my opinion since my father never really has. Suddenly, my father exploded in rage, demanding to know what the difference is between Iraq and Bosnia (since Clinton apparently "started" the war in Bosnia, and Clinton was also a draft-dodger, yada yada), and insisting that I refuse to see that there are two sides of an issue (I hate to break it to my dad, but I'm a pretty conservative Democrat; in fact, I had already told him I am more likely to vote for John McCain in 2008 than Hillary Clinton). The evening ended in tears, and with me wondering, whatever became of my father, the one who taught me critical thinking and political argument and who used to enjoy heated debates? Two years ago, he told me he didn't like Bush very much. Four years ago, he was willing to vote for Al Gore if I had told him it would help my career. But now he reacts to any criticism of Bush as if it's a personal attack on him. What is going on??
