My new heroes
I don't know much about the game of bridge other than it is played with a deck of cards and seems to be a passionate pursuit for some bridge players.
Too passionate, as it turns out. The United States Bridge Federation has come down hard on members of the U.S. Bridge Team who held up a sign saying "We did not vote for Bush" at a ceremony in China recently. Screams of "treason" and "sedition" have been hurled by the right. Jan Martel, who apparently channels the late Avery Brundage of the U.S. Olympic Committee in her boorish cluelessness, has threatened heavy sanctions against the players for daring to criticize the Great Leader.
The players say they are frequently questioned by foreign bridge players about the policies of President Bush. As an American who has traveled abroad a few time in the past seven years, I can tell you this happens all the time. I went to a family wedding in Germany in the spring of 2003, not long after Bush invaded Iraq, and I got the puzzled questions from my German relatives about why America had voted to make this man their President. I assured them that I hadn't voted for Bush and in no way supported his policies.
This all harks back, of course, to the comment Natalie Manes of the Dixie Chicks made at a London concert in 2003 saying she and the band were ashamed that Bush came from Texas. They endured death threats and commercial retaliation from large radio networks for daring to criticize the Great Leader at the height of his fleeting popularity.
I went out and bought my first Dixie Chicks album to show my support for the band (liked it, too). There isn't much I can do that way to support the bridge players other than to say I'm ashamed George W. Bush is an American.