I Lost My Dad to Fox News

[Proud Public Servant]

20. Actually, let me give Dad equal time

(My post about mom is above.) My father passed away over 25 years ago, at the age of 55. He'd grown up in a Democratic household in Chicago; his father was a precinct captain for the first Mayor Daley as well as an immigrant and lifelong civil servant and a photo of JKF praying was prominently displayed in their home. As far as I know, he was a registered Dem his whole life who voted the party line, as was his wife, and they raised two kids who were the same.

My dad died before the advent of Fox news, or even cable tv. But in 1984, when AT&T broke up, the subsidiary he worked for shut down and he was forced into early retirement (he was 53). With no plan, no real interests or dreams to pursue, the kids out of the house and the house itself paid for, he simply went out to the garage every morning and stayed there all day, puttering, drinking, and listening to am talk radio. He was dead in 2-1/2 years, but in that time transformed from a moderate Dem into the kind of hateful, racist crank that now dominates the GOP. In fact, with the '88 Iowa caucuses only 9 months away, one of our last conversations was about which Republican candidates he liked best. I never thought I'd see the day...

Conservative media is poisonous to the soul. You'll never convince me otherwise.