William Pitt On Why He’d Support Kerry Again and Toilet Stories

William Pitt has a post at Democratic Underground on “Two personal experiences with John Kerry, and why I’d support him…if he runs in ‘08.” After telling of his experience with Kerry, Pitt says:

So this is it for me. Yes, he has made some bad decisions. Yes, there is reason to be pissed at the man. But I think about his willingness to wade into a three-hour confrontation with the editors and writers of the heaviest political publications in the country. I think about how well he stood his ground, made his arguments (and apologies, in regards to the IWR vote). I think about him talking to those kids at that school, about how utterly genuine is his desire to defend the environment and, in the process, defend our economy, the planet and our national security. I think about how goddam smart he is, and how both these instances displayed that intelligence so completely clearly.

I think he would make a magnificent president, and I think it is nothing less than a full-spectrum calamity that he is not president right now.

I’ll leave further specifics on Pitt’s impressions of Kerry for his original post (and previous accounts) and move on to the anecdote at the end. Pitt concludes with:

Franken has the coolest bathroom in the history of plumbing. It is festooned with Nixon memorabilia; he has the photo of Elvis signing up to be an honorary DEA agent with those catastrophically zooted eyes, a dozen other bits and pieces, and the best thing - the original “I hereby resign” letter recieved by Kissinger that bears Kissinger’s initialed I-read-this signature at the bottom. It is framed right above the toilet. Best piss I ever took in my life

During one of my frequent summer trips to Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island we needed a suite larger than our usual suite so we stayed in the Governor’s Suite (which we had also stayed in once before for our honeymoon). The suite has pictures of the current governor–at that time Republican John Engler. Engler’s picture was even over one of the toilets, and I recall filming a video tape of the toilet flushing below Engler’s picture. Perhaps not as great a piss as William Pitt’s, but it made going to the bathroom more amusing.

The best perk of being Governor of Michigan is a house on the island a short walk from the hotel (which also allowed me to meet current Governor Granholm more recently). John Engler did come to Grand Hotel for a 4th of July Carnival and my daughter even wound up briefly with his triplets. (Some things are beyond political disagreements, like children playing at a carnival). We mentioned to him that we were staying in “his” suite, but did not mention the fun I was having with the toilets at his expense.