The answer in my case is pale… very pale, at the moment. For proof, see a hideous picture of me below, standing with former Rep. J. C. Watts of Oklahoma, who is not so pale. Watts headlined the local party’s Lincoln Day dinner this weekend.

Knowing I would probably get a chance to meet him, I stopped by Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of his book, What Color is a Conservative?, thinking he could sign it for me. But their meager politics section had none. I looked elsewhere and asked an employee — none in stock. Next I tried Davis Kidd, perhaps one of the largest book stores in Memphis, which is always well-stocked and where I had actually found the book before. But they, too, had nothing. With time running out, I ran over to Bookstar, which is owned by Barnes & Noble, for one last attempt. Nothing there, either. All three stores had plenty of Barak Obama, though — Obama in politics, Obama in new releases, Obama in biography, Obama in African American month, Obama everywhere. The stores had no room for a single copy of the 2002 Watts book because each had to have 14 rows wide of Obama in every applicable section. Disappointing.

Anyway, photo I warned you about below the fold, followed by disjointed notes not of this weekend’s speech, but from his SRLC speech last March.

Putting me in the middle they decided they would be cheap dates and invite Watts.
Living in interesting times.
Picking up paper or watching talking heads, it’s interesting the feeling you get everything bad is GOP or Bush’s fault.
Jimmy and Johnny in church on Sunday. They would terrorize church on Sundays. Mom would give the evil eye. They were just bad kids. So paster said I’ll deal with this. Called Jimmy in office.
Where is God, Jimmy?
Silence.
Repeats question.
Silence.
Repeats again.
Jimmy ran out, ran home, locked self in bedroom.
Johnny came home.
Where you been?
God is missing and they’re blaming us for it!
If you’re Republican, I know you can relate to that story.
Lincoln: he who serves his party best serves his country first.
It seems we’ve forgotten about next generation.
We’ve become more focused on next election than next generation.
Our great history someone has always challenged us to know when we’ll be when we grow up.
Lincoln: can’t live half slave half free.
T. Roosevelt: —
Kennedy: Ask not what your country can do for you.
Parks: challenged us to give thought to what we want to be when we grow up.
Dr. King: civil rights movement. Injustice anywhere affects justice everywhere.
JC Watts should stand up for white brother.
You should stand up.
Ronald Reagan: why shouldn’t we dream big dreams, after all we’re Americans.
WWII Gen: went out every day and they just did it.
They loved and took care of their families.
They served their country. Involved, engaged. Gave us a value system we’ve squandered over last 35-40 years.
I think about this as I spend time with my grandkids.
What kind of future do I want for them?
Think about this marriage thing.
Do we want to say we don’t want kids to understand value of a mom and a dad.
We have to think about do we want a nation that has removed God from public square.
It is extremely difficult to comprehend US without comprehending God.
We are endowed by our creator, not Prez, not Gov, not Congress, but creator.
What do we want US to be 35 years down the road?
We are trudging dangerous waters in terms of health care.
We can’t survive the annual increases in health care costs.
Watts turns 65, gets on Medicare, $100,000 for quadruple bypass.
Friends, that’s health care. We have to think about health.
Why not pay people to be healthy?
How about a $200 tax credit for those over 25 with cholesterol under 200.
I had a good education.
I had teachers that would verbally twist my ear to make me live up to my capabilities.
Father and mother and grandmother understood Frederick Douglass: I knew importance of education because I didn’t have it.
Kids in under-served communities go to schools that fail them.
Where will we be in 25 years?
Retirement.
Character.
McCain said it best: character is destiny.
When we look at fledgling democracies.
They’re looking to us for that type of leadership.
We’ve raised 5 kids from 16 to 29 years of age. In our house we still celebrate Christmas.
Having raised 3 daughters. Frightening times at 5am when trying to build the doll house.
What am I going to do?
Most important thing, dads? Glue or directions?
The most important thing on the box was the picture of what it’s supposed to look like.
Friends, let me leave you with this: diversity of color is a good thing. We should not be afraid of it. God in his infinite wisdom made Haley Barbour and John McCain white men. God made JC Watts a black man. If anyone had any say in their skin color, please see me afterwards.
God is an artist of a person’s skin color.
God likes diversity of color.
You as a Republican, in your neighborhood, in your state, in your nation, in this America that we love, just like that picture on the box, we have a responsibility to paint a picture for those kids with no dad, in terms of diversity, for those democracies around the world looking to us. A Healthcare model that works, and education, and retirement. We have a responsibility to paint a picture of what it’s supposed to look like. When we do that, this place and rest of world will continue to be greatest nation in all the world.