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Full Tankers: Rate the Candidates

Growing up, my father and his friends had a saying which I took for granted but later realized was local in nature and fairly unique. When they really approved of someone, they would often refer to him as a “full tanker.” When asked, my Dad would explain that the person in question was the sort of fellow who, if he needed to borrow your lawn mower, would not only return it promptly, but clean and with a full tank of gas. I’ve always been fond of the image that concept evokes.

This put me in mind, yet again, of our current crop of presidential candidates. How would you rate John McCain, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bob Barr and Ralph Nader on the “Full Tanker” scale?

1. Brings the mower back promptly with the grass clippings cleaned out, the gas tank full and the oil checked and topped off.

2. Brings the mower back shortly after they’ve finished with it, but it’s not cleaned up and could use some gas.

3. You have to chase them down to get your mower back and no maintenance has been done on it.

4. Would never borrow your mower in the first place as they would have no clue how to use one to cut grass.

I will have to give McCain a 1, Obama and Barr a 2, Nader a 3 and Clinton a 4. What say you?

  • CStanley
    Nader wouldn't borrow a gas powered mower, would he? I see him using only a manual, rotary blade mower- or having a xeriscaped landscape with no grass. ;-)
  • uh, McCain, as a Bush tax-cut proponent and supporter of infrastructure neglect is a 1??

    He and his ilk used up the gas, said there was no shortage, borrowed the gas can from my children and filled up his rich friends' gas-hog riding mower with it, then changed the oil on my lawn without cleaning it up. The lawn is ruined (1.5 trillion in infrastructure neglect), the tank is dry and he charged it all to my kids.
  • Ah, see? You're mixing it in with policies, legislative records, etc. This mostly humorous exercise is simply here to get a sense of the various candidates' personalities and traits. While McCain will not be getting my vote in November, it doesn't change the fact that I've always felt him to be a fairly honest, stright forward, honest guy. And yes, if he borrowed my lawn mower, I imagine he'd fill up the tank before returning it. :-)
  • CStanley
    Jazz and Greendreams: You guys go to the same haberdasher? LOL- first time I noticed the attire, seeing your two photos on the same screen.

    Anyway, I was trying to think of a way to say what you just said in response to GD. There's a difference in interpretation based on whether you are literally considering the lawnmower scenario or if you are using it as a political analogy- and of course how the candidate behaves in your political analogy has more to do with your own political biases than with the candidate's character. For instance, in GD's statement about infrastructure, my own bias would say that the Congressional members who've laden our transportation bills with pork, and the state/local politicians who've steered the funds toward pet projects, are the ones who 'ruined the lawn'.
  • November, it doesn't change the fact that I've always felt him to be a fairly honest, stright forward, honest guy


    McCain would probably hire a lobbyist to clean it for him.

    Nader is a 1, and I don't see how anyone could think otherwise. The man has dedicated his entire life to helping others and battling greed.

    Obama might be a 1 too. He wouldn't want to do anything that would ruin his chances at electoral success.

    You're probably right, Clinton is 4. Either that or 3 given her financial woes.

    And I don't know about Barr.
  • CStanley
    Actually the narratives would probably go like this:

    McCain would be a full tanker but his wife would pay for the gas; the media would initially report about how great his lawn looked and praise him for having the guts to borrow a lawnmower from a Democrat while Republicans would say "We told him to use our lawnmower but no...he had to use theirs." Later, when McCain becomes the GOP nominee for president, the NYT prints several articles again noting the attractiveness of his lawn but also noting that he lent the lawnmower to some lobbyists, including one attractive woman who didn't have an affair with McCain but if readers want to get the impression that some people were concerned that he might have cut her lawn with the borrowed lawnmower, well, who are the NYT reporters to set the record straight?

    Obama would give a speech attracting tens of thousands of young people and have all of them donating fistloads of cash to refill the lawnmower and volunteering to clean and return the mower, purchase one for him, and cut his lawn for him for the rest of his life.

    Clinton would return the mower in disrepair and with no gas, but would convince a number of people that the Republicans broke the lawnmower and that if she hadn't used up all the gas, they would have anyway- so why blame her?
  • CStanley
    Oh, and we forgot Ron Paul. He'd give a speech noting that the Constitution doesn't grant him the authority to borrow lawnmowers, and thus he can't cut his grass.
  • RememberNovember
    and he forgot he borrowed the mower, or denied borrowing it after he forgot to return it.

    Maybe you're confused with the John McCain 8 years ago
  • I am officially becoming a CStanley fan. :-)
  • Hey, I had this hat first and I thought Jazz wasn't going to wear it on the same page.
  • CStanley
    Thanks Jazz, and likewise.

    GD: LOL- I hate when that happens.
  • I'm a 2. Well a 1 1/2...I'd fill the tank buy might not clean up the mower...
  • RememberNovember
    CStanley ,you win!
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