I said a bad, bad thing

So Friday I'm on a bus headed out to the Saint Croix river.  The Bank of DM (or NABABANA, whichever you prefer) has put together a boat ride for the high performers of last quarter and Beth invited me as her guest.

We're on our way, headed towards Stillwater when I look outside and see this gigantic red truck (ooh, shiny) but it's got an accessory I would never consider putting on my truck (or El Camino, because, hey, if you're going to dream, dream big).

Now, I was raised to treat everyone the same, to not make generalizations, to not prejudge people.  And yet, I saw this truck with it's giant American flag with eagle screen printed in the back window (similar to this) and I, I (oh, this pains me to admit it) turned to Beth and made a horrid, horrid remark.

"Why is it that whenever I see something like this, I immediately think F*ckin' Republican?" 

I know.  I know this is wrong.  This person could just be really proud to be an American.  They could be an Independant or even a Democrat.  And I know that not all Republicans are bad...Some of my friends are Republicans.  They're not close friends, well, actually they're more like work friends but still, they're not bad people.  Even when they tell me I'm a member of the Loony Left (Why, yes, Donovan, I am talking about you).

I know that not every Republican is a narrow-minded bigot who enjoys a snack of Freedom Fries with a dash of salt and good old American ketchup while trying to take away human rights.  Thanks to Alas, a blog for pointing me to this absurdity.  I'm just curious.  I'm not really a ketchup fan.  Does anyone know of a good patriotic mustard I should be using?  I'm a Plochman's girl but, oh, wait, their founder emigrated from Germany...I could use French's mustard (I have a backup book and yes, I have a backup mustard) but I'd have to start calling it Freedom's mustard. 

And I apologize if this offends anyone but I'm sorry, as much as I love America, the whole "Hey, let's plaster the American flag on everything" is getting old.  I'm tired of Freedom Fries.  I certainly will never be using Wketchup.  Don't these people realize how silly they are?  I love how one of their comments to someone (on the left) went like this "In addition, we are highly patriotic and wanted a ketchup that all American's could agree on. "  Aargh!  Well, this American hopes you learn when to apostrophe and when not to apostrophe.  Dang it!  Oh, well, one of the things I believe, as an American, is that everyone has the right to make a fool out of themselves. 

Now myself, I'm thinking I'm going to start manufacturing Rainbow Mustard, a portion of the profits will go to the fight for gays and lesbians to be able to legally marry and adopt.  Anyone want to help me with the start-up costs?  And I probably could use a recipe for mustard while we're at it.