Washingtonpost.com: Live Online
Levey Live: Speaking Freely
Washington Post Columnist
Friday, Dec. 22, 2000; 1 p.m. EST
"Levey Live: Speaking Freely," hosted by Washington Post columnist Bob Levey, appears every Friday, at 1 p.m. EST. “Levey Live” is a live, open-agenda discussion offering washingtonpost.com users around the world the opportunity to ask questions and discuss topics of their choice with Bob.
Fearless Bob takes your questions about virtually everything, from sports and politics (there's a difference?) to world events, Metro area traffic and issues raised in Bob's columns.
The transcript follows.
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Bob Levey: Good afternoon, all of you scrambling, shop-till-you-drop souls. The agenda today is wide open, as always. I'm sure many of you will want to talk about SUVs (my column topic of yesterday). But we can also muse about President Clinton and the possibility of a pardon, about the recent snow(s) or anything your little heart desires. Let's roll.....
SUV ALERT!!!: I just wanted to alert everyone that I'll be driving on the Hwy. tomorrow... I will be in every lane possible driving 85-100 mph and if you're in my way, watch out! I have no problem with coming up right on your tail and flashing my lights over and over to get you to either drive faster than 45 mph or get out of my way.
Also, when I am parking, I will be sure to park over the lines or at least choose the smallest possible spot for my truck.
Did I leave anything out? Oh... and if I see any ice, I'll be sure to drive over it in a crazy way because, as everyone knows, I have an SUV and therefore, can drive on anything....
Hopefully...all of that sounds just as ridiculous as the people who would actually believe everything I just wrote.
Happy Holidays to all with SUVs!
Bob Levey: You left out lingering at red lights that turn green, so drivers of mere Toyotas can admire your paint job.
I agree that satire is the soul of wit. I agree that you've made excellent satirical points. But you'll have to agree (if you're fair) that it's easy to see SUV pilots do every one of the things you've just cited. Yes, Mercedes pilots do it, too. So do BMW owners. But that doesn't change the fact that SUV drivers seem to take the cake.
Mt. Pleasant: I have to say that SUV ragers as exemplified in your column seem to have something much larger eating away at them -- class envy perhaps, unhappy childhoods or difficult career choices. Like Bill Clinton or suburban strip malls, SUVs seem to set a discrete minority of (possibly) otherwise normal citizens into red-faced, spittle-flecked, tooth-gnashing anger, and the resulting verbiage is a little surreal.
Your basic Jeep clone is a perfectly fine vehicle. It's no bigger than a mini-van, it carries kids, lumber and dogs with aplomb, it's ding and dent resistant and you can get out for a quart of milk in the snow. In a town overrun with BMWs, Lexuses (Lexi?) and Mercedes, a Ford Explorer hardly counts as an in-your-face status symbol. One dope who can't park and one arrogant jerk at a valet stand (in D.C.? hard to believe) do not a trend create -- in my experience a Land Rover driver is just as likely to let you merge as some envy-ridden crank in a Toyota. And as for the whining about gas prices: pretty universal as far as I can tell. And our insurance is going down. (Couldn't resist.)
I recommend the whiners from your Wednesday column look into pottery throwing or some other anger-management outlet, focus on their own lives and try hard to avoid sweeping generalizations. Me? I'm just having a good time and hoping my tread doesn't fall off before my tires get changed. Happy Holidays!
Bob Levey: Yeah, I'm rooting for your tires. They may need all the help they can get.
I'm amazed that you count as a virtue that quick nip to the store for ONE QUART OF MILK!!!!! That's the whole problem! Here's a vehicle that's built for driving up the side of Mt. McKinley, and you want to use it the way you'd (more sensibly) use a bike with a basket. Don't you realize that SUVs get terrible gas mileage? Don't you realize that they are classified as trucks by none other than the U.S. government, so that they therefore don't have the anti-pollution equipment that cars are required to have? You might as well drive a Greyhound bus to the 7-Eleven; that's how much environmental sense you're making.
By the way, excellent point about SUV envy. I'd say that's just as powerful a force as SUV rage.
Sadly, In my office: Hi Bob!
Can you settle a bet for me? Do you know which Metro station's escalators are the longest? I say Bethesda, but other guesses are Tenleytown and DuPont Circle.
Any idea on how the Metro's longest compares to whichever is the world's longest?
Bob Levey: Ace producer Meredith says Wheaton wins, at 230 feet. I believe Rosslyn is next, at 215. Bethesda and Dupont Circle are close behind. World's longest is in Leningrad (whoops, St. Petersburg!). It's 390 feet. Bring lunch
Short, Va.: I thought brevity was the soul of wit.
Bob Levey: It is.
That brief enough?
Laurel: Bob,
Did you see the article that President Clinton has decided that the "Taxation without Representation" plates would be placed on the presidential limousine?
I do support the plates for D.C. residents, but would prefer official government vehicles didn't have controversial political statements on them.
Bob Levey: It doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, I salute the president for finally getting off his backside after eight years and putting some slogan where his mouth is.
He said the first day he was in office that he was a big advocate of D.C. voting rights, and then he did zero the rest of both terms. Now he can at least raise the issue and pre-zing Dubya. Great stuff!
By the way, U.S. government vehicles have often sported slogans before -- BUY WAR BONDS, LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS, that sort of thing. I'd say this is same church, different pew.
Somewhere, USA: "Because the U.S. government says so" is one of the more ridiculous arguments I've heard.
Bob Levey: Sorry it didn't sit well. But the government is the body that certifies pollution standards, and requirements. Just remember that as we all hack to death because of SUV exhaust.
Washington, D.C.: Bob,
Why do these idiots always yell "O" during the Star-Spangled Banner at Washington-area sports events?
We're not in Baltimore, it's not an Orioles game, and it's pretty disrespectful. (Especially since it's the Orioles that are preventing Washington from getting a team!)
Bob Levey: It began as an inside joke. If you were a hip O's fan, you did it, as a way of belonging. Now it has spread to all the Washington teams, even the horrendous Wizards (for them, an "Oh" is appropriate -- as in OH MY GOD!!!!!).
I agree that it's a tad disrespectful. I like the national anthem to be pure and clean. For instance, I hate it when gospel, country and rap singers try to inject some of their "style" into the song. But the "Orioles O" isn't enough to warrant a congressional investigation.
Oh puleeze!: Hack to death because of SUV exhaust??
Bob! Have you SEEN what comes out of the back of one of your beloved Metro buses? What about all those 1976 Dodge Darts still running around? I don't hear you crying to have THEM regulated!!!
Bob Levey: Wrong. I've been crying that cry for nearly 20 years. Just because other vehicles stink up the joint is no reason to argue that SUVs shouldn't stop stinking, too.
Woodley park, D.C.: Hi Bob,
Happy Holidays!
What do you think of the recent news that Macy's is interested in taking up shop in the old Woodies Building downtown? The only catch is the upper floors would have to be rezone by the city for office space rather than retail/residential. Do you think this will happen? I'm all for bringing another major department store downtown, back to F Street yet! Let's hope it works out, unlike the failed Washington Opera deal (had high hopes for that one, too).
Bob Levey: Anything in that building would be better than nothing in that building, and I'd welcome Macy's (although there's already a perfectly good one less than three miles away, at Pentagon City). But I'm still hoping for a super-condo development -- kind of Central Park West comes to F Street.
Van Ness, D.C.: For those of us staying in D.C., what three activities would recommend this holiday weekend?
Bob Levey: Visit the monuments, especially the ones that are usually crawling with tourists. Communing with Marble Abe is a lot better (and a lot easier) when it's just you. Ditto Mount Vernon. Ditto the Kennedy grave. Strolling the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria is a personal favorite. Dinner at a place in Adams-Morgan you've never tried would be high on my list. So would a museum (same reason as above -- I believe all of them are open both Saturday and Sunday -- and they're still free).
New York: I moved back to NY after an 18-month stint in D.C. last summer, and I have to say I never fail to be amazed by how little you can deal with snow. As a working professional in D.C., I had more snow days in the 18 months I worked there then in the 12-plus years I went to school in New York growing up! What's y'all's problem?
Bob Levey: We still seem surprised that snow falls here, because so many people here (and especially those new to living here) somehow believe they're living in the tropics. Also, each jurisdiction is extremely complicated (there's a huge difference between the flat landscape and urban streets of Bethesda and the hills of Mount Airy, for instance -- yet both are in Montgomery County). But I think all of this is manageable and changeable if school officials really wanted to do it. Truth: They don't because it would cause headaches (and maybe more dollars) if they reconfigured bus routes. So they play it ultra-safe as soon as one flake falls, for fear of lawsuits, angry phone calls from parents and flak from the media.
Philly, Pa.: Bob,
A quick question: I'm surprised that the children's hospital drive has only netted a little under $200k. Although I know it ends on 1/19, the total amount seems awfully low a few days before xmas. I would've thought the drive would've had huge momentum before xmas and slowed after the new year. Any ideas why?
(BTW: donated online and a check on its way via mail with company 2:1 match)
Bob Levey: No idea whatsoever. I can never explain why the drive runs high some years, and low others. It doesn't track with Wall Street, the national mood, world peace or the Redskins' record. The only day that matters, of course, is the last one. I'm still very hopeful about this campaign.
Guilt trip: Have you sent your check yet?
Virginia: The monuments is a great suggestion. sometimes I wonder why, after having lived here for 23 years, I have yet to actually enter the washington monument. funny, that.
Bob Levey: You know, our daughter left for college in August, and in one of those movie-esque moments on her last day at home, I asked her if she was glad she grew up in Washington. She fixed me with those blazing brown eyes (a gift from her mother) and said, "Why didn't you ever take me to the Washington Monument?" After I finished gulping, I had to admit I had never done it.
Words to live by: It's ALWAYS the parents' fault!
Maryland: So, if gas prices and parking are so important, why don't I see you on a motorcycle? My bike gets 50 mpg and I can park it in my basement laundry room. You can do everything on a bike (in nearly any weather) that you can in a car, except transport multiple people or any small child. As you don't have small children, I should see you on a motorcycle any day now, right?
Bob Levey: You see me every day on the bus and the subway, my friend. Ain't that good enough?
Mt. Pleasant: Actually, I walk around the corner to the Save-More when I need a quart of milk, snow or no snow. Over-reliance on any car for trivial missions is inappropriate, the difference between doing it in a sub-compact and an SUV is merely one of degree.
So, allow me to revise and extend my remarks to "and you can answer the emergency requests for SUV support from area hospitals in the snow, plus help pull Nissan drivers out of snow banks."
Bob Levey: Previous remarks corrected and amended. Many thanks.
Gaithersburg: Hi Bob,
I was at Washingtonian Center last night, where, obviously, parking was a wee bit short. So somebody parked right in the main lane of traffic, blocking it. Wasn't an SUV, though. It was a Volvo station wagon.
Volvo rage!!
When can we expect to see a column lambasting Volvo drivers, now that you've trashed all SUV drivers for the mistakes of a few?
Bob Levey: Hey, I was looking for idea for my Jan. 2 column this morning.......,.
Re: Star Spangled Banner: As a Philly transplant to D.C., I first encountered the "Oh!" while undergrad of U of Maryland, where it has become tradition. No doubt lifted from the O's and brought to College Park by the Bawl-mer people, I thought is was one of those fine quirks to college life (and a way to pick out fellow alumni at other events).
And it's definitely not as disrespectful as Maryland's foul-mouthed version of "Rock and Roll Part II -- although it is just as charming.
Bob Levey: I would ask you to dish full dirt about that Rock and Roll Part II (like the lyrics, for instance). But I was dining with a coupla biggies from washingtonpost.com yesterday, and the subject of that idiot Brad in England came up (you know, the guy who posted that e-mail from a girl friend in which she had complimented him on his sexual prowess). I said no way IN THE WORLD washingtonpost.com should have provided a link to the actual text of Our Girl's message. In fact, dot. com put that link up, and then took it down a few minutes later. I agreed totally with this, although my dot.com companions didn't. So I could hardly be hypocritical and publish the Rock and Roll II lyrics, could I?
Of course, if you'd like to send them just so I could have a private look-seee.......
(Scribes' privilege).
Arlington, Va.: Re: SUV rants. Maybe for some people it's envy, but for me it's not. The reason many of us get so enraged about SUV drivers is that SUVs have very clear negative effects on others. Yes, they're fine for the driver and passengers (with some exceptions). But they're not so fine for the rest of us, whether they block our views, take up half our parking spaces, drive up fuel prices, or smash into us at head-level.
Even if SUVs were cheaper and driven by less affluent folks, these problems would still be there.
Bob Levey: And you haven't mentioned the biggest issue of all: safety. So many people drive them as if they were cute-as-a-button toy cars. In fact, they will tip over if you corner too fast. And four-wheel drive doesn't keep them from skidding. It just means they start in ice and goop more readily. Anyone for mandatory lessons for first-time SUV owners?
WDC: Bob: SUVs are to the 00's like muscle cars were in the 60's...Status symbols. I had a '69 Chevelle with a 396 that had enough torque to rip up pavement. I thought it was pretty good until a buddy got a 454.
I used to rev the motor at lights and in general drive like a jerk. I've since grown up! A lot of todays SUVs were too young to ever own a real muscle machine so they live out their fantasies in their urban tanks.
Let the SUV'ers have their fun. One day they'll realize how much they overpaid and you'll get the last laugh.
Bob Levey: I am already counting on that last laugh, but it might be laced with tears....
So many Americans believe they have a divine right to cheaper-than-in-the-rest-of-the-world gas that I'm afraid the SUV craze will influence our foreign policy. Seriously. I can imagine public support for a war in the Middle East that would keep the spigots open. Meanwhile, President-Under-A-Cloud Bush is on record as favoring oil exploration in protected lands in Alaska! Is that insane? Why not find a way to conserve, rather than to despoil habitats so that some idiot can have gas in his Explorer?
Woodley Park, D.C.: I totally agree with your thoughts on SUVs. I can't stand those things. I was pleasantly surprised to see several of them in person, and on news reports, sliding on ice on side streets with all four wheels spinning!
One other awful thing about SUVs -- you can't see around them. I dread being stuck right behind one in my sensible little economy car. They throw up a huge amount of spray in wet weather, and blind you with unnecessary fog lights at night. Let's at least keep these things out of the left lane on major highways!
Bob Levey: And you know what SUV owners say? They buy those things so that they and their families will be safer than the rest of us sludges in an accident.
Doesn't that smack of "I care about me and mine and not about anyone else?" What about the damage that an SUV would do (and regularly does do) TO THE OTHER GUY? Do SUV drivers really not care about that? Do they enjoy protecting their families even as they smash the hell out of someone else's?
WDC: VOLVO RAGE!
Cool! SUVs (and Minivans!) are just too big -- Volvo drivers are inconsiderate, dangerous and oblivious to their surroundings.
See you on the bus and/or the metro!
Bob Levey: And on the weeks only, in my extremely dumpy 8-year-old Toyota station wagon.
Ain't never gonna be any rage about it, I assure you...
Georgetown: After reading one of your recent articles I have to ask why the fascist attitude toward all SUV drivers? From a very socially conscious and liberal adult I find your remarks very narrow minded. Any response?
Bob Levey: Happy holidays to you, too.....
Rock And Roll Part II: R'n'R Part II is often called the "Hey" song...no words: Da da da, Da-da, Da-da...da da da, da-da, da-da da, da da da da, HEY (U of M add: You Suck!), da da da da HEY (You Suck!) at the end of the song (point to opponent): We're gonna beat the Hell/S%&T out of you, and you, and you, and you.
While I was -- Maryland (last few years), the ACC actually asked Gary Williams and the band to not play the song, to decrease the profanity. It didn't happen.
Bob Levey: OK, battlefield decision, I'm posting this. It's not even close to the gosh-I-loved-last-night salaciousness of that couple in England.
I'm much more concerned about the sportsmanship issue here than about the obscenity issue. What ever happened to good natured ribbing?
Philly, Pa.: Actually; my dad gave me my first SUV lesson. He bought one of the first explorers back when SUVs weren't even popular. I was about 19 at the time and he had me and 17-year-old sister with a license follow him in my lil' sports car to a deserted parking lot at his office.
He set up a few cones and told us to drive thru the cones no slower than 20 mph with the sports car.
Then he told us to do the same with the Explorer. Big difference. Gave both of us kids a LOT of respect for how differently they handle.
Bob Levey: A great way to handle ANY first-time (or relatively inexperienced driver).
So many parents just subcontract this rite of passage to a driving school. Have you ever seen some of the losers who work for these places? And have you ever checked out the "curriculum?" One school in Bethesda played clips from a Steve McQueen movie, where the good guys are chasing the baddies through the hills of San Francisco. At the end of the footage, the teacher says: "Don't drive like this." I'm serious!
Washington, D.C.: Hi Bob,
RE: "President-Under-A-Cloud Bush"
Lighten up Bob, it's the holidays season!
Bob Levey: I just type it like it is, holidays or no.....
Washington, D.C.: Hello Bob.
Happy Holidays!
I find it very, very amusing that President Clinton placed the "Taxation without Representation" tags on the presidential limo, knowing full well that President-elect Bush does not support D.C. statehood.
Think Dubya will trade in the tags for something like inaugural plates, or will he keep them and curse Clinton's name for causing him potential embarrassment with D.C. residents for removing them?
Any thoughts on what else Clinton may do to stir the proverbial pot before he rides off into the sunset?
Oh...and my mom wants to know if she can get your autographed photo? She's a really big fan and digs your new picture.
Bob Levey: Your Mom can get an autographed photo of me any time....
AS LONG AS SHE DOESN'T TELL ME I LOOK LIKE BOB %$#$% 80-YEAR-OLD BARKER!!!!!!
The day I look as tired-out and tucked as that dude, I fold my hand.
Just tell Mom to get in touch via leveyb@washpost.com and I'll send her one.
As for Clinton and a "final surprise," I wouldn't bet on it. Hasn't he given us enough surprises already?
Arlington, Va.: Hey, I was being tailgated on the ice by an old Toyota station wagon during the snow and ice the other night! Bob, that wasn't you, was it?
Bob Levey: No, because I never drive between Monday morning and Friday night (unless I absolutely have to, and I didn't absolutely have to that night).
Must have been some guy who also has a Lincoln Navigator and accidentally grabbed the wrong set of keys!
Old Tourmobile guide: Washington Monument is closed until February (they are putting in a glass elevator). go see the Einstein Memorial around the Vietnam Memorial. It's the best one around. You can climb on it and sit on his lap. And if you stand on the north star at Einstein's feet (the universe is laid out at his feet -- the north star is the larger one with the lines pointing toward it) and talk to Albert you, and only you, will hear an echo.
Fun stuff.
Bob Levey: Very cool. Gift-wrapped for you, the poster who was looking for fun stuff to do over the holiday....
Escanaba, Mich.: On the subject of driving, while walking across the street, I almost got run over by somebody who appeared to be a bit early on the "holiday cheer."
I doubt if any of your loyal readers don't do anything stupid as drinking and driving but please, if they see anybody who's celebrated too much, offer them a ride, cab fare, or something! Even if it means stealing their keys, don't let them drive!
I was lucky. I got out of the way in time.
Four friends of mine weren't so lucky a few years back. That's why I'm so passionate about this issue.
Thank you for allowing my say.
Bob Levey: Old advice, but it never goes out of style. To me, the dead (pun intended) giveaway is anyone who says, "I can hold my liquor." If you have to say it, you can't, and you aren't.
Prince William, Va.: Bob,
I see that Maryland is going to raise the fine for red light runners.
Here in Virginia people are driving as if they have lost their cotton-picking minds! Speeding, reckless driving, etc. People were doing 60 out here the other day when there was ice on the roads!
Don't you think that it is time for Virginia to start taking more agressive action against these law-breakers using our highways?
Bob Levey: Long since. But as always, it'll take many, many more cops, which will take many, many more dollars. And here's your governor insisting that cutting taxes is still a good (and still a possible) idea.
Fairfax, Va.: I dislike SUVs even though my partner drives one. I hate them not because of envy or dislike of them as a status symbol, but because they make driving dangerous for me. I drive a regular old car, a newish Toyota, and I can't make turns when an SUV is around, or go through a light (it often obscures the light so I have to slow down); they are often tailing me closely -- as a great many wash. drivers do -- but the headlights are high and make seeing difficult. I can't park near them because they fill their spaces, so there's no room to open my door and get out (and I don't have a hatchback to crawl through).
They are the '90s answer to a station wagon, and every mom I know seems to have one. At least station wagons were roughly the size of regular cars, and didn't cause so many practical difficulties for other drivers! < >Bob Levey: Why "were?" My Toyota is a station wagon. OK, it's far from new. But it gets great gas mileage and it can carry as many square feet of cargo as a Grand Cherokee or an Explorer. Best of all, as you say, I never "screen" a fellow driver who's trying to pull into traffic or change lanes.
Chantilly, Va.: Why the negative response to SUV drivers?
1. You poison the air I breathe.
2. You waste petroleum when there's only a limited supply left, making it far more likely that we'll run out before we develop viable substitutes.
3. You widen the hole in the ozone layer, increasing the likelihood of skin cancer for my children and grandchildren (plus other potential health effects of unblocked solar radiation)
4. If I'm parked next to you, I can't see clearly to back out, putting my life at risk.
5. Your size and your bright headlights, aimed directly at eye level, can be incredibly intimidating when you tailgate smaller cars like mine, particularly on ice when I'm already going 65.
Need any other reasons?
Bob Levey: Yeah. Why spend $35,000 when my used station wagon (see virtues enumerated in previous post) cost one-third of that, used?
Rockville, Md.: About your SUV bashing -- I really don't care what you or any other wuss thinks. I like commuting in my Explorer. The radio's turned up LOUD to my fav oldies station. I can sip from a traveler's mug of java and munch a doughnut while sitting in traffic. I can check out the babe in the wuss car next to me. I can cut the cheese as loud as I please and no one cares. Try all that on Metro! And please do continue to take Metro -- I'm all for mass transportation since it means that many fewer wussies on the road.
Bob Levey: Doesn't it warm the cockles of your heart to know that there are so many selfless souls riding around out there?
Arlington: Bob,
Submitting early because I'll be stuck on 95 heading to grandma's Friday afternoon. I keep reading stories and watching news reports about the problems with electricity deregulation in CALF. Interspersed with these reports are ads telling area residents that "utility choice" is coming here in 2001. Can't someone see the problems out west and conclude that maybe we should take a breather and take another look at the plan? I can see another government mandated disaster spreading from west to east -- can you?
Bob Levey: If electricity deregulation is as big a smash hit as airline deregulation, I may be sending out for kerosene lanterns pretty soon. OF COURSE we should pause for another look. But will we? I doubt it.
RE: Brad & Claire: First of all, any idiot with a search engine can find the text of the original email, so I applaud the post.com for not posting the link.
That said, having found said e-mail, I would have to say "prowess" is a complete and utter misrepresentation of what the email said. They can just say "a racy e-mail" if they can't euphemize, but inaccurate reporting is dismaying, even in these types of stories.
Bob Levey: Thanks for the vote of support re: standards of decency on the Web. I realize that any idiot with a search engine could have found all the particulars. But that's exactly why washingtonpost.com should NOT have posted them!
I know this will sound sappy to many of you, but 8-year-olds really, truly do surf this site. The "8-year-old at the breakfast table test" has stood the print Post in very good stead for many, many years. Why shouldn't that same test apply to journalism on the Web?
By the way, I'd have to agree re: "prowess." I could get more specific, but an 8-year-old might be lurking....
Arlington, Va.: Females like me in my high gas mileage, easy to maneuver Honda Civic just ADORE sharing the road with drivers like Rockville -- they just add so much to keeping the roads courteous and safe for all drivers.
Bob Levey: If that dude ever leers at you, you have Uncle Bob's permission to stick out your tongue at him.
Georgetown: Why spend $35K on anything? Because this is America, and you're allowed to. End of story.
Bob Levey: This isn't a matter of rights! Of course you have the right to drop $35 G on anything you want. But is it wise? Is it socially responsible? Is it good for Mother Earth?
Alexandria, Va.: Re: President Under A Cloud.
You are too kind Bob. For me he will always be known by the a one word name: the term we use to designate any person who comes by his claim illegitimately. Hint it begins with a B.
Bob Levey: In case Dubya has tuned in today..... They're not exactly awaiting you with open arms, Governor.
Bethesda: Bob -- I'm a big fan of public transportation as I know you are, but not after today. I usually take the bus for my very easy commute from Silver Spring to Bethesda; occasionally I drive. This morning, I had no choice, since I'd left my car in the garage at work the night before. Well, my usual bus was full, and it just passed the bus stop entirely without stopping. I waited 15 minutes for another bus. Then, when we were a block from my Bethesda stop, we were stuck because there was a big truck illegally parked, and our bus couldn't make the turn. It got halfway and stopped, a foot from the curb. Being already late for work, I asked the driver if I could get out there, and he said no. Sometimes you find a gem of a driver, friendly and helpful, but lately I've found them to be tired and as frustrated by the traffic as the rest of us. Crowded and unreliable buses with surly drivers may be enough to send me back to my car.
Bob Levey: The very fact that this surly driver was rare should be enough to keep your car at home. The reason he did this is safety regulations. He could have been fired if he had let you out at anyplace other than a designated stop. Every driver has to balance this apparent lack of caring against the bills he'll have to pay next week.
Metro Media Relations: To the person who wrote in about drinking and driving, we couldn't agree more. Don't forget, Metro will be open until 2 a.m. on New Year's Eve. Another option for getting home safely.
Bob Levey: I was worried that you guys had gone home early! Thanks for weighing in
Laurel: Re: Automobile Rage (SUV, road, Volvo, parking, etc.)
I wonder if, in talking to reporters with jobs similar to yours in other cities, have you encountered anyone who says "We have the most courteous drivers in the country and it's a pleasure to share the road with them."
Compared to my experiences driving in other northeastern cities, I'd say Washingtonians are better than most in two noteworthy areas:
1. Not double parking
2. Not honking at the lead car the second a traffic light turns green
Bob Levey: In fact, columnists with jobs similar to mine in Boston, Cleveland, Dallas and Northern New Jersey regularly boast that "their" drivers are the worst in the world. So this is one argument no one can win.
Arlington, Va.: The smaller SUVs (Explorer and smaller) don't bother me that much. As an earlier writer said, they are the size of a minivan. It is the humongous Expeditions and Excursions. Why would anyone WANT to drive something that huge on a city (or even suburban) street? SUV owners?
Bob Levey: To show off to the Joneses. A very, very powerful force in today's world.
Adams-Morgan: One other point about SUVs -- they take up way too much space parking on the street! Forget about suburban parking lots -- you could fit two Geo Metros in the length take up by one Expedition on my crowded residential street. Those street spaces are precious! This goes for long/big cars, too -- if we drove smaller, more sensible cars like in Europe, we'd have WAY fewer parking problems in our cities.
Bob Levey: Not only that, but many SUVs are too big to fit in underground parking lots. Imagine dropping $35 large for a car that you can't take downtown!
RE: rage: While we are at it, can we start halogen head light rage club? Those suckers on any car burn my retinas beyond repair.
Bob Levey: I'm holding out for rage against those blocks of black ice-crud that form in wheel wells every winter.
Crud Rage!
Alexandria: Bob,
While the SUV-bashing is entertaining, let's not be so fast to let minivans off the hook. At least those of us in smaller cars can see partway through the SUV windows to check out traffic lights or the road ahead. Try sitting in a Honda Accord and being behind a minivan. You might as well have a cover over your windshield for as much as you can see. And it is such fun at a stoplight when the light turns green and there is a 10-second delay while Mom finishes playing with little Johnny or calming down the soccer team.
Don't sell short the MINIVAN RAGE!
Bob Levey: You're hopelessly un-hip, Alexandria. Minivan rage already happened -- in the 1980s. And who had the strongest case of it? Those who owned the minis themselves -- typically soccer moms who longed for something like what they drove when they were 23, but who bought minis to transport the three kids they now discovered that they had.
Man, you want to talk lack of soul? Minis are the most boring vehicles ever made. The sexiest thing about them is the sliding door. That ought to tell you a great deal.
Bethesda: Dear Bob,
Can I get a picture. We look alike.
Sincerely,
Bob Barker
Bob Levey: This is dead serious.
Some pals have suggested that I get Bob Barker as a guest on this show.
Just so the pictures of the two of us can run side by side atop the chat.
Does the body politic cry out for this?
Or shall we just let a severely hurting idea die a natural death?
Weigh in!
Somewhere, USA: You still haven't addressed the possibility that some SUV drivers need the specific capabilities of the SUV. My husband needs to get to his job no matter what the weather. Only 4x4 can provide that kind of security. We like to go camping/hunting/fishing in the backwoods. Try getting to that in your Toyota station wagon. And my SUV was cheaper new than a new Toyota station wagon. As for gas -- I'm happy to pay extra. It gets mpg better than my old car -- a pre gas-crunch muscle car. And at least the SUV is regular gas.
Bob Levey: At least you use an SUV for its rightful purpose. So many soccer Moms toodle around in SUVs simply because they're cute. To them, the phrase "off road" means the parking lot at Saks Fifth Avenue.
Rage Rage: It seems that folks in this area are so afraid to voice their opinion overtly, so they feel forced to "vent" anonymously while on the road.
I have a solution. Note sarcasm: Rage Rage!
Bob Levey: Yes!
D.C.: Bob Barker rage?
Bob Levey: Yes!
Van Ness, D.C.: Didn't vote for him, don't think he should be President, but Bush will be President in a month. With my own opinion of how the Democratic and Republican parties operate, I find him as legitimate as any other president since I started voting in 1981. It does make it a bit easier to take since I'm moving to South Africa two weeks after the inauguration.
After watching him for a while, I am convinced that many of the bad things said about Bush are true, BUT he will continue to live a charmed life. The economy will be fine, many Gore voters will be impressed by his leadership over the next year, and he will get more than 8 percent of the African-American vote in 2004. Some may see a cloud over him, but that is nothing compared to the outright hatred that many many Americans felt for the current president and first lady.
Bob Levey: The other day, I shamelessly predicted to a friend that Bush will be the first president in modern history NOT to make page one of The Post for every one of his first 100 days. Reason: He isn't gonna do a blessed thing. Reason for THAT: his thin margin, and the Republicans' thin margin on the Hill
Bethesda again: Fine about the driver not stopping to let me off, but if I can't rely on a bus to stop and pick me up in the first place (as the first bus did), making me late for work, I can't do it. I already get in 10 minutes early because of the bus schedule, and please don't suggest I take yet an earlier bus to allow for the possibility of full buses passing stops; I shouldn't have to do that. Metro either needs bigger buses or more buses.
Bob Levey: Please see this morning Metro-front article about 50 new buses, and many more improvements coming soon to the system. And try it this way:
Would you give up on your car in a huff if things didn't go perfectly on one single solitary morning?
D.C.: It's the hair in the new photo that makes you look like Bob Barker. Yeah, get him in.
Bob Levey: It shall be.
Philly, Pa.: Bob;
The follow-up article on "Brad the Cad" says:
"On grounds of privacy and taste, The Washington Post is not publishing the full names of the principals or the Web site. _Consequently, the hundreds of readers demanding this information should get a life and leave this reporter alone._"
Was that last sentence put in on purpose?
Bob Levey: Yeah, that's because T.R. Reid, our correspondent in London who has been covering the story, has been besieged by people who wanna know what Claire did for/to/with Brad. He took a little poetic license with that "get a life" phrase.
Bob Levey: Got to get back to my old-economy ways and hack out a column, boys and girls. Very happy holidays to one and all. Please join me next Friday, Dec. 29, when we'll do this all over again, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, as usual.
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