Chris Hayes



The Dockside Marine Pub, Tofino, BC

About four years ago my daughter, my girlfriend, and I were sitting in a pub in Tofino , B.C. late in the afternoon after spending  the day at one of the beaches at Pacific Rim National Park on Vancouver Island.  It had been kind of an overcast day with just a few glimpses of the sun. There may have been a few sprinkles of rain throughout the day.

I noticed a couple who were sitting close to us. They looked like they were in their late twenties or early thirties. They were both reading books and the guy in the couple who was kind of lanky had his legs stretched out and looked rather comfortable.

I have never been the shy type and asked them what they were reading. I couldn’t make out the book titles from where I was sitting.  From what I can recall the books were both about American politics. I then asked them where they were from and it turned out that they lived in Washington, DC or close to it.

The 2008 presidential election campaigns were underway at the time and we ended up talking about US politics for about a half an hour.  It didn’t take long to figure out that they were both political people. I mentioned that I had read somewhere,  something  about  John McCain referring  to his wife using the “C” word.  The guy in the couple told me he had heard some stuff about that too. Somewhere in the conversation we learned that the wife in the couple was a lawyer.

Our bill came and we had a 2-1/2 hour drive ahead of us back home. When we said our goodbyes, Chris, the guy in the couple, jotted down his website address and handed it to me.

Later that evening I checked out the website address. It turned out that the guy I was talking to was a Chris Hayes. He is one of the editors of the US magazine The Nation. About a year later I spotted him on MSNBC substituting for Rachel Maddow.  I have always liked Rachel. Standing in front of the Hoover Dam and asking the question “Whatever happened to America’s big ideas?”

Today, Chris has his own show on MSNBC on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Up with Chris Hayes.  Both shows are two hours long and I think it is one of best US political programs on TV. They cover subjects in depth and allow for opposite opinions. They also have younger politically active people offering viewpoints instead of older dodgy political hacks seen on weeklies like Meet The Press where answers are avoided.

And now you know what my own political persuasions are.

To me, Democrats in the US are where Liberals in Canada used to be before  they self- destructed. A social  conscience with some fiscal responsibility.  I miss the old days.