Does Alan Greenspan qualify as a political figure?
The door to Ayn Rand’s bathroom was ajar, and inside was dark. I entered the bathroom and turned on the light. Sitting on the can was Greenspan, who didn’t seem the least bit nonplussed. I excused myself and left, closing the door, but leaving the light on.
In the 60s I was a child In Canberra. I was almost run over by the Prime Minister Robert Menzies’ Bentley. I thought it was pretty cool to be almost killed by our PM (well, I guess the chauffeur would have copped the blame). However his wife Pattie was the only passenger.
Back in 1993 during March Break, my father and I saw then-External Affairs Minister Barbara MacDougall walk past us on the street in downtown Toronto. Interestingly, MacDougall visited my school the next year.
Pretty common in DC, my cousin used to be a producer for CNN and he is better at picking them out of a crowd.
I feel like there’s an unanswered question here as to how you wound up in Ayn Rand’s bathroom.
When he was governor, it was very common to run into Mike Dukakis, riding the Green Line from his home in Brookline to the State House.
On a business trip to DC many years ago: on the flight out I was seated across the aisle from my KS Rep at the time, Dennis Moore, and his wife; on the return flight, a coworker was seated next to MO Rep Emmanuel Cleaver.
I love that story. As far as celebrity encounter stories go, I think it ranks right up there with Eve’s classic “So I was having lunch in Paris with Olivia De Havilland the other day…”
In June 1988 my wife and I were in Princeton for our son’s graduation. Walking down Nassau St., we saw across the street former Canadian PM John Turner and his wife Geills who were there for their son’s graduation.
The governor lives a couple of miles away. Seen him plenty of times. He was our mayor until recently when he became the Lt. Governor and then took over when Biden called the previous governor up to the show. Met both senators and our congressman many times. This is Rhode Island, every politician in the state is hanging out in Providence at the state house or the bars.
One that I’d forgotten: Father Robert Cornell was a Catholic priest, as well as being a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the Green Bay area for two terms in the 1970s (shortly after he lost re-election in 1978, the Vatican ordered priests to not participate in politics).
Cornell was a member of the Norbertine Order, which also operated the high school that I attended, and he was based at St. Norbert Abbey, which was a few blocks away from my house, so I saw him fairly regularly, at my high school, and when I’d attend chapel services at the abbey.
I was at Portland International Airport to pick up my wife years ago and ended up doing the “left, right, left” sidewalk shuffle with Sen. Ron Wyden. As a kid I got walked into/ knocked over by now disgraced Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, he was mayor of Portland back then. He did mumble an apology.
Working in downtown Toronto I have seen former PMs John Turner (taking the elevator, we worked in the same building) and Brian Mulroney (I was going to pick up some lunch and I assume he was doing the same).
My only story is that I once lived across the street from a guy who would become governor about 40 years later. He’s about 10 years older than me and I don’t remember any interactions or even seeing him, but I’m sure there were instances. But I did hang out with his younger sisters.
There’s always this classic:
Jim Talent. Always a class act. Always. Useless bag of RW hate and ignorance.
Well, I’ve run into lots of senior political figures in my workplace, and some of them have even popped in to my office to say “hi”. But then, I do work for a political party…
We were driving home from shopping or something, and we were driving along the back side of LAX. There were a ton of CHPs around, and they slowed and stopped us and the few other cars on the road. Then, a limo left the back gates. the rear window was open and Bill Clinton waved to us.
When I was a really little kid, JFK’s motorcade drove down the main street near our house. We walked over to see his limo drive by. With closed windows. And no wave.
Since I’m in L.A., I see a huge amount more of actors than politicians.
Note: LAX - Los Angeles International Airport; CHP - California Highway Patrol.
Back when Individual 1 was Prez his motorcade roared past my condo building going to a well-publicized dinner at an undisclosed nearby mansion where a secret list of sycophants could each spend something like $100K for the privilege of being in His Presence and currying His Favor. A couple hours later the motorcade went by the other way.
Lots of morons were out at the roadside waving flags the whole time.
We’re at an advantage in New Zealand: politicians are generally much more accessible.
When John Key was our Prime Minister, I happened to see him in the dry-cleaners. He was with his wife, and just about to exit the store so I opened the door for them and said ‘Good morning’.
And I’m going to have a coffee and chat tomorrow with an Opposition MP regarding a particular policy, after having met several of the party at their recent conference. That’s probably ‘cheating’ in this thread though, as it’s planned on my part.
When I was in college I knew the guy who was student body president. About five years after I graduated, I saw a campaign poster for him - he was running for state senator (using what looked like a college yearbook photo). He did eventually become a state senator, though not that year.
While chilling* at a street festival (Taste of Polonia here in Chicago) watching a band, there was bit of a commotion and I looked up to see Newt Gingrich and his wife, Callista, flanked by three or four bodyguards wearing sidearms. He was in a suit & tie and she was in an expensive looking outfit, definitely not typical street fest attire and the guards also looked expensive, well built and cut and ununiformed open carry is pretty uncommon around here. Mrs Gingrich looked perfect, as though completely made of plastic. It must have been in 2016 when he was campaigning for Trump. Kind of an odd place to pop into. They just walked through and didn’t seem to approach anyone or be approached. Maybe they just wanted some zapiekanka.
One of Obama’s helicades flew over my house so low, I’d swear I could punt a soccer ball into the rotors. Not really but it was pretty cool to see such enormous and important machines so close. I heard them from a ways off and grabbed my camera at the time and ran outside and got some cool footage of it… which I’d share but can’t find at the moment.
*chilling, lol. The other memorable thing about that fest was how witheringly hot it was. I’m not really a sweaty guy but my tshirt was soaked through in places. I actually felt kind of bad for the Gingriches.
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