Almost Famous

I dated liberal guys when I was younger - mostly environmentalists. To be honest, I wanted someone manlier, more confident and tree-huggers just weren't cutting it. In fact, one was such a bad lover that he turned me off dating liberals completely.

So I met and married a Republican. We were young; we'd thought be the next Carville and Matalin. That did not work out, at all. My phone banking for the '96 Clinton campaign enfuriated him. He worked for the phone company, so he went to his office and had them turn off the phone so that I couldn't make any more calls. It only got worse from there.  

Then I decided to date someone completely apolitical. He wasn't even registered to vote. Things were great for a while, but we developed problems. I was talking to a good friend about it and he asked, "Pen, can you really be serious about someone who doesn't even know who the Vice President is?" So I went home and asked by very sweet boyfriend that very question - I think he said Bill Clinton, but I can't remember exactly as I've blotted that trauma out of my mind.

After that, I started dating again. I signed up for a bunch of web sites, figuring I'd cast a wide net. Among them were democratic and liberal dating sites. I gave the lefties another try since I'd struck out with otherwise. I had some interesting dates - most notably someone with impeccable liberal credentials. He was helping to prosecute Walmart for illegal chemical dumping. He was fairly handsome and charming and had great taste in art. I found the hard way that he was a paraphiliac - he had my foot in his hand and looked at me with this derannged look and said "I have a foot fetish".  That was the end of that. Well, after a really good foot massage, that was the end of that.

I hadn't used any of the site in a while as I'd met someone great at a peace vigil, but I still had all my free accounts open. Out of the blue, I got an email asking if I'd like to be on a NYC-based tv show to to talk about dating liberals online. Sure - why not!? Turns out it was the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. So right this minute, I am killing time while waiting to go on a date with Jason Jones, one of the correspondents. That's us in the photo.

Stay tuned. It's scheduled to air on Valentine's Day on Comedy Central at 11:00 est.