S.F. French bistro hosts protest with panache

Some days I oppose the war because of all the lives that will be lost. Some days I oppose it because I think it has by now been conclusively shown that this administration’s level of incompetency is so high that it should not be trusted with anything beyond the minimal necessary roles of government. (There’s a new conspiracy theory for you – Dick Cheney as prudential argument for small government libertarianism.) And some days I just think that I would rather be like the war’s opponents than like its supporters.

Ten people, wineglasses in hand, came to the defense of la belle France on Friday in perhaps the most civilized protest ever held in San Francisco.

There was smelly French cheese for all, strong enough to overpower what the protesters complained was the stench of U.S. foreign policy.

The protest, billed as French Friday, took place at a corner table of Cafe de la Presse, a French bistro on Bush Street. The idea was to patronize a French establishment and buy a lot of French goods — to counteract the boycott of French merchandise by those miffed at the threatened French veto of U.S.-led resolutions at the United Nations.

“I’ve been to a lot of protests, and this is the most fun,” said Bob Roth, between bites of brie….

Rafael Gonzalez celebrated all things French by administering what he said was a French kiss to his female companion, who did not object out of a sense of political correctness.

Much thanks to Geoff Nunberg for the link. I have to go wine-shopping now, and I might have to break my Australian-wine-buying habits of a lifetime out of a similar sense of political correctness.