Carter, childhood political savvy

[Amy Z <lupinesque@yahoo.com>]

Sushi wrote, and incidentally engendered a terrific craving for 
salmon maki just by signing her (?) name:

>The earliest memory I've got of a politically-inclined nature is: 
when I 
> was two, I was out shopping with my mom.  We were going to 
Carter's - 
> children's wear - and I asked her, "Does the president own the 
> store?"  Took her a little while to convince me that not everyone 
with the 
> surname "Carter" was related to the president.

My mother's second favorite response to complaining children 
was "you've got more problems than Carter has pills," which left me 
with the impression that the president was unwell.  When I finally 
asked her about it, she said it had nothing to do with Jimmy Carter 
but was a reference to Carter's Little Liver Pills.  

Her *very* favorite response was "the complaint department's on the 
roof," which had a particularly vivid effect because the first time I 
recall her saying that was during a car trip (car trips generate a 
lot of whining from children), and I imagined us trying to hang on to 
the roof of the car as it careened along I-80 at 70 m.p.h.

Eileen, your childhood take on political reality made me LMAO.  The 
world must have seemed a very exciting, if dangerous, place.  And I 
would love to meet your parents.

Amy Z