Ned does notice that he jumps straight to the politics once again, but since he's rather inclined to agree with Ginsberg's opinion, he doesn't mind. He's surprised the girl minded. He thought even the people who liked Nixon knew that he was a sleazy conman - just a sleazy conman with the same values they held. But apparently not.

His habit of hyperbole, interesting to Ned even up until this point, causes him to grin and duck his head at the extravagant praise that Ginsberg heaps on his baking. He knows it is good, but really. He can feel the heat touching his cheeks, but it's hard to care in the face of that vehement enjoyment and approval.

"Who would want to rule the world when they could own a pie shop?" he asks, and it's only partly rhetorical. It's obvious to him what the better career is. Emboldened, he ventures to ask, "Would you say it's an abuse of that power to ask, while you're still in awe, if you'd like to get a drink with me, after I close up?"

There. He'd said it. With plausible deniability, of course. If he's not interested, there's plenty of room for him to backpedal, say that he meant it in a purely platonic sense, obviously, what else could he have meant?