Wow im shocked, well how about this lol,

After thinking of what stwert said I thought what if i select both parts first then hit F8 instead of using menus etc to do it. It worked lol, i could highlight/grab all verts in both parts instantly no shift held..

Now why in hecks name does that work but not the way ive used it for eons lol.. its goto be some glitch "I" have on 2011? I will have to recheck bug fixes if there are any again..

So whats your views why F8 works with both selected parts and not using clicky pen doofus normal way ive always done and right click menus

sigh..